Chick-in-of-TheSea journal

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Friends, we have an assumed swim bladder issue with a head-and-taillight tetra. The first thing was to get him to QT on Tuesday but he got snagged in a net, and as I texted 2 forum members in a panic, he freed himself. I threw away that net. After his stress and mine, I just put him into a breeder box.

2 days later and he is no better and no worse, I decided to move him for an epsom bath. Different net, finer, and feels “silky”?  He got caught in that net too!  This poor fish can’t catch a break! As the epsom salt bath is only a 15 minute deal, I just stuck the net with him attached into the bath and ran air.

Upon transfer back to the breeder box, he freed himself. Thankfully. He has a barb or something below him that I suppose will get caught in whatever net. Anyway, I can’t foresee multiple transfers per day as @Colu’s disease thread recommends, but I think once per day is manageable, and I would transfer him using a solo cup. I would like to do salt as well but the snails can’t take it. I could move him to qt but he’s not contagious (to my knowledge) and he doesn’t like to be separated from the school.

 

Video was taken right after his transfer back so you will see a little bit of heavy breathing.

When he swims he drags along the bottom of the breeder box. He has negative buoyancy, and a bit of trouble turning. It’s like his fins aren’t allowing him to go where he wants to, so he wiggles his body to compensate.

18 other fish are unaffected and healthy.

@nabokovfan87

@Guppysnail

Edited April 11 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

Chick I have seen this before a few times.  
My best guess from all I read and tried.  Something be it organ failure, inability for the body to get enough oxygen to the brain, organs just aging out etc. is causing some part of the body to cause a neurological impairment/ damage.  The neurological component causes inability to completely control muscle movements causing that swimming not swim bladder.

Sadly I have never been able to cure this. From all my reading and talking to others I think whatever the neurological impact it’s damage and not something that can be cured.

@Odd Duck??

 

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea if it is swim bladder I would continue doing what you are doing. Maybe the reason it's getting caught in the net is an injury that caused the issue. If that's the case only time will help. Not sure if you ever saw my thread about Verti, my Black Neon that was swimming vertically. He did have an injury and I did medicate and then use salt. After treatment all I did was make him comfortable guessing he'd be that way forever but miraculously he got better over time and released back to the herd! 

Black Neon Swimming Vertically? What I've done so far....

 

I would hand catch your fish, no nets. That's what I do with most of my sick fish now. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/11/2024 at 10:02 AM, Guppysnail said:

Chick I have seen this before a few times.  
My best guess from all I read and tried.  Something be it organ failure, inability for the body to get enough oxygen to the brain, organs just aging out etc. is causing some part of the body to cause a neurological impairment/ damage.  The neurological component causes inability to completely control muscle movements causing that swimming not swim bladder.

Sadly I have never been able to cure this. From all my reading and talking to others I think whatever the neurological impact it’s damage and not something that can be cured.

@Odd Duck??

 

 

Anytime I have had a wonky swimming fish it was all downhill. Thankfully this is a mild case. I am thinking about releasing him back to the community. His buddy keeps swimming up to him in the breeder box and they see each other. Jailbird seems glad to see his buddy and becomes more active. I ended up with these 2 when I bought washed out looking fish from a new shipment at LFS. I had requested pristella tetras but when color developed I was surprised! LFS said they must have jumped in the pristella tank from the next tank over. Anyway, I didn’t worry too much about school size since they school right along with the pristellas. 

I don’t know if being in the breeder box is better or worse for him.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/11/2024 at 5:26 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Video was taken right after his transfer back so you will see a little bit of heavy breathing.

Maybe jumped into the lid? Spine is a little bent and curving downward.  I would just check to verify that against the other fish.

I'm very sorry for that issue! It's always been one I have struggled to really ever fix and reminds me of Cory dealing with Hank.

