Bala Shark Passing Out?

[nath1]

i have three, healthy-i think, bala sharks ranging from 3" to 7". twice now after feeding my middle size shark ,5", has gone ridged and floated about in the current without moving , turning upside down and basicaly looking like he was dying! after a while, about 2 minuts, he slowly came round and over the space of about 10mins he returned to his normal self.
any ideas please!! could he be choking on food? i feed them flake food, sinking wafers and frozen blood worm. it is almost like he has a siezure!
has anyone experienced this before, i'd love to know if its something im doing wrong as its quite scarey to watch and i'm sure he's not enjoying it much!!!
nath1

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish in the tank.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
Is the fish bloated.
Diet not very good to high protein need more frozen foods and veg in there diet.

 

[nath1]

tank is 4 foot- about 200ltrs and all stats seem fine. maintenance kept up together!!
they are in with a couple of angles and some guarmi's and a few small plecs-see profile.
they seem in perfect health apart from these two episodes, which happened along time apat ( about 3 months ago and tonight)
i am at a loss to what actually happened.
nath1

 

[WILDER]

I would try some shelled peas and frozen daphnia, need to improve there diet.


Take a look here.
http/www.fishtanksandponds.info/care-mai...swimbladder.htm

 

[nath1]

thank you, i will try some more variety in their diet. i must say it didnt look like a swim bladder problem as i have also got some fancy gold fish so have regularly seen these gulp air and get stuck at the top of the water. the shark looked like it had a fit and then was almost paralised. a bit weird i know but i cant explain it any other way!
nath1

 

[WILDER]

Any signs of flicking and rubbing.

All I could find was this and dosn't really say why they do it.
http/groups.msn.com/Breedingtropicalfish...609352692227551

 

[nath1]

nah, no flicking. when he 'comes round' he seems to be gasping for a while but when he is just floating around his gills and fins seem to slow right down.
thanks for your reply and interesting article wilder.
nath1

 

[WILDER]

What do his gills look like something not right then.
Are they pale with excess mucas on them, or red and inflamed, lack of 02 to the brain by the sounds of it.

 

[vic]

Good chance the ailment is stress. A 52gal US is way too small for 3 balas and two angels! You need to rehouse or trade in . The 52 gal US tank is about the right size for 4 angels only.
Vic

 

[~T~]

Good chance the ailment is stress. A 52gal US is way too small for 3 balas and two angels! You need to rehouse or trade in . The 52 gal US tank is about the right size for 4 angels only.
Vic

Regardless of the tank size it doesnt really sound like stress.Fish dont suddenly go rigid because of stress.When I had balas I had the same thing happen only they would do this if startled and knock themselves out.Many time I thought they were gonners but give time they would right themselves and return to normal.Are you sure its not hitting off something?

 

[WILDER]

As they grow bigger I do agree they need a larger tank of 100 gallons.
Stress would of expected the fish to be pale even clamped fins.
How long have you have the sharks, does it happen when you are around as he could be freaked out.

 

[nath1]

could be that he knocks himself out as they are a bit crazy when they feed and the two bigger sharks do a shimmering thing against each other and chase each other alot at feeding time. to me this sounds about right to the symptems.
ive had the fish about two years and this has only happened twice.
as far as the tank size, they have plenty of room at the moment but i am on the look out for a 5"x2"x2" as i also have a common plec and know full well he will out grow the tank before the bala's will!
thankyou for all you replies. i have checked on him this morning and he looks fine, as if nothing has happened.
nath1

 

[andywg]

could be that he knocks himself out as they are a bit crazy when they feed and the two bigger sharks do a shimmering thing against each other and chase each other alot at feeding time. to me this sounds about right to the symptems.
ive had the fish about two years and this has only happened twice.

It is almost certainly physical injury.

My first bala used to do this a lot when he was about 4" in a 72x18x18. As he got spooked he would fly up and down the tank and then knock himself out. One day shortly after moving to the 6x2x2 he had a bad one and was "out cold" for about 5 minutes. since then he has calmed down and it hasn't happened since.

I think we can safely say that a lack of shelled peas in the diet is not a problem in this case.

One thing to watch for if you have sand in the tank is to try and keep the sand out of the gills when the fish is "out cold". A good way to try and help bring it round is to hold the fish in the filter outlet and rub between the pectoral fins.

I wouldn't overly worry about it, the fish either do it until they are so brain damaged they chill out, or grow out of it.

 

[gettotank110]

Good chance the ailment is stress. A 52gal US is way too small for 3 balas and two angels! You need to rehouse or trade in . The 52 gal US tank is about the right size for 4 angels only.
Vic

Regardless of the tank size it doesnt really sound like stress.Fish dont suddenly go rigid because of stress.When I had balas I had the same thing happen only they would do this if startled and knock themselves out.Many time I thought they were gonners but give time they would right themselves and return to normal.Are you sure its not hitting off something?

this is highly true and hilarious iv watched my 5 inch bala do it before and so i knew he was just knocked out it mainly happens wen i feed the tank blood worms lol i dont want him to do it again because i no its bad for him but it is funny as far as the diet goes try sinking in some cucumber peices i found that balas ocasionally enjoy cucumber wen i feed it intentionaly to my plecs the 5 inch bala will eat the center out all by himself im telling you its good for them and they love it (gettotank110)

 

[nath1]

thanks for all your replies, i feel a bit better now!!
i have found that my bigger bala is a lot calmer than my 5" one so maybe he will grow out of it and maybe when he is in a bigger tank there will be less opertunity for him to do this again.
gettotank110- my balas love cucumber and often jostle for position with my rusty and common plec for position, so much so i now add two pieces at different ends of the tank to stop squabbling.
again thanks to every one, ive just got in from work and checked him and he is fine like nothing happened.
nath1