Cardinal Tetra Struggling To Stay Down

[BryceHockey]

I'm not sure if this belongs in the Emergency section but at the moment I don't think it's anything serious, so posted here.

As of late, one of my Cardinal tetras is struggling to stay down. The best way I can describe it is that he is swimming very hard (somewhat "darty") pointed at about a 45 degree angle facing down, towards the gravel. He is about two inches from the gravel but it's obvious that if he didn't swim hard, he would float up. In the past I've had some Neons do this if they got too much air during feeding time, but it would work itself out after a few hours. This guy has had the problem for around 3 or 4 days now. It has let up at times, which is why I don't think it is swim bladder disease (or whatever the correct name is).

Physically he has been very healthy, eats good, looks very colorful. I just tested the water and everything is in order. My guess is that maybe he is over-feeding? I feed by dunking the flakes in, and the fish gather them. I resorted to this after all my neons were getting too much air from the surface and hadn't faced the problem since.

Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Bryce

 

[Pleccy]

It sounds like bloat, I would cut out the flakes for a while and offer them some frozen food (and live food if you can get it). This will clear the digestive tract. When you do start feeding the flakes again only feed them once a day and soak the flakes to make them sink.

 

[BryceHockey]

Thanks for the response. I may just skip tomorrow's feeding. I feed flake food once a day plus freeze-dried bloodworms twice a week, however the neons and cardinals never get the bloodworms. (Mainly because they are too big, but even if broken into smaller sizes, they aren't brave enough to venture to the top lol).

I just hope this guy isn't stressing too much to stay down, he's really been swimming hard for hours.

 

[BryceHockey]

No sense in making a new thread even though this one is old. This same little Cardinal tetra is still struggling! It looks exactly as it did in the past when a neon would get too much air during feeding, but this doesn't seem to be the case (he isn't going to the surface during feeding). If it were swim bladder, I read that cooked peas would be good. However in a tank with all these tetras, I don't see it being easy to get the food to just this fish and not having others eat them all. I've also read opinions that treatment for swim bladder usually won't cure, rather just temporarily stop the tough swimming.

Any suggestions? I'm really surprised that this poor fish is still having trouble and I'd love to help him if I knew how.

 

[BryceHockey]

Final attempt at seeing a response, or I'll just have to wait it out I suppose. As an update, all other fish are doing very well. This fish often does perfectly fine, but then at random times during the day will start the struggle again. Unlike the neons that had this symptom in the past, he never even goes near the surface during feeding time (he does eat a lot) so I don't know how he could be getting too much air.

 

[RushingChamp28]

Final attempt at seeing a response, or I'll just have to wait it out I suppose. As an update, all other fish are doing very well. This fish often does perfectly fine, but then at random times during the day will start the struggle again. Unlike the neons that had this symptom in the past, he never even goes near the surface during feeding time (he does eat a lot) so I don't know how he could be getting too much air.

Sometimes older fish just do this as their body wears out. I know its not the info you want to hear, but perhaps you arent doing anything wrong. Not much can be done to help the aging fish.

 

[BryceHockey]

Sometimes older fish just do this as their body wears out. I know its not the info you want to hear, but perhaps you arent doing anything wrong. Not much can be done to help the aging fish.

Thanks for replying, I think you're probably right in the fact that I can't do anything about it rather than wait it out and hope it can work itself out. What's odd is that this cardinal is the smallest of the group and seems pretty young.

 

[RushingChamp28]

Sometimes older fish just do this as their body wears out. I know its not the info you want to hear, but perhaps you arent doing anything wrong. Not much can be done to help the aging fish.

Thanks for replying, I think you're probably right in the fact that I can't do anything about it rather than wait it out and hope it can work itself out. What's odd is that this cardinal is the smallest of the group and seems pretty young.

Hm. I would just wait, perhaps he got REALLY blocked up and it will work its way out after a few days. When the fish is so small, its hard to tell what kind of massive effect something small might have on them.