[Odd Duck]

I think @nabokovfan87 is on to something. He does look like his spine may be a bit bent. And the idea of a bonk is very valid. Could have gotten startled and run into a side or the lid, etc.  I would add very low dose salt which is safe enough for nearly all plants and snails. The aim is just to get some electrolytes into the water. I use 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons for this dose. Most can also go up to 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

If you can do the Epsom salt soaks once or twice daily with minimal stress it might help a bit. But mostly for these guys I do supportive care which means leaving them in an internal breeder box to help keep the temp steadier but an external one is fine if it recirculates quick enough or if your fish room is warm enough.  It will also help to make sure they’re eating OK and not outcompeted by other fish. It also helps by keeping them closer to the surface for better oxygenation and I often add an air stone, too.

It may takes weeks or months but some do recover, some don’t.  Only time will tell on that one.  I had one badly bent pea puffer (was fine at the store then was bent in the bag from a 10 minute drive 🤦🏻‍♀️) recover well enough I couldn’t tell him apart from the others until he got much older and his bend started to show again. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/12/2024 at 9:55 AM, Odd Duck said:

I think @nabokovfan87 is on to something. He does look like his spine may be a bit bent. And the idea of a bonk is very valid. Could have gotten startled and run into a side or the lid, etc.  I would add very low dose salt which is safe enough for nearly all plants and snails. The aim is just to get some electrolytes into the water. I use 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons for this dose. Most can also go up to 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons.

If you can do the Epsom salt soaks once or twice daily with minimal stress it might help a bit. But mostly for these guys I do supportive care which means leaving them in an internal breeder box to help keep the temp steadier but an external one is fine if it recirculates quick enough or if your fish room is warm enough.  It will also help to make sure they’re eating OK and not outcompeted by other fish. It also helps by keeping them closer to the surface for better oxygenation and I often add an air stone, too.

It may takes weeks or months but some do recover, some don’t.  Only time will tell on that one.  I had one badly bent pea puffer (was fine at the store then was bent in the bag from a 10 minute drive 🤦🏻‍♀️) recover well enough I couldn’t tell him apart from the others until he got much older and his bend started to show again. 

I had released him yesterday. His symptoms are mild. I took a video (he is not the first fish shown). He enters the shot from the left.  
 

Has a sort of rocking horse movement but he seems to be ok. He was stressed in the breeder box.

I will try the salt.

Edited April 12 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Odd Duck]

On 4/12/2024 at 12:44 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I had released him yesterday. His symptoms are mild. I took a video (he is not the first fish shown). He enters the shot from the left.  
 

Has a sort of rocking horse movement but he seems to be ok. He was stressed in the breeder box.

I will try the salt.

He doesn’t look too bad and does seem less stressed than when he was in the breeder box. I would add the lowest dose of aquarium salt and just monitor for now. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/12/2024 at 9:55 AM, Odd Duck said:

make sure they’re eating OK

Based on this example, I have no worries! He competes with the best of ‘em!

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:26 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

He got caught in that net too!  This poor fish can’t catch a break!

Omg, thank you @nabokovfan87 for sending better quality nets!  Disaster prevention at its finest! I and the fishes are very grateful to you.

 

[nabokovfan87]

Hopefully they are soft enough!  Feel better little fishy.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Browsing through Pet Bazaar. Mom & pop shop. Many snakes! And amphibians.

Snowball pleco

Tigerhead pleco

Peppermint?

Camo Pacman Frog

 

Edited April 15 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[GoofyGarra]

What a cool store! Do they specialize in  plecos?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/15/2024 at 7:12 PM, GoofyGarra said:

What a cool store! Do they specialize in  plecos?

They had some other cool fish as well. Different types of rainbow fish, barbs, cichlids, then they have turtles, lizards, spiders, and snakes. Tons of snakes. They have floor to ceiling bins of snakes. They do have a lot of things for paludariums and vivariums, etc

I just snapped random photos while I was there.

Edited April 16 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Heater glowing red the whole length of the tube. Not sure if it’s always done that? It is dark in the tank now, for one. But also it has come a little bit forward because its suction cups detached from the back wall. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid or not, but I really don’t know how old the heater is either. Returned to the tank a few minutes later and the heater is off; the rainbird is doing its job.

Rainbird:

 

Maybe time for a replacement heater.

Edited April 16 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Got the heater.  Big box store this time due to convenience/location.

