Hi, new to the site and looking for some advice, we have just recently upgraded our tropical fish tank and transfered 10 tetra, which we have had for 12 months.

All are fine except one, he seems to be struggling to swim and almost constantly vertical?

He is still eating, and there is no obvious bullying or anything like that, so not quite sure what is wrong or what is the best thing to do?

All the other fish are perfectly fine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated?

Cheers

Emmaandjon

to TFF

IME this can happen with any species of fish and I've encountered it myself with a Black Neon Tetra. It sounds like it could be some type of swim bladder problem which is what keeps the fish upright in the water. If there's an infection, this can result in loss of buoyancy and the symptoms you describe.

hi and welcome to TFF

i'v also had this problem in the past with neons - i put him in a quarantine tank for a while
to see how he went and within 4 days he was ok - so not too sure what was wrong that was a few months ago and he's stil fine now. hope you get him sorted out.



dekker

IME Tetras are not the hardiest of fish and easily succumb to various illnesses more easily than others.

As mentioned above, it could be swimbladder problems - a symptom of some sort of internal bacteria that makes it hard for the fish to keep its balance in the water.

If you have a spare tank then I would set it up as a q tank and see how he goes. Some people say that fasting the fish for 24hrs and then feeding it shelled peas helps.

There is some info on swimbladder problems here - have a read and see if you think it could be the problem

http://www.tropicalfishfanatics.com/fish-diseases-and-treatment-f30/swimbladder-disease-t250.htm

Oh - and to TFF, good to have you here

Thanks for all the advice guys and girls. I have an old tank, which I think will be set up shortly as a spare tank, this way I can do what you guys do and pull them out if need be.

Thanks again.

emmaandjon

well its good you have a spare tank - its always handy in case of emergencies.

You can keep the filter for it primed by running it in your main tank alongside the one you already have - it will be a bit of extra filtration for that tank (never a bad thing) and gives you a permanently ready filter when needed.

Simples

Aah, never mind, it happens sometimes. At least the rest of the fish had a bit of an extra snack while you were away by the sound of it!

Well - ive lost a few tetra over the last few months and one or two displayed the same thing - all died of whaterver - tetra are not he hardiest fish in the world so dont beat yourself up over it

As you said - youve still a 90% success rate