Siamese algae eater acting odd

WiccaFish

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Does anyone know what might be wrong with my guy? I've had him for almost a year and he lives in a 75 gallon planted and heated tank. Temp is 79 degrees. All water parameters are in the normal range.
A few weeks ago he looked terrible! Pale in color and his eyes almost looked like they had a gaze over them. In a couple of days he was fine again. Now I notice him staying in this one corner all day and night. I haven't added any fish or decor. All other fish are fine
 
I never guess on fish disease/issues, other member have more experience in that field. It will help though to have the test numbers. None of us knows what "normal range" may mean to you or us, the number makes it clear. Parameters refers to GH, KH, pH and temperature. Conditions refers to ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
 
I can't help as much either with diagnosis, but I have kept SAEs and that is very odd behavior. Does he have friends? Different people say different things about keeping them alone, but mine were always happier when I had more than one.

Like Byron said, we would need to know exactly what you parameters were. What's he being fed?
 
I will check the numbers again and report back to you. I've had him for over two years and in that time no new fish have been added and he's never exhibited this behavior before. It's been going on for several weeks now. His color would range from pale back to his normal dark coloring. He must st be eating because he hasn't lost weight. I'm not sure if he stays in that corner at night because I just witness this during the daytime but he NEVER leaves that corner. It's so sad to see him like this. He use to swim all around the tank before 🥺
 
It may well be severely stressed from being alone. This is a shoaling/schooling species and it needs a group of at least six or seven. There is now scientific studies showing that when such a fish is denied the group it expects, it may react by becoming more aggressive or it sometimes does the opposite and literally wastes away. I am not suggesting you rush out to get more, as there could well be a health issue beyond this occurring. When we have the data previously requested members may be able to offer more. It would also help to know what other fish are in this tank.
 
I'm testing the water today before I do my weekly water change but these are the fish I have in the tank with him. He's been in the tank 3 years (found my receipt when I purchased him)
He's been schooling with the the Rosaline Sharks since I got him so I'm not sure what's changed. None of the fish have shown any aggression towards him.
2 Pearl Gourami
6 Roseline Sharks
2 Boesemani Rainbowfish
1 Blackfin Rainbowfish
1 Deepwater Creek Rainbowfish
1 Bristlenose
1 Panda Garra
1 SAE
3 Mystery Snails
 
Other members may have more on the possible health issues, though they will want the water parameter and condition data. All I can offer from this list of species is that several of them need a group, and this alone does cause a lot of stress which weakens fish allowing other issues to take hold.
 
Just did the water test...
PH 7.6 (my tank has been at this level for the past 6 years)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0
Phosphate 0
 
I feed regular flakes for some fish, algae wafers for the algae eaters and snail cookies for the snails. I also put veggies in every few weeks as a treat
 
Just did the water test...
PH 7.6 (my tank has been at this level for the past 6 years)
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 40
Nitrite 0
Phosphate 0

The nitrate that high is another red flag. Nitrate is toxic to all fish, it works by weakening the fish over time. The fish species, the nitrate level, and the exposure time all factor in. Is the nitrate solely within the aquarium? Or is there some level of nitrate in the tap water itself? The methods to effectively deal with nitrate depend upon the source.
 
The nitrates have been in that range for over 6 years and never had an issue with sick fish until the SAE's odd behavior over the past few weeks. We have well water so I'll test the water from the tap tomorrow and see if the nitrates are the same level. I also did my weekly water change so I'll test the nitrates in the tank tomorrow and see if they've come down after changing the water.
I would hate to start adding chemicals to lower the nitrate since it's been like this for so long without issues.
I did notice him swimming normally and his color darker again earlier today but now he's back in his corner so I'm really baffled.
I forgot to mention I also have two little dwarf aquatic frogs in the mix.
 
Does the fish still eat?
What does its poop look like?

There is colour in the muscle tissue under the skin and that can be a microsporidian infection. You can try cleaning the tank and adding some salt. See how it goes after a week with salt and big daily water changes.

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Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).

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SALT
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), swimming pool salt, or any non iodised salt (sodium chloride) to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres (5 gallons) of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres (5 gallons).

Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, Bettas & gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

When you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.
 

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