Do Fish Get Depressed?

[Kriv]

Nice big tank, Had four Fantails and four Rosy Minnows.

One of the fantails, Chips, was swimming slightly strange, as if one of his fins was damaged. Then we noticed that one of the larger Minnows was chasing after him and seem to be nibbling at his tail and fin.

Acting upon this we quarantined the Minnow. As Chips was still eating and swimming fairly normally, we left him in the main tank.

Next morning he perked up a bit, back to his lunatic comedy self, but in the afternoon when getting back from work, Chips was upside down in the tank. Poor little fella.

The Minnow had a reintroduction to the LFS.

Now the other Fantails, Gherkin, Bacon and Eggs, seem to be moping about. Would they be effected?

They're not showing any signs of illness, scales and fins all look fine and no other changes in behaviour. And still eating as normal.

 

[-germ-]

Is there any chance or was there any signs that the other fantails had nipped at chips?
Its common/natural behaviour for fish to nip/eat their dead 'buddies'...
If so, and they do seem lethargic i'd assume all was not well with chips (unlikely that fin-nipping killed him) and that maybe this has passed to your other fish.
TBH dependind on a)if it is an illness and B ) if so, what it is then they may not even had to nip him to catch something.
Could be your water also....
Make an emergency topic (i think) and make sure to fill in the pinned q+a from the top of the section....

 

[Kriv]

Is there any chance or was there any signs that the other fantails had nipped at chips?
Its common/natural behaviour for fish to nip/eat their dead 'buddies'...
If so, and they do seem lethargic i'd assume all was not well with chips (unlikely that fin-nipping killed him) and that maybe this has passed to your other fish.
TBH dependind on a)if it is an illness and B ) if so, what it is then they may not even had to nip him to catch something.
Could be your water also....
Make an emergency topic (i think) and make sure to fill in the pinned q+a from the top of the section....

Water is all fine, when I found Chips I performed a 50% water change. All levels are all ok, Tested daily for the past week. The other fantails did not nibble at chips (as far as I know). When doing a post mortem (Just visual) his gills were nice and healthy, no issues with his scales etc.) Only signs were where the Minnow nibbled at his tail and fin.

The fin nipping, which I feel I should elaborate on, caused him to swim strangely. It was as if it was broken. Still being chased by the Minnow in this state must have caused stress to the poor thing.

Again it doesn't seem like they're ill, just really depressed.

 

[-germ-]

Lethargy can be symptomatic of a world of ills, i'd be very careful, just in case there was more to it than simple nipping.

 

[Kriv]

Lethargy can be symptomatic of a world of ills, i'd be very careful, just in case there was more to it than simple nipping.

Oh I certainly am keeping an eye on them.

 

[-germ-]

Its obviously your opinion that matters but in your situation i'd treat with a general med or maybe an anti-bac just to be careful...
Prevention before the cure and all that!

 

[Lynda B]

what size tank is this.... "nice big tank" just doesn't give me a visual.....

 

[Kriv]

Its obviously your opinion that matters but in your situation i'd treat with a general med or maybe an anti-bac just to be careful...
Prevention before the cure and all that!

Any you'd recommend?