Tetra swimming side ways

**Limming** · 02-20-2013, 12:45 AM

I noticed at lights out that one of my blood fins were swimming sideways. My ammonia and nitrite are both 0 and nitrate is about 5. Any idea what might be causing this? I'm very uneducated on fish illness so any suggestions are helpful. I feed them twice a day with Ken's tropical fish flake and twice a week frozen brine shrimp along with a 1 day fast. From what I've read this is a swim bladder issue but no idea what to do from here.

**madagascariensis** · 02-20-2013, 12:48 AM

Only after lights out? Some of my White Cloud Mountain minnows do that too, and here's my guess: I have heard that fish do not only orient their bodies according to gravity, but also according to light, so if light were to come in horizontally a fish would tilt its body so that its back faces the light source. If your tetras consistently turn their bellies away from the light this might be the answer

**mizzoutank** · 02-20-2013, 12:55 AM

2nd that to the light orientation,

the other thing i've seen is if you recently stirred up some substrate and a "pocket" of gas or whatnot (could contain ammonia) pop up and the fish could swim to it.
this will cause some severe balance issues/burning/discomfort to the fish and they are just "shaking" it off and or about to die.

another thing would be aggression from other tank mates?

**Limming** · 02-20-2013, 01:00 AM

I haven't noticed it before tonight and it is only 1 fish. The tank is in my bedroom and I keep a good eye on things. None of the other fish seem to be having problems. Over the last day or so I think I've been feeding a bit more then usual on accident while showing off the fish but it hasn't been way more the normal fish still eat everything in about 2 minutes. Might this be having a effect? I'm going to fast them tomorrow working under this theory and see what effect it has.

**Limming** · 02-20-2013, 01:02 AM

Originally Posted by mizzoutank

2nd that to the light orientation,

the other thing i've seen is if you recently stirred up some substrate and a "pocket" of gas or whatnot (could contain ammonia) pop up and the fish could swim to it.
this will cause some severe balance issues/burning/discomfort to the fish and they are just "shaking" it off and or about to die.

another thing would be aggression from other tank mates?

Its just the 12 tetra in a 20 gallon high I've never seen aggression between them. The gas pocket could be it has I replanted several val runners on one side of the tank this morning but I only just now noticed it.

**mizzoutank** · 02-20-2013, 01:12 AM

could be, keep the lights off for the night and fast them for 2 days to be safe.

if tomorrow the fish isn't better. try the shelled pea method. but don't feed outside of that.
they can handle a few days easy without constant food. (like i'll be out of town for 4 days and not worrying about the feeding issue)

it is tough to pinpoint when it isn't a visible skin deformation/issue.

**Limming** · 02-20-2013, 01:39 AM

Thanks Mizzou I'll report back when I have results.

**Limming** · 02-20-2013, 03:37 PM

Over 24 hours after noticing it and all appear to be swimming fine. Must have been the lights going off first time I've seen that weird.

**Countrylovin4evr** · 02-20-2013, 06:59 PM

lol I had a neon do that to me the other day. I panicked and did a wc. then next night saw it again. I think the fish were 'sleeping'. or resting at a tilt