Pencil fish problem

[Mathew1991]

Everything has been fine with my tank

The last few days I keep seeing some of the pencil fish like twirling and found upside down and can’t stay upright
Then maybe a day or two they die
I have lost about 4 like that now

All other fish and adf and shrimp seem to be fine and no problems

Any suggestions

 

[jaylach]

I have no idea as to pencils but may help you get quicker answers...

These are questions that you will be asked.
1) Tank size.
2) Water parameters such as PH, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and temperature.
3) Do you do regular water changes and, if so, how large?
4) Can you supply a video or photos of the entire tank and the fish?

 

[GaryE]

No one ever asks the most important question.

When did you get them?

And the second important question: what species of pencil fish? Their care can be very different.

Then you can go to the test kit answers.

 

[Mathew1991]

No one ever asks the most important question.

When did you get them?

And the second important question: what species of pencil fish? Their care can be very different.

Then you can go to the test kit answers.

I’ve had them for about 3-4 month now
And they are the Beckfords

 

[GaryE]

The spinning thing is usually either a virus or a neuro parasite. No one really investigates. It's way more common on newly bought fish.

beckfords are the toughest pencil. But if you're doing regular water changes and other species aren't affected, they are probably carrying something that may remain mysterious. Sometimes you have to keep things clean and wait out the losses, if you can't see the cause.

One more clue though. A fish that had been hit around the base of the gills will do that. Is anything in the tank breeding, or do you have nasties like red tailed sharks?

 

[seangee]

Are you able to isolate them? I mean all of them. I once had something similar with glowlight tetras. It went through them quite quickly and mostly did not affect the other fish (I did have one or two losses and I suspect those were from fish that ate the dead glowlights before I found them. I never got to the bottom of it. I suspected neuro parasites but wasn't paying for tests. In the end I ended up euthanasing all the glowlights and never had another problem in the tank.
Sorry I know that's not what you wanted to hear.

 

[Mathew1991]

The spinning thing is usually either a virus or a neuro parasite. No one really investigates. It's way more common on newly bought fish.

beckfords are the toughest pencil. But if you're doing regular water changes and other species aren't affected, they are probably carrying something that may remain mysterious. Sometimes you have to keep things clean and wait out the losses, if you can't see the cause.

One more clue though. A fish that had been hit around the base of the gills will do that. Is anything in the tank breeding, or do you have nasties like red tailed sharks?

No sharks, some Mollys had some fry a few weeks ago other than that I don’t think any more are breeding

 

[Mathew1991]

There is one in the tank now just lying on its side on a plant if I tap on the glass it moves off

 

[Mathew1991]

 

[seangee]

That looks exactly like what I had. FWIW I battled this for about 4 months as it worked its way through around 30 fish. I did seek a lot of help and a lot of advise / info. This may not all be correct but I saw nothing to contradict it. In summary:

• Probably a protozoan parasite
• Once a fish starts showing symptoms it will not recover
• When a fish dies the parasite(s) will seek a new host (mine started going one at a time, each time a fish died another started showing symptoms a few days later)
• Anything that eats a dead fish is likely to get infected

If it ever happens again I will

• Isolate the entire group
• remove any fish at the first sign of symptoms

I believe this is the only chance of saving any fish that aren't already infected.
An alternative I never explored was going to a vet, simply because I could have bought a very nice new tank setup and stocked it for a lot less than that would have cost. I did try pretty much every med available without a prescription

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

The spinning thing is usually either a virus or a neuro parasite. No one really investigates. It's way more common on newly bought fish.

beckfords are the toughest pencil. But if you're doing regular water changes and other species aren't affected, they are probably carrying something that may remain mysterious. Sometimes you have to keep things clean and wait out the losses, if you can't see the cause.

One more clue though. A fish that had been hit around the base of the gills will do that. Is anything in the tank breeding, or do you have nasties like red tailed sharks?

+1

had this happen mysteriously to a group of African Tiger Scat…didn’t affect any other fish in the tank, just that species. Mine were killed within 24hrs. Could’ve been due to aggression, but i doubt it