Goyder River rainbow in trouble

jiggerpolebill

jiggerpolebill

i have a key to the Twinsavr
Aug 16, 2002
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Indy, IN, USA
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just got in from work a little bit ago and one of my Goyder River rainbows is in distress. i wouldnt say he's deformed, but appears cramped to one side and cannot swim correctly. his orientation is way off and when he attempts to move rapidly, he swims upside down, in circles and into things. he's not showing any signs of physical injury or any other illness(sores, parasites, etc.)

tank: 55g community
tankmates: 1 other goyder, 5 dwarf neon rainbows, 3 turquoise rainbows, 1 redfinned rainbow(new fish, not sure what exact species), 2 kribs(m,f), 4 SAE's, 1 firemouth, 1 bristlenose pleco and 1 very gravid(still) zebra danio.

sad to say i havent checked my water parameters in months, but i have been vaccuming once a month and changing water twice(ive been slacking).

im going to do a water change now that i was planning for later this week and browse some other sites to see what i can find out. ill be logged on here for a little while, but may be away from the computer. thanks for any help.


update 7:00est

changed 20g of water and tested old water. good news, bad news. good news - tests show only minute traces(if any - color looked like zero) of ammonia. bad news - test strips have a date of 12/02 on the bottom. nitrites test zero, date on bottom is 06/05. tested with an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kit, same results but this kit is over a year old.

as long as the fish is still, it can maintain proper orientation, but, once it decides to move(quickly) all bets are off and he looks like a bottle rocket thats had the stem removed.

ill only be online a short while longer, then i wont be on til 4:45am at the earliest. thanks for any info anybody can provide.

PS - i have a fry tank i can move him to if anyone thinks i should do that. i have no quarantine tank.
 
Any changes in feeding? How long have you had the fish? Can't think of anything specific that would cause such erratic movement, so just digging for more info.
 
hey orion. i have been overfeeding lately with flake food. one possibility that i've found around the net is constipation affecting the swim bladder. another, and possibly worst case scenario, is TB. i came across this link on a rainbow site(found on the skeptical aquarist):

http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Myco.htm

apparently Goyder River rainbows are very susceptible to mycobacteriosis. if this is the case, then i suppose i will be watching my entire tank die over the next few months. i hoping its not the case. i may be getting paranoid over the entire situation, but i thought i might have seen some small patches of discoloration on the side of the affected fish. one of my male dwarf neons seems to be discoloring as well, and one of my female dwarf neons seems to be spending alot of time at the surface of the water.

ill post more as the situation progresses. ill be picking up a new test kit after work today. thanks again.
 
UPDATE: 11-17

just got home from work. the fish isn't any worse, but isn't any better either. condition is pretty much the same. i don't know if this is related or not, but, one of the larger kribs(this was a krib fry tank, some are about a year old and look to be breeding) is now dead. this is the first casualty in this tank ever and i dont know if its related to the rainbow being in there or not. i have never had any problems with this tank at all(except algae). i just put some Daphnia in the tank, and while the kribs and other occupants were darting around gobbling up as much as possible, the rainbow is not making any attempts to eat. as far as i know, the rainbow hasnt eaten in 2 days now.
 
Going a few days without eating won't kill an adult fish. Other than indicating something is amiss, that's not a big deal. Could it be an infection that's affecting the swim bladder, or is it not related to bouyancy, just to swimming direction?
 
Could there be an injury to the off side that damaged the lateral line? This could mess with orientation, but should resolve itself over time. I think it would be similar to having a serious inner ear infection--dizziness, difficulty moving. Not sure how accurate this analogy is, but since the lateral line is comparable to the inner ear, it may hold true. Sorry--really wish I could help more...
 
thats ok. i understand about the lateral line. tonight finds this fish in pretty much the same condition, but he is now making efforts to eat and showing appetite. im off for the next 3 days, so i should be able to take some more time to care for him and the rest of my tank(s). there were no deaths today, but one of the male dwarf neon rainbows is definately showing some discoloration and the female i mentioned is still staying at the surface and looks to be thinner than the other 2 females in tank with her.

some positive news, my gravid zebra danio finally released her load and is getting back to normal.

edit - sorry. there are no visible injurys on this fish.
 
UPDATE:

well, its been a bad couple of days. i moved the male and female neon dwarf to the fry tank with the goyder because their symptoms seemed to be growing worse. yesterday, i found the female neon dead and the zebra danio in my big tank was also dead. i was surprised about the danio because she had been doing so much better after finally releasing her eggs. today everything seems about the same. i started treating the tanks yesterday with Kanacyn. i removed everything from my big tank to give the substrate a good vaccuming that it hasnt had for some time(just the areas that i cant get to with regular vaccuming). im still feeding daphnia. the goyder yesterday seemed somewhat better, i cant tell for sure. ill post back after a few days to see how the treatment with the meds go.
 
UPDATE:

still treating with the kanacyn per the instructions. the male neon dwarf died. back in the big tank, another female neon is starting to act funny. she was very lethargic tonight and didnt make many attempts to feed. she isnt at the surface gasping for air, but i feel like something is definately wrong with her. the goyder river hasnt made any changes at all. he is still eating and maintaining proper orientation while still, but when he gets spooked or tries to swim quickly, he distorts to the left and loses control. i think im fighting a losing battle.
 
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