always swimming up

One of my two lamp eye tetras is doing something odd. It just constantly
swims up. If he stops swimming he sinks like a rock, but it never stops
swimming straight up long enough to sink all the way to the bottom to just
lay/rest there. It's like he's swimming head first into a strong current...
constantly. He's eating and otherwise looks normal. Has been going on for
about a week and no other fish in the tank are doing this.

Is there anything I can do for him?

Thanks for the help,
Lydia

"Lydia" wrote in message
...
One of my two lamp eye tetras is doing something odd. It just
constantly
swims up. If he stops swimming he sinks like a rock, but it never
stops
swimming straight up long enough to sink all the way to the bottom to
just
lay/rest there. It's like he's swimming head first into a strong
current...
constantly. He's eating and otherwise looks normal. Has been going on
for
about a week and no other fish in the tank are doing this.

Is there anything I can do for him?

Thanks for the help,
Lydia

Fish regulate air in and out of an organ called a swim bladder. This
organ sits in the mid-point of their body's weight, slightly higher up
towards their dorsal fin. This organ usually works to keep their total
weight to be the same as the water (ie: tetras), so if they stop all
motion with their fins, they will just hang in the water, not sinking or
floating to the top. With catfish, it keeps them heavier. With
Hatchetfish, it keeps them lighter. Whenever fish eat, the swim bladder
has to adjust according to what was swallowed. Some fish have more
trouble with this than others. If the swim bladder is set to low in
their body, then any swallowed air will cause them to flip around and
swim upside down for a while (ie: goldfish). Tiger barbs tend to drop
their nose lower than their tails after a meal.

In the case of your Lampeye, the swimbladder's ability to regulate itself
is gone, and the fish doesn't have enough air inside, so the fish drops
to the bottom. It doesn't understand this, so it swims to the top,
before sinking again. How long it will live, whether it's contagious
etc, depends on the cause of the illness. Mechanical injury might repair
itself, organ failure or internal bacterial infection will probably not.

In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can quarantine
him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A possible
course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or economical
for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.

NetMax

"NetMax" wrote in message
...
|
| Fish regulate air in and out of an organ called a swim bladder.
This
| organ sits in the mid-point of their body's weight, slightly higher
up
| towards their dorsal fin. This organ usually works to keep their
total
| weight to be the same as the water (ie: tetras), so if they stop
all
| motion with their fins, they will just hang in the water, not
sinking or
| floating to the top. With catfish, it keeps them heavier. With
| Hatchetfish, it keeps them lighter. Whenever fish eat, the swim
bladder
| has to adjust according to what was swallowed. Some fish have more
| trouble with this than others. If the swim bladder is set to low
in
| their body, then any swallowed air will cause them to flip around
and
| swim upside down for a while (ie: goldfish). Tiger barbs tend to
drop
| their nose lower than their tails after a meal.
|
| In the case of your Lampeye, the swimbladder's ability to regulate
itself
| is gone, and the fish doesn't have enough air inside, so the fish
drops
| to the bottom. It doesn't understand this, so it swims to the top,
| before sinking again. How long it will live, whether it's
contagious
| etc, depends on the cause of the illness. Mechanical injury might
repair
| itself, organ failure or internal bacterial infection will probably
not.
|
| In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
| aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can
quarantine
| him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A
possible
| course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or
economical
| for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.
|
| NetMax
|
|

Damn, you're good. g

"Dinky" wrote in message
link.net...


