Celebes Rainbow Suddenly Gasping, Shaking Head And Bent At Back

[myrtle]

Hi, this is my second attempt at posting this as the internet went down when i hit submit last time

. One of my Celebes Rainbows has suddenly bugun breathing rapidly, swimming at an odd angle and his spine is bent to the left. He did have all his fins stuck out as if displaying but they've gone back a bit now. He appears to be swimming with his front fins only as they are going very rapidly for him to stay in place and his tail is still. I had to turn the lights out earlier as I needed the socket for a minute (never enough sockets) and whren I turned the lights back on one of the Celebes (possibly him) had got stuck under the CO2 diffuser and was bashing himself against itto try to escape. He got out and literally 10 seconds later I saw this boy violently shaking his head from side to side and swimming in very jerky movements. I have just completed a course of sterazin yesterday and the stats are 0/0/30. is it possible that he has damaged his spine in an attempt to escape the diffuser in a panic or does this sound like something else?
Jo

 

[elisew]

My first thought was that the spine has been damaged, I may well be wrong though. I`m so sorry Jo but I have no other ideas as to what the problem could be
I really hope I`m wrong but it may be a case of having to do the worst

 

[myrtle]

Sorry for not replying Lisa, the internet has gone haywire here over the last few weeks, one minute it's fine and the next it's gone only to come back 20 mins later

.
I watched him very closely all the rest of the evening and he seemed to very slowly normalise. This lunchtime when I came home from work to walk the dogs the tank lights were on so I managed to have a look at him and he seems much brighter in himself and he has straightened out. However hisentire back half has turned white under the skin where it should be see-through. The blue stripe and other colours are just as bright as before so I'm thinking it was internal bruising and thankfully not a breakage as I first feared. He's eating fine and swimming almost normally but one of his fins is still stuck up and the larger male is picking on him occasionally. All in all he's looking better and I'm so relieved! I'll keep a close eye on him and hopefully he'll keep improving!

 

[myrtle]

Well, unfortunately the little fishy passed away today

. Over the last few days his blue stripe had gradually got darker and he was not swimming quite right. When I got back from work I checked on them (as you do) and eventually found him deceased. When I got him out it was obvious that his back had broken and therefore had been using his front fins only to swim with. The poor mite must have exhausted himself, though he was still eating well.
Sorry Lisa, only 8 left.

 

[mark4785]

Hi,

It sounds like theres nothing more you could have done other than try to re-locate the diffuser or use a different sort of diffuser. My fish experience me put my hands in the tank and mess about with things so much that they are all curious rather than scared so anybody could inadvertantly hurt a fish in doing the most basic things (i.e. maintenance, switching the power off in your case, doing a gravel vac etc) because they are always interested in the things you do/introduce.

Mark.

 

[myrtle]

I do feel rather guilty as I am planning on introducing moonlighting when i can afford it as I know they get very startled when the lights go out. I should have turned the filter or heater off instead as it was only for a short while. You live and learn...