Columbian Tetra Problem

[nick.darke]

Hi all, not been around much recently, but thought I'd stop by as I have a minor issue with one of my Columbian Tetras (one of a small shoal of 6 in this tank) and wondered it anyone had any advice. This particular fish is hanging tail down (not vertical or anything but maybe 30 deg from the horizontal) and seems to be having a problem maintaining position in the water as whenever it stops moving it's tail for a  sec it sort of slides down and backwards. My immediate thought is swim bladder but if so what to do about it? Tank specs are as follows;
 
Rio 120
Temp is about 26 C
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: trace only
pH: 7
 
Tank is planted and inhabitants are (in addition to the Tetras): 1 Angelfish, 3 loaches (all the same species but not 100% sure what), 2 hoplos (nearly a breeding pair so pretty excited about that possibility) and a plec. Regular (every other week) water changes - 10(ish)% each time - everything pretty stable. No aggression problems (the loaches chase about a bit occasionally but no damage) and no changes to tank decoration or inhabitants (last addition was the tetras over a year ago). None of the other Tetras are showing any signs of this problem.
 
Any thoughts?
 
Nick

 

[noobgamers]

i dont know about a diagnosis or treatment but my tetra developed ths problem about 5 months ago it is healthy bright coloured and activea dn it appears to have dispersed a bit over time although it was a black phantom

 

[Byron]

I see this condition now and then.  There are many possible causes, but no known cure that I have come across.  An individual fish will develop this, perhaps genetic in origin, or due to an injury in the past, etc.  Sometimes but rarely will it be connected to an internal protozoan.
 
I sometimes euthanize the fish, depending upon how severe, as it can result in the fish not being able to eat so it just wastes away and at that stage can get severely picked on.  But if the fish seems to be feeding and is otherwise fine, I tend to leave it alone.  I have a Diamond Tetra in my largest tank that has been like this for almost a year now.  Some weeks it seems better, then it deteriorates again.
 
Byron.

 

[nick.darke]

Thanks for the input Bryon and noobgamers, I obviously hadn't sat down and thought this through properly. Further to my earlier post, the fish seems pretty normal apart from it's overall position in the water, it's swimming about actively (as active as the others) and it's taking food normally too. Certainly while it's feeding properly and seems happy  I'm not going to worry too much about it

 

[nick.darke]

Decision taken to euthanize the Tetra as it had stopped feeding and it's position had worsened to the point where it was hanging almost vertically in the water.

For all the great experiences this hobby gives you, sometimes it hands you some properly crap ones as well.