my fish is spinning, why?

Question

I have an emporer tetra, and she is spinning around the water, acting really wierd. She won't stop spinning around and swimming sideways, and upside down. Why is she doing this. I fear she may be sick....she lives in a community tank, and no one else is acting the same way.

My fish is in a 20 gal tank....the tank is not overcrowded, and I do water changes every week, there is no chlorine poisoning, and she is not exhibiting any other visible symptoms...that is why I am so stumped.
I know that emporer tetras can live over two years in good conditions in a tank, and I do believe that this fish is approaching it's first birthday...could it be dying already??

I must also add, that i keep a heater in my tank, so the temperature has not changed the entire time I have had my tank.
I already said that I change my water every week, so after doing a chemical test, i can report that the water ph, and nitrate (etc) are all normal.
I observe my fish every day, and last night at 11PM they were all fine, then this morning at 7 AM, when I got up to look at them, that is when I noticed the tetra swimming wierd. Also, she has been placed in a hospital tank and I have not seen her eat anything all day.

I have noticed that redness has developed under her mouth, like the whole throat area looks inflamed.

Answer 1

Could be whirling disease - honestly, I'd expect this before swim bladder disorder, mostly due to the fact that she's swimming in circles in multiple directions. I had a cory that got infected with this back in March - he finally passed on in August.

You'll need to isolate her in a quarantine tank if you have one, as whirling disease is contagious (as it is a parasite). Unfortunately, there is no treatment available today. Your only two options are to either let her live in the quarantine tank by herself until she passes naturally, or you should euthanize her after she stops eating. See the following link for instructions on how to euthanize a fish: http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/tom06.html

It may be painful to you to have to put your fish down, but you really have to think about what's best for her. Put yourself in her shoes, er, fins. Would you want to continue living with a disease that's going to kill you, which there is no cure, which can be very painful?

When we realized our cory had whirling disease, we moved him to his own ten-gallon tank and upped the temp to about 82 degrees. We tried antibiotics, anti-fungals, anti-parasitics - we even tried treated fish food - nothing worked. His spine ended up looking quite curved towards the end, though he was not swollen or discolored at all. Like I said, he passed on a couple of months after we figured out what was wrong with him.

The odd thing is none of the other fish ever got sick with whirling disease. We lost more than half of our population due to a plague in March (every fish showed different symptoms, though we never figured out what the heck hit the tank) - Whirly was the last to show any signs/symptoms, and he was ultimately the last to die.

Answer 2

Could be neon tetra disease or an internal parasite (neon tetras are not the only fish to get neon tetra disease). I've also seen that happen with high nitrites in the aquarium, or when the pH changes drastically. Isolate the fish in a hospital tank (preferably with a filter, but a fish bowl or plastic container (even tupperware) is better than nothing). If you don't have an additional heater you can float the "hospital" in the main aquarium, just make sure the water in the hospital container doesn't mix with the water in the aquarium. This is a safety precaution in case whatever the tetra has is contageous, keep removing fish from the aquarium as soon as they start spinning. Then try to determine the cause, if there has been a big change in aquarium parameters, try to gradually return them to normal (don't make another big change) or if you have high ammonia or nitrites, do 20% water changes daily until they go down and add 1 tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water. Until you know what is causing the spinning, I would add 1 tablespoon of freshwater aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water to both the aquarium and the hospital tank (it works out to about 1/2 teaspoon per gallon for a small container). The salt can't hurt, and depending on the problem, it can help, plus it will reduce stress, and reduce the uptake of nitrites if there are any.

Answer 3

Your fish is most likely infected with a disease. It is most likely suffering from a "spinning disease" which is caused by a virus afflicting its pancreas. The signs would be violent whirling and a horizontal corkscrew swimming behavior, a darkening of body color, abdominal distension and sometimes hemorrhages at the base of the fins. However fish older then 6 months usually don't show clinical signs. Outbreaks of this disease have been reported in fish 6-11 months old.

Sometimes a sick fish feeling uncomfortable would end up spinning. The best thing for you to do is to isolate such fish which has the possibility to survive but could also die. It would be highly recommended to change the water of the fish tank just in case it has been contaminated to save other fish from getting the infection.☺

Answer 4

Your fish has one of two possible problems common to fish living in community tanks.
He is either:- Dizzy, looking at the other fish swimming around and around him may have disrupted the liquid in his inner ear and ditorted the delicate balance of...balance.
OR............:- He has a problem with his swim bladder, the small organ that allows the fish to have control over thedirection and manner of his swimming. This may end in the death of your fish, but medicine can be bought from any pet shop. I also advise that you keep an eye on all of the other fish in the tank, as this problem can be transmitted through the water.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 5

That sounds like swim bladder, or the end of some other disease.
What size tank is she in? The biggest culprit for unidentifyable fish illness and death is poor water conditions and overcrowing.
Do you do weekly water changes?
I'm guessing that this isn't a new tank, right? In new tanks this can happen if not properly cycled, but this problem should not occur in an established tank.
I don't suppose you just replaced the filter cartridge? That can kill a lot of beneficial bacteria.

Try doing a large (50%) water change and make sure you keep up with weekly water changes of 20-40%.

Is she exhibiting other symptoms? Like white spots, bloating, pinecone-like apearance, frayed fins, open sores...

Answer 6

It sounds like your fish has the Whirling Disease, which is caused by the parasite Myxobolus cerebralis.

You need to seperate her from the rest of the school as soon as possible as it could spead. Im afriad that the mortality rate is low for fish afflicted with this.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Answer 7

Tetra Fish Diseases

Answer 8

I had a fish start swimming in circles after other fish started to pick on it and picked its eye out. I had to move it to my moms tank where the other fish were nicer to it. It lived quite a while but always swam in circles.

Also have seen fish do this right before they die.

Answer 9

ur fish is losing its ability 2 swim . it could be dying of natural causes. u can also make sure the tank water is appropiate 4 the fish.if only 1 fish is spinning and the others are not , the water is not the cause

Answer 10

I have a 60 gal. tank and it's filled with tetras................

I used to get this same problem over and over again and I asked a friend of mine (who happens to be a vet) what I should do and she told me to stop changing the water so often and do use any chemicals in the water, to only use room temp. distilled water. I have followed her instructions and I havent had a tetra die in over a year. The best part is I dont have to change the water...............LOL............I love it. All I do is add a gallon of fresh distilled water once every 2 weeks and havent added one drop of anything else since.