Fish staying in one spot,help!

[ChillFish]

Hey, I have long fin white cloud minnows. Last afternoon  one didn’t want to eat but stayed in a corner. I panicked, it was in the same spot my hill stream loach choose as he died. (Water got warmer suddenly, I have a room temp tank) I didn’t know what was wrong but I ran out of the room to get something and when I got back a moment later he was swimming along like nothing had happened.

Last night I found him there again. Not moving, “resting” upright on the substrate in the corner of tank underneath my filter. After googling I did a 50% water change and soon after that he started swimming with the rest of his minnows.

This morning he has gone back to the corner. However I just caught him swimming around again?? I am so confused and not sure why he is acting this way. He is swimming a little slow and disinterested… his fins are droopy, like he’s tired.

Tank Info: started in Dec, 16 Gal, room temp, scheduled light, planted, shrimp, snails, minnows

Water: temp 64-68, PH always steady but low ~6.5, KH ~40, nitrate and nitrite at 0. No ammonia.

Recent change: hill-stream loach died due to sudden warmer water, air stone-like attachment added- attempt to save loach (I took off this morning maybe affecting minnows negatively?)

Possible problem?:  5 1/2 month submerged spider wood has orange spots slowly covering the wood, mostly on topside of wood (none growing underneath), wood breaking down? This has been going on for a couple weeks now. (See pic)

That’s all I have, if anyone knows what’s going on please let me know!

ChillFish

pic from yesterday AMtest from this AM

Orange spots

sorry this last one is upside down - back side view of spider wood

Edited May 22 by ChillFish
Some clarification:)

[ChillFish]

Update: swimming slow, not wanting food, hanging back from the other fish (no sign of bullying)

stops and “rests” in his corner or on the spider wood. Not moving fins, still

[Colu]

I would add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 10 gallons that will aid Gill function and aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes I would also add an extra air stone  have you noticed any rapid breathing hanging near the surface flashing spitting food out weight loss @ChillFish

[ChillFish]

On 5/22/2023 at 10:59 AM, Colu said:

I would add a small amount of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 10 gallons that will aid Gill function and aid Gill function and add essential electrolytes I would also add an extra air stone  have you noticed any rapid breathing hanging near the surface flashing spitting food out weight loss @ChillFish

Don’t have that salt, just put air stone in

no rapid breathing, surface hang, flashing, or gasping… he is rarely moving his mouth 

he did spit out this morning’s food, he only tried eating one piece. maybe a little skinny?  Color is dull

could he be bored of the food?

food: easy fry food from aquarium co-op

[Colu]

If he's a bit skinny it might be worthwhile treating with paracleanse do two full courses of treatment 2weeks apart @ChillFish

[ChillFish]

On 5/22/2023 at 1:42 PM, Colu said:

If he's a bit skinny it might be worthwhile treating with paracleanse do two full courses of treatment 2weeks apart @ChillFish

Okay, I will look into it. Thank you for the advice!!

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/22/2023 at 10:29 AM, ChillFish said:

I'm wondering if the fish might be hiding because it's weakened due to an illness and is trying to avoid higher flow.   I've seen similar behavior when a subdominant male is trying to avoid aggression.  If it gets bad, you might want to put him into a breeder box so he doesn't have to struggle as much with the current or depth of the tank.

I don't know what is going on with the wood.  Did you boil it before you added it to the tank?  It looks like some sort of fungus, but it's difficult to tell.  Maybe a photo out of the water would help.  Is it easy to remove the orange stuff with a pair of tweezers or pinsettes?

Here is a video to help with the paracleanse treatments

 

[ChillFish]

On 5/22/2023 at 1:42 PM, Colu said:

If he's a bit skinny it might be worthwhile treating with paracleanse do two full courses of treatment 2weeks apart @ChillFish

Update! Just completed the first round of papacleanse. The fish almost immediately stopped the previous behavior. (Yea!) 

I didn’t see any white poop though. I’m wondering if I should do the second phase? I do know that…
One or two of the minnows will every now and then stay in one spot like they’re sleeping. But I know they aren’t? It’s like they are “glitching”. Just kinda moving when necessary to stay in one spot. Once I saw them breathing heavily but never again. No signs of outside stress, cut fins, bullying. No interest in food. 

