My Tetras are swimming very weird!!

[Ninjajonnygo]

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? About 20 gallons
How long has the tank been running? A number of years
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? Thermometer broke but should be about 78 F
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
6 neon Tertras,1 golden Incan snail, 2 platys, 7 danios, pest snails, one pleco, 4 jujji corys

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Weekly or every other week
How much of the water do you change? 25%
What do you use to treat your water? Aqua safe, stress coat, easy balance, aquarium salt.
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? I vacuum the substrate

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? No but it’s been years
What do you use to test the water? API master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .5
pH: 8-8.2

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Once at night once in the morning
How much do you feed your fish? A pinch of food in the morning, the same at night but I add pellets for the Cory’s and pleno
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Tetra,hikari
Do you feed frozen? No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods? Freeze dried bloodworms on occasion

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? A month or two
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? A few weeks after I got it
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Weird jerky swimming pattern
Have you started any treatment for the illness? Added general cure but nothing changed
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? I don’t believe so
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? No aside from the weird swimming

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
A week or two after I got my tetras one started swimming very weirdly, it sometimes swims as if it cannot control its buoyancy and it seems like it cannot control its buoyancy sometimes but other times it’s fine entirely, the other tetras swim the same sometimes but entirely fine other times. I’ve never had tetras so I’m not sure if this is normal behavior.

 

[surajk]

Could you describe the swimming motion a little more? A video would help.

For example When you say 'cannot control buoyancy', do you mean they float up then struggle to swim down again? Or they roll and then right themselves?

Fish that are struggling to swim up or down could be swim bladder issues. Rolling and flashing can be parasites. But without really understanding what you're seeing, it's super hard to say.

I have cardinals, and while they are a little 'twitchy' I wouldn't describe their normal time movement as 'buoyancy'. They will dart to the surface for food though but their swimming is quite controlled and graceful. I did find that neons I had earlier were a little less graceful in a short 2ft tank, but again, nothing that would make me suspect buoyancy issues.

 

[Ninjajonnygo]

Could you describe the swimming motion a little more? A video would help.

For example When you say 'cannot control buoyancy', do you mean they float up then struggle to swim down again? Or they roll and then right themselves?

Fish that are struggling to swim up or down could be swim bladder issues. Rolling and flashing can be parasites. But without really understanding what you're seeing, it's super hard to say.

I have cardinals, and while they are a little 'twitchy' I wouldn't describe their normal time movement as 'buoyancy'. They will dart to the surface for food though but their swimming is quite controlled and graceful. I did find that neons I had earlier were a little less graceful in a short 2ft tank, but again, nothing that would make me suspect buoyancy issues.

I don’t know if fishlore allows videos because it wouldn’t let me use it earlier but it’s like a jerking motion down diagonally to swim but it the fish also goes up at the same time almost unwillingly. It’s very weird to describe.

 

[Fishfur]

I don’t know if fishlore allows videos because it wouldn’t let me use it earlier but it’s like a jerking motion down diagonally to swim but it the fish also goes up at the same time almost unwillingly. It’s very weird to describe.

You can post a YouTube video and that can be posted here.

 

[Ninjajonnygo]

You can post a YouTube video and that can be posted here.

When I get home I’ll do this

 

[Ninjajonnygo]

You can post a YouTube video and that can be posted here.

Ignore how the tank is still a bit messy but it swims like that with varying intensity, like sometimes it has much jerkier faster movements.

 

[Fishfur]

Ignore how the tank is still a bit messy but it swims like that with varying intensity, like sometimes it has much jerkier faster movements.

That is odd. Might be a neurological problem, possibly.

 

[John58ford]

That's a buoyancy issue. The more they are angling to swim downwards or upwards the worse the issue. They will try to stay at the same depth as the rest of the school so when they are off, it's obvious. They get tired after doing it for a while and the movement gets jerky like that.

Can be caused by a few things. A swim bladder issue caused by injury or diseases is typically the worst case. My schooling fish will get this occasionally if I surface feed and one gulps too much air, I usually sink the flakes and crumble under water if it's a flake day to avoid this. Floating type pellets can cause it too. Occasionally it's an injury from impact/running into stuff when spooked or possibly a catfish sting. Usually from feeding it will clear up in a day at most, injuries a day or two. In a low stress tank they can typically survive a few days before they start wasting and over stressing, eventually dying. Usually it clears up before then. Most of the issues I've read of for swim bladder are not highly transmissible, my recommendation is reduce stress if possible and wait it out. Some people have reported using tricks that reduce bloating can also help with this but I have not gone out of my way testing the theories to be honest.

 

[surajk]

agree with johns58ford. I vaguely remember seeing this before. It would last some time after the feed and then clear up. I can't remember which fish clearly but might have been neons years ago. soaking and squishing the pellet before feeding helped clear up the issue.

Somehow I have not seen it happen to my current cardinals even though I haven't been sinking their food. good reminder...

 

[Redshark1]

This is common when Neon Tetras take food from the water surface. As said above, the fish takes in air which affects its boyancy. It wears off after a while. To prevent this, feed food attached to the glass underwater or food that sinks. I feed mine small particle foods that they take from the water column. I also stick a small pinch of flakes to the front glass.

 

[surajk]

I also stick a small pinch of flakes to the front glass.

Oh nice trick! I tried it, and my endlers loved it. Cardinals couldn't figure it out in time though