"NetMax" wrote in message
...
|
| Fish regulate air in and out of an organ called a swim bladder.
This
| organ sits in the mid-point of their body's weight, slightly higher
up
| towards their dorsal fin. This organ usually works to keep their
total
| weight to be the same as the water (ie: tetras), so if they stop
all
| motion with their fins, they will just hang in the water, not
sinking or
| floating to the top. With catfish, it keeps them heavier. With
| Hatchetfish, it keeps them lighter. Whenever fish eat, the swim
bladder
| has to adjust according to what was swallowed. Some fish have more
| trouble with this than others. If the swim bladder is set to low
in
| their body, then any swallowed air will cause them to flip around
and
| swim upside down for a while (ie: goldfish). Tiger barbs tend to
drop
| their nose lower than their tails after a meal.
|
| In the case of your Lampeye, the swimbladder's ability to regulate
itself
| is gone, and the fish doesn't have enough air inside, so the fish
drops
| to the bottom. It doesn't understand this, so it swims to the top,
| before sinking again. How long it will live, whether it's
contagious
| etc, depends on the cause of the illness. Mechanical injury might
repair
| itself, organ failure or internal bacterial infection will probably
not.
|
| In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
| aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can
quarantine
| him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A
possible
| course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or
economical
| for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.
|
| NetMax
|
|

Damn, you're good. g



Thanks very much for the advice. It *is* an older fish. I had 3 original
lamp eye tetras who had about 5 babies in early 1999. I was down to 3 of
the babies when one of them died a few months ago. So now it's the last
two, 5-year-olds. He's still hanging in there and no other fish pester him
so I think I'll just keep a close eye on it for now.

I had heard of the swim bladder and could assume what it might do, but never
had a full explanation... and didn't know if it was something that could be
fixed or not until your message so thanks again very much!

Lydia

NetMax wrote:

In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can quarantine
him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A possible
course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or economical
for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.

Speaking of salt, how well do plecos react to aquarium salt? I use salt
in all of my tanks for ich prevention, and tomorrow each tank will be
getting at least one.

I have been using salt in the tanks with pleco for years.... It hasn't
bothered them yet!!! Just don't over do it.

--
Craig Williams
_________________________________

www.Canadiancray.tk
"Polarhound" wrote in message
...
NetMax wrote:

In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can quarantine
him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A possible
course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or economical
for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.

Speaking of salt, how well do plecos react to aquarium salt? I use salt
in all of my tanks for ich prevention, and tomorrow each tank will be
getting at least one.

"CanadianCray" wrote in message
...
I have been using salt in the tanks with pleco for years.... It hasn't
bothered them yet!!! Just don't over do it.

My motto for freshwater tanks (for more than 20 years) has been keep them
fresh. I never add salt. YMMV.


Graham.

"Polarhound" wrote in message
...
NetMax wrote:

In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can
quarantine
him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A
possible
course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or
economical
for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.

Speaking of salt, how well do plecos react to aquarium salt? I use
salt
in all of my tanks for ich prevention, and tomorrow each tank will be
getting at least one.

Epson salt (magnesium sulphate?) would _not_ be what you're using (it's a
purgative for constipation ;~). Either aquarium salt (sodium chloride)
or marine salt (if you wanted to increase your gH at the same time).

The fact that hobbyists still debate the virtues of salt indicates to me
that its usefulness has not been completely settled. I can't tell you
what a salt-stressed pleco behaves like, so the anecdotal evidence might
be that they continued to behave normally (though 'normal' behaviour for
a pleco, doesn't offer a lot of clues ;~).

It's mostly accepted that pathogens like Ich don't like salt, and that it
can aid in slime production and healing wounds. I've also read that it
adds electrolytes reducing osmotic stress to the gills. That sounds like
a good thing in a situation where fish are under stress (like moving to a
different tank).

It also increases your TDS (not good) and may undesirably increase your
gH. Plants don't care for salt. Salt accumulates (does not evaporate),
so its replenishment should only be according to the quantity of water
removed. Many fish from soft acidic waters don't care for it, and your
plecos most likely come from the same waterways as Discus and Cardinal
tetras.

There is also the question of dosage. Just stating that plecos, plants &
Ich don't like salt is not really useful until you have concentration
levels to reference, to reach the desired (or undesired) effect. IIRC,
the preventative dosage is 1 tablespoon per 5 US gallons. Unless you
have a cause, I wouldn't recommend salt be used by beginners. Healthy
fish don't suffer its absence. Legitimate non-medicinal uses are for
keeping Goldfish, Livebearers and brackish water fishes, and use marine
salt if your water is very soft.

