American Flag Fish Somersaulting, Crazy Gyrations

[O2Breather]

New guy here. Hi, y'all.
I recently placed three American Flag Fish in a 10-gallon tank with a medium-size Black Angelfish and a Blue Gourami, in the hope that the Flag Fish would start chowing down on the blackbeard algae that has spread throughout the tank and all over the live plants' leaves. I haven't actually seen them eating it, but it's diminished a bit on the side of the tank where they hide. I noticed one of the Flag Fish remaining motionless on the bottom, or sometimes swimming kind of head-up, so I put it in a two-gallon tank for observation and maybe treatment. When I feed it, I put it in a Tupperware bowl, drop some live brine shrimp in there, and leave it to dine for an hour or so. It cleans them up. But whenever I have prodded it or gone to catch it, it "flings" itself wildly here and there across the tank, or spins round and round, looking every bit like a game fish caught on the hook. I never saw anything like it. Now another Flag Fish in the 10-gallon tank is acting a bit erratic. The big fish seem fine. Could it be the algae causing this? I tested the water recently for pH and ammonia-nitrites-nitrates, and it's good. I use rainwater for the monthly 30% water changes. I don't see any outward signs of injury or disease. ...Epilepsy??

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What are the results in numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?

I would do water changes more often than once a month. Dirty tanks can be a breeding ground for protozoan parasites and bacterial infections that can get into a fish's brain and cause swimming problems. It could also be genetic.

Can you post some pictures and a video of the fish?
You can upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

In the mean time, test the water and post the results in numbers here.

Tell us how often and how you clean the filter?

Do a 50% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a couple of weeks or until we figure out what is wrong with the fish. It could be old tank syndrome with a low pH and high nitrates.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[O2Breather]

Sorry for the late reply; we had an outage.
My API test kit showed 0 and 0 for Ammonia and Nitrite, but 10ppm for Nitrate. I only change the filter monthly, after a 30% water change, and I usually clean it once during the month under tap water (well water).
I'm intrigued by the protozoa idea, that would let me off the hook, so to speak, on neglecting my fish. I did have the Flag Fish in a hospital tank with a second Black Angel being treated for bacterial infection (fin and tail rot), but only for a couple of days, as the Angel recovered. I'll ask the guy at the fish store for Protozoa medication and try that.

 

[Colin_T]

Salt works on the protozoan parasites that get into the brain. It's safer and cheaper.

-------------------
SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.

 

[O2Breather]

I'll give it a try. I picked up some aquarium salt a while back and forgot about it. Thanks.