Golden Tetras, back from the dead ?

[Jack Reilly]

I have 8 active healthy golden tetras. I come home from work one day and one of them is flat on his back breathing like crazy. It's laying there for hours. Water parameters are fine as always. Nothing is out of the ordinary. All other fish look happy. I raise the temp from 24 to 26 over a few hours and do a small water change.

The next day I expect to be scooping out a dead tetra. Instead he's up and schooling around with the rest of the tetras.

Sick tetra https://imgur.com/gallery/g0N3n

What could this be ? Exhaustion? Would leaving the lights and CO2 off for a day do anything? I think I'll dose an anti parasite medication too as I fed bloodworms last week, perhaps it's that. I really don't know how to diagnose this but I don't want to assume it's all okay and risk him dying .

 

[PARAGUAY]

Eight quite a fair number, Its just a thought was it being bullied?Some tetras are more apt to prone to this if the ratio of males to females is unequal,could have been digestive thing though,as you have eight that might be more likely

 

[Jack Reilly]

I've had the same stock in the tank for 6-7 months and there's been no visible aggression, I don't think that there's any bullying or anything. They're all peaceful species.

What's really strange is the golden tetras has made a full recovery, but now one of my Otto's is showing the exact same symptoms. It's laying flat on its side breathing rapidly. I have three other Otto's in the tank all active and healthy and feeding. All 8 tetras are also happy and healthy now. It's almost like the Otto had caught whatver the tetra had...

I have no idea what's going on.

 

[alto]

With the first tetra I'd just suspect some sort of impact ... a second fish with similar symptoms, raises suspicions - can you list every fish in your tank?

With fish gasping symptom, I'd be inclined to retain lower temp re higher dissolved oxygen levels in water (this is an unlikely symptom of external parasites - if that's what triggered your impulse to increase temp - increased respiration rate looks different than what you're describing, also that photo)

I've kept Hyphessobrycon saizi (v similar to H rodwayi & both may ship as "gold tetra" though H sailing is unlikely if not wild caught & "gold") & it is definitely not aggressive, so I'd be very sceptical of anything aggression related within the shoal

If CO2 had been running, these symptoms might be consistent with a fish having "gassed" itself by resting too long right in the CO2 "stream" or area with high localized CO2 concentration

 

[Jack Reilly]

With the first tetra I'd just suspect some sort of impact ... a second fish with similar symptoms, raises suspicions - can you list every fish in your tank?

I had to euthanize my Otto. It had become so weak it was stuck on the intake filter. It was also very thin with a curvature of the spine. I had also noticed the tetra was thin too (compared to the others). There are 8 golden tetras and 4 ( now three) Otto's in a 20 gallon tank.

The remaining fish are healthy and the same as they've been for 7 months, I notice no difference in their looks or behaviour. Just these two fish.

The other Otto's have full bellies and behave normally. Tank parameters are normal. Literally the only change taken place in the tank is heavy trimming of the stem plants at the rear of the tank (70% reduction).

I'm not sure id say the fish was gasping, just breathing rapidly. The healthy Ottos were just inches away so I could compare breathing and the sick one was breathing more than twice as fast. This would indicate it was not a tank wide issue but something wrong with the one fish, right?

CO2 is run but the weight loss would indicate it's something else . There's plenty of food provided to the Otto's and the tetras. (high light tank, hikari algae wafers, blanched zucchini twice a week).

I hope more fish don't get sick. I don't know what to do. The tank seems the same as always...

The temp is back to 25 degrees now.

 

[Jack Reilly]

Another fish is sick. I'm getting really worried this is fish tb. The fish lose appetite, lose weight, have protruding scales and eyes pop out more than usual. I've dosed an anti parasite medication and done a dose of antibiotics. (I thought maybe it was a parasite).

Now I don't know what to do. Water parameters are 0 amonia 0 nitrite 20 nitrate. I feel totally powerless and feel I can do nothing. I've spent dozens of hours reading up on what it could possibly be but I still don't know.

Fish tb keeps coming up again and again for these symptoms but I think one of the tetras recovered which makes me think it can't be tb ( I think that's incurable).