Fish Cannot Swim Upright

[pippin35]

Hi All
At the weekend I bought A Dolphin Cichlid it now can't swim upright any suggestions? Could it be fish attack, high nitrates or plain bad luck?

Thanks for any help
pippin35

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
Sounds like swim bladder does the fish look bloated.

 

[pippin35]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,and ph.
Sounds like swim bladder does the fish look bloated.

Hi Wilder

Tank size 84ltr
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7 this was 8.2 yesterday

Convict, firemouth, sunset/sunrise, neon jewel, blue headed jack? and the dolphin
no the fish is not bloated just upside down

Thanks pippin35

 

[WILDER]

Sure it's litres and not gallons, the tank is severely overstocked, convicts need 30gal and no less.
Are you sure them stats are that.

If the fish is upside down he's not going to make it sorry.
I would check your tank and stock out by a thread in tropical chit chat, good luck.

 

[WILDER]

Look under swim bladder.
http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm

 

[pippin35]

Sure it's litres and not gallons, the tank is severely overstocked, convicts need 30gal and no less.
Are you sure them stats are that.

If the fish is upside down he's not going to make it sorry.
I would check your tank and stock out by a thread in tropical chit chat, good luck.

Just checked on capacity calculators 80cmx30cmx35cm = 18.5 gallons or 84Ltrs in UK speak!
My LFS did not tell us we needed such a large space for the convict!!!! eeek!

The water stats have just been checked again and are as before

PH 7
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

The Dolphin Cichlid has just expired

 

[WILDER]

Research fish for yourself before you buy them, never take lfs info for gospel.
Sorry about the dolphin bless him R.I.P.

 

[puddle_inc]

maby ammonia poisening? that sounds like what happened to my poor puffer


sometimes you cans ave them. it has happened to my guppies sometimes. don't know how though. i always put them in a 1g betta bowl, you could use something bigger because of the size of the fish, and then put airation into so it has to keep swimming. sometimes if the fish can't swim right there dying. if they stop swimming, there gone

 

[kribensis12]

It cant be ammonia posining if his ammonia is 0.

 

[Squid]

It cant be ammonia posining if his ammonia is 0.

How old is the tank though? as the nitrates are at 0 too..!

If a tank that size has those fish, there would be ammonia in the tank or nitrite.. If there wasn't then the tank is cycled, and so you would expect to see nitrate ..

what test kit are you using?

How old is the test kit?

How long have all the fish been in the tank.?

Sorry the fishy didn't make it.. but its now best to figure out what the problem was to make sure the others are ok...!

Squid

 

[crazie.eddie]

Rather strange. I would look into getting a second opinion on your water parameters or maybe get a 2nd test kit. Unless you just setup the tank and added the fish immediately and tested the water, you cannot have a nitrate reading of 0. Also, you stated your pH went from 8.2 to 7 in one day. Such a rapid pH shift could have given the fish pH shock. Do you add any chemicals in the tank to decrease the pH?