fish unable to swim upright???

[confusedfishy]

Hello everyone. Most of you know I have been working to rid my tank of ich. My kole has been in hypo conditions for many weeks. It had a comback after two weeks in hypo and I had to start the time clock over again three weeks after entering the qt.
Anyway, it has been 4 weeks and I began raising the salinity 2 days ago. Strangely, the kole seems to be unable to swim upright for long. He has no markings on him, not breathing hard, swimming about middle of tank, but is not staying upright for more than a second or two. He is almost straight up and down, nose down. He will restraighted and then it happens all over again. This began today. The nitrates have been difficult to keep down, I have done 2 water changes of 30% today already. Other numbers seem to be okay: nitrite 0, ph 8.2, ammonia 0. What else could I do to help him, he has been through so much I hate to lose him. If anyone has any ideas please let me know...thanks so much!!

 

[beth]

You're raising salinity too fast. You need to take a week to raise the salinity. Replacing salty water with the hypo water in rather small increments.

 

[confusedfishy]

Okay, this hasn't happened before. I was at 1.008 when I started two days ago. I went up 2.5 points the first day and about the same today. I had a hard time getting it just right, I was shooting for 2 points a day, 1 point every 12 hours with a water change each time. What should I shoot for each day?

 

[confusedfishy]

Does he have a chance at this point? Anything I can do for him?

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by confusedfishy
http:///forum/post/2743318
Does he have a chance at this point? Anything I can do for him?
Let him adjust. Leave the SG as is tomorrow. Is the new water well mixed? You said you did a 30% change, was that water at your current salinity? Are you doing one large change every twelve hours, or pulling some water out and then dribbling in water that is saltier? It will not hurt to take longer to bring up the SG. The fish's health is much more important.
You said he has been treated for four weeks. Was this four weeks after the ich came back or four weeks total?

 

[confusedfishy]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2743421
Let him adjust. Leave the SG as is tomorrow. Is the new water well mixed? You said you did a 30% change, was that water at your current salinity? Are you doing one large change every twelve hours, or pulling some water out and then dribbling in water that is saltier? It will not hurt to take longer to bring up the SG. The fish's health is much more important.
You said he has been treated for four weeks. Was this four weeks after the ich came back or four weeks total?
The first change the water had been mixing for over 24 hours. With the second change I didn't wait 24 hours for it to mix because I was so upset about the strange swimming I wanted to do another one to see if it would help. I was doing a 30% change with a higher salinity in it. That is what I did the first time, which raised it a bit too high (2.5 points) at one time. Then the second change was at the same salinity. In the past I took water out and mixed salt into it and readded, I tried this way this time because I thought the salt would do better if added in a water change instead.
It has been 4 weeks since the ich reoccured and vanished. I began recounting after the ich dissappeared the second time.
I will leave it tomorrow. Is there anything I can add or do for the fish to help him in the mean time?

 

[sepulatian]

Let him adjust. In the future, do not do large changes. Pull water out and then dribble salt water in. If you have to do a larger change, for water quality reasons, then dilute some of the mixed water to slightly higher than what the tank is at.
There is nothing that you can do for your fish other than letting him adjust. Do you have plenty of water flow in the tank? The oxygen will decrease as the SG increases.

 

[confusedfishy]

I will let him adjust for a day or two. I have one power head in the tank. It is a 29g so hopefully that will be enough. Before when the salinity raised the fish seemed to be okay, didn't look stressed or have a hard time breathing, the set up is still the same. I will keep a close eye on him, I can't help myself, even in the middle of the night.

 

[sepulatian]

How strong is the power head? It is strong enough if you put your hand near the other side of the tank and you can feel some current under the water. Test this. If you stop feeling it about halfway across the tank then it is not strong enough. This will be more of a problem as the SG increases. Do you have a filter on there too?

 

[confusedfishy]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2743531
How strong is the power head? It is strong enough if you put your hand near the other side of the tank and you can feel some current under the water. Test this. If you stop feeling it about halfway across the tank then it is not strong enough. This will be more of a problem as the SG increases. Do you have a filter on there too?
I tested the power head. It isn't strong enough so I will add another or put a stronger one in depending on what I can find today. I do have a filter on there, it is on the opposite side of the tank from the power head right now.

 

[beth]

Its best to use change water from your display. Water there is much more stable, and more in line with the environment that the fish will be going into. How is your pH?
Add the new water to your display, not the QT.

 

[confusedfishy]

Okay, I will definately add the salt with the water from the tank. The reason I did the water change with new water was because the nitrates are high and I was trying to get rid of those as well as adding the salt. From this point on I will make sure that any new water is exact in ph, salinity, and temperature before adding to the QT to reduce nitrates.
The fish hasn't starting swimming upright yet, still isn't showing great stress other than swimming strangely. It is not eating as well as usual though. Should I leave the salinity or try to start increasing again? If I should wait longer, how long?

 

[sepulatian]

Bring the SG up. What are we talking about by "upright"? He lays on his side? He has had time to adjust. Bring the SG up very slowly.

 

[confusedfishy]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2746933
Bring the SG up. What are we talking about by "upright"? He lays on his side? He has had time to adjust. Bring the SG up very slowly.

no, he isn't laying on the bottom or anything, just swimming around unlevel. He looks like he is going to go upside down if he stops swimming. He swims with his bottom up instead of level. He is mid way up in the tank, not even on the bottom or anything. Strange, huh...