Canarygirl
04/06/2007, 03:21 PM
Here is the series of events
Received young clarkii pair, 2 males
After a few days, smaller one ate less and had labored breathing. He was also swimming headlong into obstacles, like he couldn't see.
I put him in a QT tank and gave him a medication for Ich (a mistake, I now know). I repeated this for 4 days. He then layed on the bottom gulping for oxygen, looking near death.
The breeder recommended hypo treatment and I gradually lowered salinity to 1.013. The fish recovered, to my surprise.
It's been about 8 weeks now and the tank has been raised to 1.020 sg. The clarkii has put on weight and gained more energy, seeming almost normal.
Here's what's not normal:
1. He spends a lot of time at the surface, gliding along below the water line, then in a jerky, spasmy way will "hit" his head against the top of the water several times. Then drift, then repeat.
2. He won't take food out of water column, and doesn't seem to see it. He knows when food is in the water though and will graze along the bottom of the bare bottom tank, scarfing it up. He still doesn't really seem to see it, just run across it accidentally.
3. When feeling energetic he swims across the tank to until he makes contact with the end, then turns and swims down the side or down the corner to the bottom. Lots of right angles, and almost like he's memorized his way around the 10 gallon tank.
Could he be blind? Does this seem like any particular illness? What would you do with this fish? I was thinking about putting him in a 30 gallon cube with an anemone, LR, and couple softies...
thanks for your help
Received young clarkii pair, 2 males
After a few days, smaller one ate less and had labored breathing. He was also swimming headlong into obstacles, like he couldn't see.
I put him in a QT tank and gave him a medication for Ich (a mistake, I now know). I repeated this for 4 days. He then layed on the bottom gulping for oxygen, looking near death.
The breeder recommended hypo treatment and I gradually lowered salinity to 1.013. The fish recovered, to my surprise.
It's been about 8 weeks now and the tank has been raised to 1.020 sg. The clarkii has put on weight and gained more energy, seeming almost normal.
Here's what's not normal:
1. He spends a lot of time at the surface, gliding along below the water line, then in a jerky, spasmy way will "hit" his head against the top of the water several times. Then drift, then repeat.
2. He won't take food out of water column, and doesn't seem to see it. He knows when food is in the water though and will graze along the bottom of the bare bottom tank, scarfing it up. He still doesn't really seem to see it, just run across it accidentally.
3. When feeling energetic he swims across the tank to until he makes contact with the end, then turns and swims down the side or down the corner to the bottom. Lots of right angles, and almost like he's memorized his way around the 10 gallon tank.
Could he be blind? Does this seem like any particular illness? What would you do with this fish? I was thinking about putting him in a 30 gallon cube with an anemone, LR, and couple softies...
thanks for your help