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Is anybody an aquarium/fishtank afficianado who can give me some advice?

Peter King

Peter King

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I have fishes and one of my fishes a Harlequin rasbora has been behaving very strangely, he is swimming with his head upwards and after we cleaned the aquarium (sadly due to health issues it took a few weeks before it was cleaned seriously but all other fishes and my 2 caridina japonica shrimps and all were doing fine.

Now I have ordered a breeding box meant to drift in my aquarium but it will take another 2 days before it arrives (in about 36 hours or so (or a bit earlier) but just now he was really struggling to swim and it seemed it was tiring him out, it also looked so unpleasant to see my fish suffer.

So I took old filter pump, loaded it with a charcoal sponge, some white filter material and a few grams of activated charcoal. Took an bucket, put the pump at the bottom and took some water from the aquarium and put it in the bucket so that there is about 1.5 to 2 inch of water so that he does not have to struggle so much to keep himself afloat.

I am going to change out some more water from my big aquarium, take a bit of water from the bucket where the fish is in and add some fresh water. I hope this will keep him alive until Wednesday.

I also bought this:


Aqua Fishguard helps support the resistance of the fish, so it can also be used preventively. It activates the immune system to maintain good health.

HS Aqua Fish Guard can also be used if you notice a disease in one of your aquarium fish, which can be noticed, for example, because of a lack of appetite or not eating, this can indicate a bacteria in the intestines.
When aquarium fish are exposed to stress or when a new fish is added to the aquarium, diseases can also develop.

for healthy aquarium fish
increases the immune system
strengthens health
acts as a support tool
mix of catappa leaves, banana and many herbs
can also be used preventively


Ingredients:

leaves of the catappa tree
banana
various spices
Click to expand...

Does anybody have other advice? I have noticed that in the shallow water the fish is struggling a lot less.
 
Peter King said:
I have fishes and one of my fishes a Harlequin rasbora has been behaving very strangely, he is swimming with his head upwards and after we cleaned the aquarium (sadly due to health issues it took a few weeks before it was cleaned seriously but all other fishes and my 2 caridina japonica shrimps and all were doing fine.

Now I have ordered a breeding box meant to drift in my aquarium but it will take another 2 days before it arrives (in about 36 hours or so (or a bit earlier) but just now he was really struggling to swim and it seemed it was tiring him out, it also looked so unpleasant to see my fish suffer.

So I took old filter pump, loaded it with a charcoal sponge, some white filter material and a few grams of activated charcoal. Took an bucket, put the pump at the bottom and took some water from the aquarium and put it in the bucket so that there is about 1.5 to 2 inch of water so that he does not have to struggle so much to keep himself afloat.

I am going to change out some more water from my big aquarium, take a bit of water from the bucket where the fish is in and add some fresh water. I hope this will keep him alive until Wednesday.

I also bought this:




Does anybody have other advice? I have noticed that in the shallow water the fish is struggling a lot less.
Click to expand...

Is he able to submerge? I have bettas and one got a swim bladder issue so he eventually would just lay on the top of the water looking dead. I did all the remedies which changed nothing, but he lived over two years like that.
 
SkyFox76 said:
Is he able to submerge? I have bettas and one got a swim bladder issue so he eventually would just lay on the top of the water looking dead. I did all the remedies which changed nothing, but he lived over two years like that.
Click to expand...

Yes, he is able to submerge, he was swimming with the tail almost in the gravel and the head towards the water, keeping a very big effort to keep from sinking so it looked.

So now he is in about 1.5 inch of water, he looks to be reasonably calm and more coordinated than in the big fish tank.
 
Peter King said:
Does anybody have other advice? I have noticed that in the shallow water the fish is struggling a lot less.
Click to expand...

I am not an expert. Fish in the wild move to shallow waters when they need more oxygen. Sometimes a function of aging, sometimes to spawn. At times for other reasons.
 
Peter King said:
Yes, he is able to submerge, he was swimming with the tail almost in the gravel and the head towards the water, keeping a very big effort to keep from sinking so it looked.

So now he is in about 1.5 inch of water, he looks to be reasonably calm and more coordinated than in the big fish tank.
Click to expand...

My only other thought is look online for those symptoms. I googled the fish name and here's a tropical fish group that might help:

Harlequin Rasbora swimming strange | Tropical Fish Forums

Good luck I hope he feels better soon.
 
SkyFox76 said:
My only other thought is look online for those symptoms. I googled the fish name and here's a tropical fish group that might help:

Harlequin Rasbora swimming strange | Tropical Fish Forums

Good luck I hope he feels better soon.
Click to expand...

He is still swimming his smaller circles (compared to the fish tank) and he seems to be swimming a lot more normally than in the big tank. So hopefully he is getting a bit better.
 
Maybe he's sick with the coronavirus... ;)
 
Peter King said:
Who knows, cats can get it so why not fish :2razz:
Click to expand...

I dunno...swimming in circles sounds like it could be a bacterial infection. Have you tried changing the water and gravel? You might have to change it several times. Also check out 'swim bladder' symptoms/remedies.
 
Moot said:
I dunno...swimming in circles sounds like it could be a bacterial infection. Have you tried changing the water and gravel? You might have to change it several times. Also check out 'swim bladder' symptoms/remedies.
Click to expand...

No, he is swimming in circles now that he is in the bucket (you know, round and not rather spacious ;)

If you chased him around the aquarium (like we had to do yesterday to catch the blighter, he was able to swim well, but as soon as he felt at easy he would hop around a bit tale towards the gravel and kinda look like he was doggy paddling near the bottom of the aquarium. Now that he is no longer able to "hop" he swims significantly butter. But tomorrow I have ordered a

9200000025083638.jpg

this thing which I will put in the aquarium and then put the affected fish in that floating thing so he can rest his bladder and put in where the water quality is the best (I assume that will be furthest away from the gravel and closer to the pump exit where the water leaves the pump after it was cleaned.

I am also going to take out the activated charcoal when I add the stuff I got for boosting the health of the fish because I am afraid the activated charcoal will filter it out.
 
Peter King said:
No, he is swimming in circles now that he is in the bucket (you know, round and not rather spacious ;)

If you chased him around the aquarium (like we had to do yesterday to catch the blighter, he was able to swim well, but as soon as he felt at easy he would hop around a bit tale towards the gravel and kinda look like he was doggy paddling near the bottom of the aquarium. Now that he is no longer able to "hop" he swims significantly butter. But tomorrow I have ordered a

View attachment 67276820

this thing which I will put in the aquarium and then put the affected fish in that floating thing so he can rest his bladder and put in where the water quality is the best (I assume that will be furthest away from the gravel and closer to the pump exit where the water leaves the pump after it was cleaned.

I am also going to take out the activated charcoal when I add the stuff I got for boosting the health of the fish because I am afraid the activated charcoal will filter it out.
Click to expand...

Oh, I see. lol

Well, it looks like you have a good plan...carry on. :thumbs:
 
Moot said:
Oh, I see. lol

Well, it looks like you have a good plan...carry on. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

Well, I had a good plan, he was swimming OK in his bucket, but the new breeder box had arrived, so I put him in the breeder box and it seemed everything was OK.

The light went out and just before bed I decided to have a look see, gone, the cheeky bugger had jumped the breeder box into the aquarium. So now we have had to put a fish proof mesh over it so that he will not escape. I ordered another breeder box but this time with a top so he cannot escape.

But I must say he was swimming rather wellish, when we fished him out and put him back in his new covered breeder box.
 
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