Sickly Swordtail

[JemZ]

My swordtail has been up in the corner of the tank since yesterday afternoon (at least that's when I noticed it). Very lethargic and remaining in place with his dorsal fin(?) clamped, the complete opposite of his usual bubbly self.

He is the only fish in the tank along with a female nerite, and around 8-12 bladder snails.

I've been trying to get my hands on the master freshwater test kit for a while now and finally found one not too far away that I may be able to pick up today. I will post the parameters when I can. An air pump is being delivered, I already purchased an airstone and tubing in case this is an aeration issue, but he is not gasping so I'm not sure it is.

Did a 60% water change yesterday and gravel-cleaned along with a 10% water change today. I also cleaned the filter as well as its parts in tank water yesterday too.

Here is a video of him:

 

[Colin_T]

Test the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH as soon as you can. Post results (in numbers) here.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

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.
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 them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

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

 

[JemZ]

Thanks Colin,

The air stone should be here in the next 2 hours, I should be able to get the kit in the same amount of time as well

 

[JemZ]

Ok here are the results:

ph (not high range): 7.6

Ammonia: 1.0 ppm

Nitrite: 0 ppm

Nitrate: 5.0 ppm

 

[Colin_T]

The ammonia is the problem. You want ammonia and nitrite on 0ppm at all times, and nitrate needs to be under 20ppm at all times.

Ammonia is really toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms at any level above 0, but is worse when the pH is above 7.0. Having a pH of 7.6 and 1ppm of ammonia is harming the fish.

---------------------
Just reduce the feeding to once every couple of days. Don't worry about the fish starving, they will be fine. And do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

After the filter has cycled in about 4-6 weeks, you can increase feeding to every day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean once a week.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

---------------------
Don't worry about testing the nitrate level until after the filter has cycled and the ammonia and nitrite levels have both gone up and come back down to 0ppm.

Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate, and give you a false reading. So don't bother about nitrate tests until the tank/ filter have cycled.

 

[JemZ]

do a 75% water change and gravel clean once a week.

Thanks, Colin,

The addition of the air stone seemed to help him; he seems more alive. I'll a large water change and gravel clean today to try and get the ammonia under control.

 

[Essjay]

ph (not high range): 7.6

If that is the highest number the tester can test for, it could be 7.6 or anything above 7.6.

 

[JemZ]

If that is the highest number the tester can test for, it could be 7.6 or anything above 7.6.

The test kit also came with high range pH which I will test for since the water has a history of being very hard. The swordtail is now finding it difficult to stay upright and seems to have to struggle to move around. I fed him a pea in case this is a swim bladder issue.

 

[Colin_T]

It's not his swim bladder, it's ammonia poisoning.