This probably didn't answer your question, but I can spin a good tale ;~)
NetMax

"NetMax" wrote in
:
It's mostly accepted that pathogens like Ich don't like salt, and that
it
can aid in slime production and healing wounds. I've also read that
it adds electrolytes reducing osmotic stress to the gills. That
sounds like a good thing in a situation where fish are under stress
(like moving to a different tank).


NaCl (sodium chloride) salt dissolves in water, which means it breaks
down into Na+1 and Cl-1 (the plus and minus number means the charge).
Water in it's pure state does not conduct electricity at normal
voltages; so, pure water (H2O) is called a non-electrolyte. When NaCL
dissolves in water, the positive and negative ions it puts into the
water help facilitate conduction of electricity. Therefore, a solution
of NaCl in water is called an elecrolyte.

Osmosis is when water diffuses (goes through) a porous membrane such as:
a plastic bag, human skin, or a cell wall. Pure water on either side of
a membrane will not go through it. But, if the water on one side of the
membrane has more salt in it than the other. The water on the other
side will diffuse through the membrane until the concentration of salt
on both sides it equal. Here is a little "diagram" that will illustrate
this a little better than me awkwardly trying to explain it.

Lower Conc. Salt : Membrane : Higher Conc. Salt

H2O H2O | Na+ H2O
Cl- H2O | Cl- Na+
H2O H20 | H2O
Na+ | Cl- H2O
H2O H20 H20 | H20

Here H20 will move from the left side to the right until the number of
Na+ and Cl- ions to H2O molecules is the same on both sides (in this
case 4 H2O molecules move to the right). This property usually applies
to a solution of anything. Including water with differing pH's (because
pH is really a measure of the conc. of H+ ions in water. it is the
-log{H+} to be exact).

Osmostic pressure (as defined in Biology I think, the Chemists'
definition is different) is the water pushing on the membrane trying to
get in. The amount and rate the water diffuses depends on how much
osmostic pressure the membrane can stand.

Our bodies, including a fish's, naturally has salt in it to facilitate
the transimission of "electronic" signals that control muscle movement,
etc.. That means in freshwater, water wants to get in and usually does.
Ever notice your fingers look like "prunes" in the bathtub or that you
pee more often than normal when swimming in a lake ), and that you
tend to get dehydrated more quickly in the sea. Sal****er fish are used
to living in an environment that the osmotic pressure on their cells is
low. So, in freshwater, a sal****er fish can't remove water as well and
its cells swell with water and explode (kablooey ), which of course
kills the fish.

Osmotic pressure affects how the swim bladder works. In a more salty
water, it can more easily get rid of water in the bladder to control how
the fish floats, sinks, etc.. Sometimes this can be good or bad. For a
sick fish it is usually good except when they can't tolerate salt. I
have no idea what really effects how a fish tolerates salt.

So, if your fish is having a problem removing water from its swim
bladder, adding salt will reduce the pressure that works against the
bladder. This will allow more of the fish's energy to be used to fight
what is causing any sickness.

NetMax, your posts are really good. I thought I'd just elaborate a bit on
what I know about salt because I'm bored ).

"Donny" wrote in message
...
"NetMax" wrote in
:
It's mostly accepted that pathogens like Ich don't like salt, and
that
it
can aid in slime production and healing wounds. I've also read that
it adds electrolytes reducing osmotic stress to the gills. That
sounds like a good thing in a situation where fish are under stress
(like moving to a different tank).


NaCl (sodium chloride) salt dissolves in water, which means...
big snip
...if your fish is having a problem removing water from its swim
bladder, adding salt will reduce the pressure that works against the
bladder. This will allow more of the fish's energy to be used to fight
what is causing any sickness.

NetMax, your posts are really good. I thought I'd just elaborate a bit
on
what I know about salt because I'm bored ).

You should post bored more often then ;~) I get all my chemistry and
most of my biology lessons right here. Do you know why magnesium
sulphate is recommended as a purgative (Epson salt). I wasn't sure if
the sodium chloride or the magnesium sulphate would be best for swim
bladder regulation, but from your explanation, I suspect that it would be
the sodium chloride.

NetMax