White Cloud

[emmanuelchavez]

I've noticed for the past 2 weeks that one of my white clouds has been very distant from the rest of the school, but most of all, he's very skinny. He tends to stick to the top of the tank, and sometimes he'll be lethargic, and sometimes he'll be swimming around like nothing's wrong. When I fed the fish a few minutes ago, I saw him trying to eat, but he a) either couldn't catch the food... or b) anything he managed to get, he spit back out.

I originally thought that maybe there was a lack of oxygen, because I took out the airstone, but everyone else seems to be doing fine, most of the activity seems to be mid-level and below, except for that one lonely guy. I thought I read somewhere that schooling fish seem to do better in odd numbers, could that be affecting him?? I haven't checked water paramaters since i did a water change this weekend, so I'll do it in a bit.

Could it just be "his time," or should I QT him in the 2.5 gallon, and try to get him to eat. His buddies are voracious eaters, so they left him with nothing after he kept spitting things out.

 

[iapetus]

I'd QT him. It sounds to me like the problem is with this fish, not the tank. Yeah, being alone might stress him out. But, not eating anything will really, really stress him out. I know it'd stress me out.

 

[punkrockfish]

how long have you had him? it is possible he is the runt of the group and being pushed away. it would explain hanging at the top and not eating. schools are usually better in odd numbers like you said. i would remove him and see if you can get him to eat on his own.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I got him with the original group about a month and a half ago - I think. I moved him to a QT tank last night, but he didn't move at all. I put him back this morning, and started swimming everywhere, and then he just "fell" into one of the plants, then he started swimming again, and was underneath one of the leaves from the purple waffle where he looked like he was about ready to die. Before I left for class this morning, I saw him swimming toward the top with the rest of the group.

I'm not sure how he's doing now, I won't get home till about an hour or two - I'd rather stay at school doing research for 2 more hours, as opposed to sitting in traffic for hours for a drive that would normally take me 15 minutes.

If he's still alive this weekend, I'll just pull out the other 5 gallon, and put him in there with 2 other white clouds...

 

[iapetus]

If he's still alive this weekend, I'll just pull out the other 5 gallon, and put him in there with 2 other white clouds...

I'm not so sure that I agree with that course of action. All this moving the poor guy around from tank to tank can't be good for him. What exactly is the purpose of QTing him with other healthy fish? At that point you'd really just be exposing the other two fish to whatever this one might have. I'd suggest that you either quarantine only the fish that appears unhealthy (and I'd really only do this if he's clearly sick) or let him try to recover in the tank if there's nothing obviously wrong. (And, yes, I know that I'm sorta contradicting myself from yesterday o), but I'm a little concerned about all the back and forth between tanks.)

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I don't really see anything wrong with him in the sense of diseases, just him not wanting to eat. I figured I'd put him in another tank, with 2 other guys to make it an odd number, since these guys seem to do better in odd numbers. He obviously didn't like being alone last night, which is why I put him back.

I've still got 3 days before I do anything - Sunday is my designated day for waterchanges, etc. I'll see how he's doing by then.

 

[iapetus]

Well, I know that there definitely seems to be a pecking order among my gold pristellas. The big ones get most of the food; the smaller ones don't get as much. But, I figure that such a pecking order is natural and that everyone is getting enough to eat, even if some aren't getting as much as others.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

He's still alive and swimming. I fed some bloodworms, and I saw him eat 3 small pieces. The other guys just eat everything too quickly, but he won't eat when he's alone. I guess I probably won't have to move him.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

this guy ended up dying.... I saw his half-eaten body last night....


some of the other white clouds seem to be acting a bit like him now, lethargic... although, they still eat.

None of my other fish seem affected. The cories, otos, and betta are swimming along like nothing's happened......... could there be something wrong with my white clouds??