I've Got A Dying Glo Fish

My 55 Gallon Planted tank has 2 Glofish Danios, a blue and pink, among others. The Pink Glo is the subject to be discussed. I've noticed a steady decline in it's energy, color, and eating habits. At this point I'm certain the pink Glo is dying. No other fish in the tank is showing any signs of illness. If I had to take a guess, I'd say its decline in health started sometime after my house lost power for 4 days when Hurricane Irma blew through central Florida. During the power outage I kept the water aerated with a cup, just manually moving the water around inside the tank, as often as I could, pretty much every time I or my wife walked by the tank. I lost two Tiger Barbs several days after the power was restored, but I'm uncertain why or how they died, and one corpse was never recovered from the tank despite many efforts to find it. I'm half convinced the Tiger that was never recovered jumped out of the tank (I don't keep a cover on it) and met one of my Labrador retrievers. Perhaps the Glo is suffering from effects of oxygen deprivation? The Glo has lost almost all of his pink, it's very very pale, his belly is almost completely white. It has quarantined itself to one top corner of the tank, near the heater and behind the canister return pipe. It will not come out to feed unless I put some food right near his little area, even there eating very little. No other fish is keeping to the surface, in fact the only ones that every come to the surface are the two Albino Corydoras, who I understand just randomly do this from time to time for a gulp of air. It's not frequent enough that I worry about it. There is excellent flow in the system and I'm checking NH3, NO-2, NO-3 levels daily since discovering the Glofish Danios steady decline.

If anyone has any thoughts or ideas about what may be causing this decline, or if it is possible to reverse it, please let me know soon. I think the Glo's days are short in number.

 

What about you pH. There is a possibility that it could have been changed

 

Could you test your water parameters? I'm so sorry to hear about this (I think I was on your other thread about the hurricane, or at least someone else who asked for advice on the matter)

If parameters are all ok, I think it must just be the stress and the shock of the power outage. During that time I expect the temperature, lighting and water quality all went into rapid decline before rapidly switching back to normal again when the power came back. These sudden changes will not only cause stress (maybe why a fish jumped out of the tank) but can cause many fish to go into shock (maybe like your other tiger barb and this glofish)

My only advice is to keep the tank as stable as possible. I've had all my fish go into shock before after a 50% water change with different water parameters to the ones they are used to. They were unresponsive, listless, hanging out at the tank surface and seemed dead to all but their own mind. I kept the tank in perfect conditions, added gentle stimulus in the form of an air stone to keep them conscious, disturbed them as little as I could and fed them tiny amounts directly in front of their mouthes frequently. I basically treated how you would expect to treat a coma patient (is the best way I can describe it) and after a week they began to regain their senses again. 2 weeks before they were fully back to normal. It was so scary seeing them in that state but with the right treatment you can help your glofish make a full recovery!!

 

What about you pH. There is a possibility that it could have been changed

I'll check the pH now. It's been long enough now that any change in pH the system may have seen is now gone and is back to what it normally is, around 7.8

 

I'll check the pH now. It's been long enough now that any change in pH the system may have seen is now gone and is back to what it normally is, around 7.8

I was thinking that that specific glo fish is a bit weak and the water added has a higher or lower pH than when it is gassed of so it might be causing a bit of a swing.
Just a hunch though