This!! Made me happy. See what the bucket says? This is progress from what we usually see. Right @xXInkedPhoenixX? #babysteps

And then just for fun,

I took pictures for @Guppysnail

And then this creepy guy/gal! Whoa!

 

Edited April 16 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/15/2024 at 3:12 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Tigerhead pleco

Oh hello.

 

On 4/15/2024 at 7:33 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Not sure if it’s always done that?

What kind of heater? I think.they do it a lot but we just never see it. Short Burts like that when it's "really cold.". I've definitely spent some time watching the heater glow in the shrimp tank set to low 70s.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/16/2024 at 9:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What kind of heater?

I’ve been using Aqueon. The other tanks have ACO heaters. I tried shopping online but there were a lot of foreign brands with overinflated reviews, so I ended up at big box and bought Aqueon again.

On 4/16/2024 at 9:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I think.they do it a lot but we just never see it

Yeah. I think it’s because the heater came forward and now I notice it.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/17/2024 at 4:03 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I’ve been using Aqueon. The other tanks have ACO heaters. I tried shopping online but there were a lot of foreign brands with overinflated reviews, so I ended up at big box and bought Aqueon again.

I stuck with the fluval e-100. Thankfully it arrived in one piece. Shipped in a paper envelope. No idea why, but yeah.... 

I definitely struggle myself to find one "better" and am very leery of all the different ones out there.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/18/2024 at 6:04 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I stuck with the fluval e-100. Thankfully it arrived in one piece. Shipped in a paper envelope. No idea why, but yeah.... 

I definitely struggle myself to find one "better" and am very leery of all the different ones out there.

Is that the one that looks like a long, rectangular box with a red switch/lever on the end? I looked at that one but I only have 12” of water due to deep substrate and dropped waterline. That heater is like 11.75” or something and didn’t give me a lot of options on placement.

On 4/18/2024 at 6:04 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Shipped in a paper envelope

That’s frustrating..

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/18/2024 at 7:38 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Is that the one that looks like a long, rectangular box with a red switch/lever on the end? I looked at that one but I only have 12” of water due to deep substrate and dropped waterline. That heater is like 11.75” or something and didn’t give me a lot of options on placement.

Yep it's in a 20L.  Designed to be used at a 45 degree angle or vertical. They have a smaller 50W version, but it's EU only from all that I can tell.  The "issues" with shipping tend to be about how fluval has the red switch on the top designed. There's nothing in the box that protects it and they can often arrive nonfunctional or damaged. Best heater you can get, but brought down by just poor packaging.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I was on my way home from my parents’ house and figured, why not stop at Sea World to try out their new pipeline coaster. Whoa! So it’s a standing coaster (cars are surfboards) and the harnesses are on up & down hydraulics. Whenever it catches G’s you like, “float up” and your feet leave the surfboard. Omg was epic! Pic of coaster:

And then look at this guy, so tired…

until people showed up with sardines. Instantly woke up and…

Random photo dump of other things; went on sky tower for the first time and got some aerial shots.

 

 

Fave ride Mako, got to ride it twice due to 5 min wait.

Hill for Mako. It has a 200’ drop.

 

I think this is a wood stork.

 

 

 

White coaster is a new one, under construction. Antarctica/Penguin theme

 

Mako:

 

Flamingo paddle boats

Edited April 22 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:26 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Friends, we have an assumed swim bladder issue with a head-and-taillight tetra.

The patient was struggling in the salted 29g with the HOB, and was isolating from the group; staying near the surface. With prolific plant growth I haven’t been able to keep a good eye on him, so I moved him to QT. With my schedule I cannot do epsom dips. I think maybe I willl try the 3 day fast then feed peas remedy, unless anyone had any other thoughts? @Odd Duck @Colu

 

[Odd Duck]

The fast then peas might be worth trying but I’m not convinced this is only a swim bladder issue.  It looks like more of a spinal injury to me.  They can have both, because if there is spinal damage they may not be able to regulate their swim bladder appropriately.  Tough situation, but keep on with your plan and see how they do.

[Colu]

You could add a low dose of epsom salt to the quarantine tank 1 table spoon for 3 gallons  for 5 days it will raise your GH @Chick-In-Of-TheSea