jwcarlson Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 (edited) Yesterday, I noticed a one of my pencil fish wedged up in the corner of the tank. I thought maybe it was a weird spawning thing or something, but it didn't move. I disrupted it and it took of swimming and it was doing the "classic" head up fighting to swim up that I usually associate with a swim bladder problem. These fish have been with me about 6 weeks. I have not wormed them yet, but have put them into a 55. There's 12 total and I thought maybe it was a breeding injury, but other than the males sparing and pecking at females they don't seem too rough on each other. I have been counting these things daily since I got them because I've never had them before and always convince myself I'm missing two of them, so I'm pretty confident that this fish was behaving 'normal' until at least very recently. I thought it looked almost like this fish was bitten around the middle, looking almost crimped. There's nothing in the tank that could do that. All that's in there are six Scleromystax barbatus and a few nerite snails. I lost it in the floating hornwort and last night I was busy with kid Christmas concert, so I didn't look for her. Saw it again this AM, so netted her out and put her in a hang on box so she's not fighting any of the other fish and also less flow, though it's only filtered by sponges so there's not a lot going on in that regard. I've never had good luck with epsom salt, but have some of that and could try it. Any other ideas? It seems almost like there's some swelling up on the back area that's flexing the tail down and giving it the crimped look. Edited December 6, 2023 by jwcarlson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted December 6, 2023 Author Share Posted December 6, 2023 Forgot to add that I also have a host of other meds I can use as needed. Diet since I've had them is primarily live BBS with some ACO fry food and assorted other flake/pellet periodically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted December 7, 2023 Author Share Posted December 7, 2023 Well, I have never seen this. That's a rupture or tear in the side of the fish and air bubble coming out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 Could be an injury to swim bladder releasing air what I would do is leave a low dose of Epsom salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons for 5 days and I would do a course of maracyn2 active ingredient minocycline also has anti-inflammatory properties @jwcarlson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted December 7, 2023 Author Share Posted December 7, 2023 Maracyn 2 is one I don't have. For antibiotics I've got kanamycin, nitrofurazone, and erythromycin... maybe something else I'm forgetting. I've got some epsom salt in, poor thing seems a bit stressed (rightfully so). Breathing quick. I'll see how it looks in the morning and see if it seems like she'd be able to make it with something else in the water. The swelling on the top half is concerning, I'm thinking that perhaps whatever is swelling pushed the swim bladder to the point of bursting through the side. To be honest, I was close to dispatching it when I saw that, but once the bubble popped out it seemed to calm down and just lay down on the bottom. Thanks, @Colu! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 On 12/7/2023 at 3:05 AM, jwcarlson said: Maracyn 2 is one I don't have. For antibiotics I've got kanamycin, nitrofurazone, and erythromycin... maybe something else I'm forgetting. I've got some epsom salt in, poor thing seems a bit stressed (rightfully so). Breathing quick. I'll see how it looks in the morning and see if it seems like she'd be able to make it with something else in the water. The swelling on the top half is concerning, I'm thinking that perhaps whatever is swelling pushed the swim bladder to the point of bursting through the side. To be honest, I was close to dispatching it when I saw that, but once the bubble popped out it seemed to calm down and just lay down on the bottom. Thanks, @Colu! If you think it's strong enough I would do a course of kanaplex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted December 7, 2023 Author Share Posted December 7, 2023 We'll see how it looks in the morning, if it more or less looks about the same as it does now, I'll give it a shot. The only issue is, I don't see how it could ever be able to swim above the bottom again. But I could probably find a way to give it a life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) So this gal is still alive. She seems fine, but has obviously lost her ability to use her swim bladder. She will not survive or at least not thrive in the main tank as she will only be able to fight to perch in the floating plants and hornwort. What about making her at fry mascot and let her live in a fry tray with a suitably sized batch of fry? My theory is she was wounded in a freak spine'ing by one of the barbatus corys as they have really started aggressively glass surfing and they're fast and don't care what they hit. Edited December 14, 2023 by jwcarlson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwcarlson Posted December 15, 2023 Author Share Posted December 15, 2023 (edited) I don't know if it was the EZ Flow kit or what, but this pencil fish has recovered. Edited December 15, 2023 by jwcarlson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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