Help Needed But Not Yet An Emergency

[Tonyb111111]

One of my neon tetras does not look to well. He is slightly bloated in the belly, but not to the extent that scales are sticking out. The main way I can describe it is to say that he is continuously swimming head down at a 45degree angle as if he is full of air and will quickly float if he doesnt swim downwards. Colours still look good and he is still eating
Right here are stats, ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrates are 20, ph is 6.8 and temp is 26.5
Any ideas would be welcomed

 

[ninjacheesefish]

The bloated belly would suggest early stages of drospy, hence why the fins aren't sticking out yet. But then the swimming thing is making me think swim bladder issues, although their mostly common in fancy goldfish. Just a thought.

 

[Tonyb111111]

I have just had my first dead fish through illness so I am gutted and get the feeling of failure. Thing is, I think that the other tetras are starting to behave differently also. The fish in the the original post is still alive and the dead one I pulled out did not appear to have any physical symptoms at all. Has anyone got any other suggestions. I don't think it's swim bladder or dropsy as all the symptoms don't fit

 

[Akasha72]

are they pooping? Could be something as simple as constipation or as extreme as internal parasites.

Try feeding them some cooked, de-shelled peas to start with and see if it helps

 

[tomtomtom1230]

I had one of my Neons do this, they seem to struggle to swim down because they are full of air. It definitely wasn't dropsy but sadly the fish didn't survive. He swam fine for a day as he seemed to recover from this affliction (perhaps something to do with the swim bladder?) but the day after that, he sat on the bottom 'fitting'. He only survived a few hours after I noticed that, I removed the fish and tried to save him in Melafixed water but it didn't have any effect.

 

[Tonyb111111]

R

I had one of my Neons do this, they seem to struggle to swim down because they are full of air. It definitely wasn't dropsy but sadly the fish didn't survive. He swam fine for a day as he seemed to recover from this affliction (perhaps something to do with the swim bladder?) but the day after that, he sat on the bottom 'fitting'. He only survived a few hours after I noticed that, I removed the fish and tried to save him in Melafixed water but it didn't have any effect.

Thanks for this, did it spread to others or just the one fish?

are they pooping? Could be something as simple as constipation or as extreme as internal parasites.

Try feeding them some cooked, de-shelled peas to start with and see if it helps

They are pooping as normal. I think I'll not feed for a day or two then try your suggestion, what do you think?