Frantic swimming, glass surfing Siamese Algae Eater

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank?
160litres approx
How long has the tank been running?
Cycled since 9th Oct 2022
Does it have a filter?
Yes
Does it have a heater?
Yes
What is the water temperature?
24-25 degrees
What is the entire stocking of this tank?
1 guppy, 1 Siamese Algae Eater, hitchhiker snails
(Please list all fish and inverts.)

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
30-50% weekly
How much of the water do you change?
What do you use to treat your water?
Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
Vacuumed once since cycle. Planning to do monthly after reading up.

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
Yes
What do you use to test the water?
API master kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5 (just done 50% water change)
pH: 7.8 (colour not really matching any of the options in high range test, somewhere between 7.4-8

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?
Daily
How much do you feed your fish?
Small pinch
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Flakes
Do you feed frozen?
Yes- bloodworms occasionally
Do you feed freeze-dried foods?
As above

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?
About a month
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
Yesterday
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
Previously pretty chilled, swimming around grazing on wood/plants etc. Started glass surfing up and down in the same place, almost frantically. This went on most of the day yesterday.
Have you started any treatment for the illness?
No, observed and added extra prime incase I didn’t use enough when I did the water change. Turned the lights down thinking stress?
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Yes see above

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
(Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)
As mentioned, previously seemingly healthy, grazing on bits and pieces in tank. Pretty chilled little fish. Would occasionally come to surface when lid opened for feeding time.
Did a 50% water change 2 days ago, using the same equipment, same dose of prime, matched water temp etc. Had my hand in yesterday morning to prune plants etc.
Noticed from then onwards he was swimming up and down, up and down in the same place against the glass, at times becoming almost frantic. I know some fish do this a lot but this was completely out of character. This went on most of the day. I added extra prime just incase thinking chlorine in water. Dimmed the lights and he did settle back down a bit last night.
The guppy in with him has mostly been fine though I did notice him flash once or twice on the wood yesterday evening which has worried me since both behaviours are out of character.

They both seemed ok this morning, but it was a quick observation- SAE was sitting still on a rock, it was super early as I left for work, I’ll message my husband for an update today.
Sounds like stress?? Did I have something on my hands when I went in to prune- I rinsed them in tap water beforehand?

 

There's a few reasons your fish could be doing this. Stress would be an obvious factor, but it could also indicate exercising, playing, or even bad water quality. I wonder if the water change put them inot shock? I'd suggest doing a 30% water change instead of a 50% for the time being.

 

Thanks for the reply. They’ve both settled down since, and although occasional glass surfing continues its no where near what it was. In hindsight maybe it was too large a water change. I’ll do less next time.

 

Well that's awesome, I'm glad to hear that

 

Thank you that’s very kind

 

indicate exercising, playing,

Fish don't do either on purpose. Playing behaviour has only been proven in a handful of species with a lot of others being proven to not show it at all.

or even bad water quality

Bad water quality is a stress factor, part of environmental stress, to be precise.

Crossocheilus have a high demand for swimming space (how long is the tank?) and do best in groups of 6-8. Also they can not just live off of aufwuchs. Bloodworms are much to high in proteins, low in fat, almost no fiber and for a herbivor-leaning omnivor as these fish, the stuff is almost poisonous.

To me that's already a number of factors.

Some additional questions:
- What size is the fish? Fully grown or juvenile?
- Can you post a picture of the tank?