I noticed during the last few days that he wasnt eating (Flakes) and not showing much activity...just staying pretty much low to the bottom next to his plant.
I watched him and couple days and still nothing. He would just let the flakes flow by.
Having seen this behavior before caused by tank drama (The other tetra in the tank), when he also stopped eating...I went and got him some tubifex worms and gave him one two days ago. He ate it right up. Yesterday was the same...chomp chomp chomp.
Today I tried flakes again. I didnt see him eating them, but when I came back into the room he was swimming around erratically.
I have a video but its mp4 and 85 mb. I dont think this site takes that and I dont have U tube.
It looks something like the fish in this video.
I have sent a couple photos, though.
In my video he stays mostly to the lower half of the tank, but now and earlier he's around up at the top and then back down and just goes around and around and bumps into stuff. His swimming isnt smooth and calm. Its choppy. Its zipping here and there.
He does not have labored beathing or gasping for air. He does not appear to have swim bladder problems, meaning he's not going nose down or sideways.
His stomach looks a little rounder than usual. Maybe he suddenly got constipated. I don't know.
The tank water is fine. I do a 1/2 change, once a week and there are two filters in there. But just in case, I did a partial water change now and he's slowed down a some, but hasn't stopped swimming around yet
I dont know if hes gone on a mad craze looking for more tubifex worms...or something very bad suddenly went wrong.
Please advise.
Thanks
John
Last edited by John_Johnathan; 12-02-2020 at 04:32 AM.
*** Update ***
He's calmed down. He's back to hanging out by his plant and swimming around occasionally...normally.
Still I dont know what caused his erratic behavior....or if he's in the clear...if it will come back.
In a bit I'm going to try and give him a boiled pea, in case its constipation.
Last edited by John_Johnathan; 12-02-2020 at 05:31 AM.
Do you have a test kit? What are you nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, and hardness levels?
Also, how big is your tank? You only have two tetras, correct? They tend to get really nervous in small schools, so it might be a behavior issue...but if it's four years old, I doubt it's that. I don't know how long serpae tetras live, but I'm guessing four years is pretty ancient. Maybe he's just getting old?
Yes...Blueberry is getting old. But still...I have to try and help him.
His recent actions are out of the norm.
Today he seems normal still...but the sudden erratic swimming bothers me, as well has his refusal of his flakes.
The tank is a 5 1/2 gallon and yes, there are only two of them in there.
I cant give you accurate parameters bc I just did a 1/2 change yesterday, so it wont be showing what it was at the time he was erratic swimming. As noted i do a 1/2 change on every Sunday. I didnt get to that then, but did it Tuesday when the problems hit. Unsure how big a difference 2 days will make. That being said: The params now are PH...idk...hard to guage from the chart, but its a faint blue, Ammonia is 0 ( yellow ), Nitrite is 0 ( Light blue ), Nitrate is 10 to 20 ppm ( orange-ish ). His living conditions in the tank are nothing new. There's two filters so its well processed. Water is 78 deg, Him and his tank mate have seemed perfectly happy with just the two of them.
Back to the flake refusal...maybe it was caused by tank drama again. Maybe his tank mate was in a bad mood and gave him a hard time. But he will chomp down on a worm. This is just what happened before. Then he would only eat the worms. Eventually I was able to get him off those and back to flakes. Maybe he isnt feeling well now.
As you can see from the pictures he looks to be in good shape...except for the slightly rounded belly. Normally hes sleek.
Maybe it is constipation....he didnt go after the pea. Im currently researching Epsom salt treatment. Im concerned though that that might be to harsh for him.
I havent feed him today, if it is constipation I dont want to add to it
Interesting. 5 gallons is awfully small for black tetras (I just looked that up--they are black tetras, not serpaes, if you care :) ) and you might consider getting a bigger tank...but if they've been in there for four years I doubt that's the cause of the current problem. Water parameters obviously aren't the problem. I'm stumped!
Glofish Tetra Swimming erratically
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