Lethargic Swordtail

[philrag11]

I've been away on holiday for a week and got back last night to find one of my minnows missing (subsequently found dead near the bottom of the filter) and the male swordtail acting very lethargic....

The other 4 minnows, 3 baby minnows and 2 female swordtails are all fine...110 litre Juwel Rio tank set up in August and running fine after a fishless cycle....

I did a 30% water change last night (usually clean every 2 weeks) and cleaned out the gravel as I emptied the water. Tested ammonia (between 0 and 0.25ppm), nitrites (0ppm), nitrates (20ppm), pH 7.4 and temp 25C.

Now he's just lying on the bottom of the tank breathing heavily and only stirring when I go near the tank as though I'm feeding them. I did feed them earlier in the day with a small pinch of flakes and he was active coming up for food and still comes to the surface now looking for food if I open the lid.

Since the rest of the fish are fine and there are no obvious signs of fungus or other external disease I can only assume its an internal illness?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Phil

Photos attached below both taken tonight....

 

[XeroTolerance]

How long has he been in the tank? Could he have been fin nipped when you were gone?

 

[philrag11]

How long has he been in the tank? Could he have been fin nipped when you were gone?

I got the 3 swordtails at the same time 3 months ago and have never had any problems. The other swordtails are females and the minnows aren't aggressive so wouldn't have thought so....

Sadly just checked him this morning and he's died in the night....will have to monitor the others and see over the next few days......

 

[XeroTolerance]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[snazy]

did a 30% water change last night (usually clean every 2 weeks) and cleaned out the gravel as I emptied the water. Tested ammonia (between 0 and 0.25ppm), nitrites (0ppm), nitrates (20ppm), pH 7.4 and temp 25C.

You did say there is ammonia in the tank though, which may have killed him if he was weaker. You want that value at constant 0.

Sorry for your loss. It was a beautiful fish really.

 

[philrag11]

did a 30% water change last night (usually clean every 2 weeks) and cleaned out the gravel as I emptied the water. Tested ammonia (between 0 and 0.25ppm), nitrites (0ppm), nitrates (20ppm), pH 7.4 and temp 25C.

You did say there is ammonia in the tank though, which may have killed him if he was weaker. You want that value at constant 0.

Sorry for your loss. It was a beautiful fish really.

Yeah I'm not sure why the ammonia went up as its been at 0 the last few times I've checked it and since nitrites are 0 I'm assuming the bacteria are still working ok. I did have a drop in temperature of a few degrees when I did the last water change as I was in a rush so didn't temperature match the water (takes forever with my spare heater!) so not sure if that affected the fish or the bacteria hence the slight increase in ammonia?

I just want to know that it was something like that so it can be easily remedied rather than something more sinister in the tank which will slowly kill off the rest. I guess I'll just have to wait and see and keep checking the ammonia....thought I'd do another water change tomorrow just 20% to get it down closer to 0 if it isn't back there by now.

Thanks for your responses anyway.....

 

[Prime Ordeal]

His belly looks a little thin to me and given that your other fish are OK, and your low ammonia reading, I doubt it's related in any way to ammonia poisoning.

 

[philrag11]

His belly looks a little thin to me and given that your other fish are OK, and your low ammonia reading, I doubt it's related in any way to ammonia poisoning.

That's what I thought - I know ammonia is an issue and should be 0 but since the reading is low as you say and the others are fine I figured it might be something else....

Any ideas?

 

[XeroTolerance]

It could be an internal disease caused by nothing in particular. I know its weird but it does happen sometimes.