Swim bladder disease in rummy nose tetra or just an odd fish?

[bennyblee]

Hi, I have some new rummy nose tetras in my 10 gallon quarantine right now, just about to finish week 2. They all look bright and beautiful. However, one of them is acting odd, and I'm not sure if this is swim bladder disease or if it just not a neurotypical tetra.

It spends most of its time nose down trying to scavenge off the bottom (bare bottom tank). It has always been the skinniest of the lot but is not losing weight. At random times I will check the tank and it is swimming fine horizontally, and can swim away quickly without any issues if startled. At feeding time, it will swim over to check out the food but will generally not eat the freshly added food and then will go back to scouring the bottom.

When this first started I was worried about swim bladder disease and that what looked liked scavenging was its attempt to keep from constantly falling against the bottom of the tank. But the more I watch the more it really just seems like he is perfectly healthy and just prefers to spend his time this way than shoaling with the others. It has no lesions or signs of illness, its nose is brightly colored just like the others. I have seen it multiple times picking detritus off the bottom, carrying it away, sifting through it, so this all seems intentional. Am I deluding myself? Has anybody else seen rummy nose do this? I am wondering whether to add this fish to the display tank when the time comes with the others or not...

Parameters are all stable:

0/0/5

pH 7.8

Temp 76F

3 dKH, 7 dGH

Filtration is with a 20 gallon sponge

[Colu]

Something off with your Tetra's behaviour but I don't think it's caused by swim bladder have you notice any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy spitting food out sunken belly white stringy poop 

[bennyblee]

On 2/25/2024 at 5:45 PM, Colu said:

Something off with your Tetra's behaviour but I don't think it's caused by swim bladder have you notice any rapid breathing hanging out near the surface lethargy spitting food out sunken belly white stringy poop 

Thanks Colu, none of the above. It is thinner and paler than the rest of the group, which has been unchanged since bringing him home. I had wondered if maybe internal parasites making him just super hungry constantly, but I haven't noticed any stringy poop, and as I said before he only wants to feed off the bottom, he won't touch the food that is still floating or suspended. But once it is resting on the bottom he'll go after it with gusto.

FYI treated with the quarantine trio as soon as I brought them all home. Accidentally overdosed the Ich-X actually but everyone seems to be fine with it.

Since my original post, I noticed a faint trace of white around the lips, which I now am hoping is just due to the constant scraping along the bottom and not the beginning of Columnaris. The activity here seems like it would have nothing to do with a Columnaris infection however.

 

[Colu]

On 2/26/2024 at 4:25 PM, bennyblee said:

Thanks Colu, none of the above. It is thinner and paler than the rest of the group, which has been unchanged since bringing him home. I had wondered if maybe internal parasites making him just super hungry constantly, but I haven't noticed any stringy poop, and as I said before he only wants to feed off the bottom, he won't touch the food that is still floating or suspended. But once it is resting on the bottom he'll go after it with gusto.

FYI treated with the quarantine trio as soon as I brought them all home. Accidentally overdosed the Ich-X actually but everyone seems to be fine with it.

Since my original post, I noticed a faint trace of white around the lips, which I now am hoping is just due to the constant scraping along the bottom and not the beginning of Columnaris. The activity here seems like it would have nothing to do with a Columnaris infection however.

 

As it's paler and thinner than the others it might be worthwhile doing a course of paracleanse now then following up with second course in two weeks 

[bennyblee]

On 2/26/2024 at 2:03 PM, Colu said:

As it's paler and thinner than the others it might be worthwhile doing a course of paracleanse now then following up with second course in two weeks 

 

Thanks Colu. Interestingly, it's now completely stopped doing this bottom-scouring behavior but almost 3 weeks in quarantine, the others look like they've noticeably gained some weight and more vibrant color, this one still looks relatively pale and washed-out still. I will plan to treat with Paracleanse...