Should I do the second phase or is this not a parasite issue?
@Colu

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/1/2023 at 1:39 PM, ChillFish said:

I didn’t see any white poop though. I’m wondering if I should do the second phase? I do know that…

I actually had this same issue! It was so weird.  My black corydoras were supposed to be from a good source, but when they got to me they were extremely lethargic.  I added more to the group and that didn't really seem to help.  I would feed and they never seemed interested, didn't swim a lot either.  Very inactive fish, unfortunately.

I highly recommend following up with multiple rounds of treatment.  My usual method is to do 3-4 rounds.  Even if you don't see worms, there can still be things going on that need that treatment to be removed.  Good siphons after each med treatment, and then trying to encourage food to push out parasites.  Don't overfeed, but just meaning to not hold back food as it were.  I ended up doing advice based on @Odd Duck and Colu's advice trying to get them back to normal.  It took me almost a year and a half to get the courage to do the full rounds of treatment properly and to really deworm the fish.

Odd Ducks method:
Day 1: Expel-P (one day treatment, light sensitive so you need to blackout the tank)
Day 2-6: Siphon, clean the tank, waterchange, and then Paracleanse treatment

Repeat that based on the severity for 4-6 rounds of treatment.

 

Edited 56 minutes ago by nabokovfan87

[Colu]

On 6/1/2023 at 9:39 PM, ChillFish said:

Update! Just completed the first round of papacleanse. The fish almost immediately stopped the previous behavior. (Yea!) 

I didn’t see any white poop though. I’m wondering if I should do the second phase? I do know that…
One or two of the minnows will every now and then stay in one spot like they’re sleeping. But I know they aren’t? It’s like they are “glitching”. Just kinda moving when necessary to stay in one spot. Once I saw them breathing heavily but never again. No signs of outside stress, cut fins, bullying. No interest in food. 

Should I do the second phase or is this not a parasite issue?
@Colu

I can't say for sure it's a parasitic infections without looking a fecal samples under a microscope I would follow up in two weeks with a second course of paracleanse just to be on the safe

[ChillFish]

On 5/31/2023 at 9:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I don't know what is going on with the wood.  Did you boil it before you added it to the tank?  It looks like some sort of fungus, but it's difficult to tell.  Maybe a photo out of the water would help.  Is it easy to remove the orange stuff with a pair of tweezers or pinsettes?

Hello! The minnow has improved!

As for the orange stuff… I got the wood from my old coworker, she’s the one who got me into the hobby. She said she had already boiled it and that it was ready to go.

I have had several stages of the wood breaking down already and I am assuming that this is another stage but I can’t find anything on it. I can’t remove it without disturbing the tank, but I’m willing if it proves to be a hazard.

The spots are bright orange and hard in texture. The fall off with some pressure. I haven’t tried removed it off the wood cause I’m worried it will spread onto other places.  Not to mention I would again have to take out the wood to get it all off.
I’m not sure if it is bothering anything or just a part of the ecosystem… but really I don’t know what it is.

Edited 50 minutes ago by ChillFish

[ChillFish]

On 6/1/2023 at 1:51 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I actually had this same issue! It was so weird.  My black corydoras were supposed to be from a good source, but when they got to me they were extremely lethargic.  I added more to the group and that didn't really seem to help.  I would feed and they never seemed interested, didn't swim a lot either.  Very inactive fish, unfortunately.

I highly recommend following up with multiple rounds of treatment.  My usual method is to do 3-4 rounds.  Even if you don't see worms, there can still be things going on that need that treatment to be removed.  Good siphons after each med treatment, and then trying to encourage food to push out parasites.  Don't overfeed, but just meaning to not hold back food as it were.  I ended up doing advice based on @Odd Duck and Colu's advice trying to get them back to normal.  It took me almost a year and a half to get the courage to do the full rounds of treatment properly and to really deworm the fish.

Odd Ducks method:
Day 1: Expel-P (one day treatment, light sensitive so you need to blackout the tank)
Day 2-6: Siphon, clean the tank, waterchange, and then Paracleanse treatment

Repeat that based on the severity for 4-6 rounds of treatment.

 

Okay! I don’t have the expel-p… I do know I haven’t been on top of the sun hitting the tank. So I’ll try to limit that more so. I’ll get the second round of paracleanse going cause that’s all I have… and I keep their regular food schedule. I haven’t stopped feeding them, all of them have been eating… except recently the “glitching” fish. I’ll try though to get her to eat. Thx!