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Filter Quit Overnight - One Fish Swimming Funny

895 views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  WaterLife 
#1 · (Edited)
My filter stopped working from 7pm to 9am this morning. The fish were all swimming at the surface. I have one fish that is swimming maybe like it has swim bladder a little. It's a little like twirling except slower - keeps trying to correct itself.

Maybe the lack of oxygen caused some internal damage. I think he may be a little bloated. The other ones are fine, responded almost immediately after I cleaned out the filter real good.

The circulation is real good - Fluval U2 in a 10G. I'm guessing that there's nothing I can do for the fish except hope that he gets better.

I think the filter stopping for so long caused a stratification of the water and oxygen.

Anyone have any comments or help?
 
#2 ·
Tank may go through a mini cycle. If you have an ammonia test kit, it can't hurt to put it to use. Although you should be able to tell if you have an issue just by simple observation. If only once fish looks stressed, I think it may be just coincidental to the filter issue.
 
#3 ·
The fish would be gasping at the surface if there is a lack of oxygen and/or from ammonia poisoning, all of which could happen from the filter not working.

Usually in just that amount of time, it would more likely be the lack of oxygen since there was no more surface agitation.

But if the tank is really overstocked then ammonia toxicity might be possible.

It's sort of already too late since it's been some time since it happened, but for future reference, as soon as you notice the power is out, try to increase dissolved oxygen as much as possible (surface agitation from filter current, air stones, powerhead, etc., even agitate the water by hand if necessary). A cooler water change could even help (colder water has more oxygen, and it is new cleaner water, but I would increase aeration before doing water changes as this is a bit slow and probably more stressful on the weakened fish).

When a fish is on the edge of death from suffocation, it is normal for they to have a hard time staying upright, so this is not a good sign and you need to help it get oxygen ASAP. I had a Arowana jump out of the tank when I was not home, I got back and he was really dry and nearly almost died, but I placed him back in the tank, and help him upright underwater while running a airstone directly under him to get as much oxygen into his gills as quickly as possible. I was a little worried about the air bubbles going inside of it's gills, but my options were limited and his time was running out so I had no choice, well he is still alive to this day and is 110% healthy! I was really worried, he was so dry and his eyes were even dried up and sunken in, he didn't look like he would make it even with my help, but glad he did.

So for that fish having trouble staying upright, just provide more oxygen and give him time to recover, I doubt his swim bladder is messed up. Haven't heard of bloating as a result of suffocation though (unless maybe it is a fish that is a known "air" breather and it gulped a lot of air, which I still haven't heard of bloating, but I guess sounds possible).

But anyways, keep an eye on ammonia levels incase some of the beneficial bacteria on the media did suffocate as well.
Not 100% positive cleaning the filter out was the best thing to do unless it was super dirty slowing flow and just a bunch of collected waste. I would of been worried of upsetting the cycled media with drastic cleaning after already going through the power outage.

Just keep the aeration going and watch the ammonia/nitrite levels. If the ammonia rises, stay on top of water changes for a while until the fish have had some more time to recover from the initial near suffocation.
 
#4 ·
I'll spare you and not go on about the Pristella. He definitely looks worse. It's hard to look at him in his death throes. This fish has been in my tank since 2012. I guess he has had a good life living in a planted tank.

All the other fish are acting normally, so I think conditions are alright. I have been concentrating on the sick fish. Nothing I can do. He's got reddish areas on the lower abdomen that look like they're from below the skin. This is my first fish death since I started the tank in 2012.
 
#5 ·
I've had a Pristella from day 1 of the tank that had issues with its swim bladder (it was very under developed). He would swim at a 45 degree angle (head point up, tail pointing towards the bottom) and sink like a rock if he stopped swimming. He was actually part of the 6 Pristella's I had to cycle the water.

Even after 2 years, he was alive fine and well (he outlasted my tank, I had to move out before he had to pass on!). So if it is an issue with the swim bladder, I think he has high chances of being fine.
 
#7 ·
Hmm... the red belly, does it look like internal hemorrhages (blood streaks)?

I really don't think the lack of oxygen itself would cause that.

How's your water testing? Maybe the sick/weakened fish was susceptible to bacterial infection that caused the swim bladder disease.
But still the internal bleeding (if that is what the redness is) is usually caused from injury.
Maybe from lack of oxygen, the fish tried jumping out of the water or just darted frantically (fish that are highly panicking can dart around struggling to breathe) and hit something hard causing the injury with internal bleeding (any signs of at of external injury? although it's is possible to have internal damage without external damage).

If it is internal bleeding from injury, there's not much you can do, but let him heal on it's own. Things that are gentle on the fish that are said to aid in healing are Melafix or you could try adding some Indian Almond Leaves, Cholla Wood or Alder Cones (leave the tannins in water). I doubt feeding mushed blanched peas (commonly used for swim bladder problems) will help for internal injuries, but I guess doesn't hurt to try.
If it is bacterial though (I don't think visible blood/red is a symptom though), there are meds you could use.

Well, glad to hear the others are doing well.
 
#8 ·
It's been a number of days that the fish sustained his injuries, and I'm a little hopeful that he will survive.

He is swimming upright now - no more twirling, and it seems that the red area on each side is subsiding. He has an ulcer on one side. I just find it amazing that he hasn't died.

Not much more to say about it now. I guess I will post if there are any changes.

Thanks
 
#9 ·
I have no advice on how to deal with fish, I personally don't medicate or try to figure out the problem anymore because I feel I do more harm than good treating fish. I would suggest doing more water changes in the short term, to keep any cycle/mini cycle to be minimal while you work out your equipment issue. Are you running CO2? If so, you may want to kill that as well as the lack of agitation could up your levels quite a bit, depending on how much you have.

In general, I find two things work well when something like this happens. Add an airstone and do water changes. Honestly, I can't say why an airstone helps, obviously you get more gas exchange but I don't see how that alone helps from a health aspect but it seems to always help. Water changes have a more obvious effect, preventing build up of ammonia and anything else in the water column you don't want.

That said, 2 hours with no filter shouldn't be super problematic, I know I have shut mine down for longer with no noticeable effects when moving, etc.
 
#10 ·
The OP's filter was off from 7 PM to 9 AM (14 hours), no worries, easy to miss that. I'm not sure how long aerobic bacteria can go without oxygen or ammonia/nitrite before dying off.

It's been some time now since the incident and things should be back in balance now, assuming the filter is working properly, oxygen levels are back to healthy concentrations and the beneficial bacteria are still keeping the ammonia and nitrite down at 0. If the nitrogen levels are down/at healthy levels, then I wouldn't do water changes besides the normal maintenance as the added stress from the panicking and turbulence during water changes can further stress out the weakened fish worsening it's condition and could very well end up killing the fish if it is weak enough. But if toxic nitrogen levels are present, then water changes would be advised. But the fish sounds to be improving so keep up what you are doing now. Another reason why I don't give up on fish and kill it because it "looks" like it won't make it.

But any chance you could get a picture of the ulcer?
How long has that been there? Is it getting worse or better? This might require some medicine.
 
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