Sick Sailfin?

Oracle Phoenix · Post by **Oracle Phoenix** » 20 Oct 2004, 20:53

Hey,

I'm not sure if this is really a problem, maybe just a seasonal thing or somethin... I'm just hoping to put my worries to rest.

The tank is kept at 76-78 degrees and water is changed regularly. The tank is a 20 gallon long which I'll hopefully be upgrading to a 29 tall as soon as I can afford a hood. It's got a regular gravel substrate and biowheel filtration. The tank is fully decorated with all decorations being synthetic except for a stick of wood for the pleco to chew on. He lives with 3 small angel fish, an adolecent kirb cichlid, and an african frog. The tank has been set up for almost a year and it's only problem so far has been a severe free-floating algae bloom that I finally got cleared up about a month ago. Through that the fish stayed happy and healthy as can be. The last fish added was the krib, but that was months ago.

The sailfin is normally extremely active, maybe even a little more than normal. I've given him plenty of places to hide but, oddly enough, he never seems to want to. He swims with the angel fish half the time and usually sits in plain view in front of the tank. He never bothers anyone and never gets bothered. His only problem in the past has been a great deal of suspicion toward me. He normally drifts subtley away from me whenever I try to make contact and if I move to fast he charges away, which I figure is just the sign of a normal fish who's just naturally warey of people.

What bothers me is that I walked in to turn the light on at the normal time today and he was sitting at the front of the tank as usual but I noticed his eyes looked sunken and all the color was dropped around them so he has little grey rings around his eyes and the little vents or whatever near his eyes on top of his nose were standing straight up and they usually don't. He also had his dorsal fin all the way down and his color dropped. When I came up to the glass, he was so stiff and still I thought he might already be dead. When I prodded him (like ya do) he moved a little to one side and then settled again which is strange because, as I've mentioned, he usually doesn't like me getting too close. I sat an algae disk down in front of him and he moved a little to suck on it which made me hopeful but now, 15 minutes later, he hasn't moved from that spot. All the other fish in the tank are fine and behaving normally.

I haven't done anything to mess with him except feeding him.

I hope I'm wrong about him being sick. Or at least that there's something I can do if he is. I really like him. I'd appreciate any feedback.

-Mandy

Post by **Shane** » 20 Oct 2004, 21:52

Mandy,
When things do not look normal the first thing you should do is a good water change. I would do an immediate 40-50 percent water change and keep a close eye on the fish.
-Shane

Oracle Phoenix · Post by **Oracle Phoenix** » 22 Oct 2004, 01:07

Shane,

Unfortunately that wasn't really an option since I had just done a filter change a few days ago and needed to regrow bacteria in the filter before changing out water. Luckily, everything is back to normal this evening and the fish is swimming around as usual and all his colors are up. I guess he was just having a bad day. Thanks anyway for your advice and concern!

-Mandy

Post by **Shane** » 22 Oct 2004, 05:42

Mandy,
Not doing a water change because you just changed filters is the dead oppositeof what you want to do. Water changes should be more frequent, and of a larger percentage, after a filter change in order to keep the water clean while the filter becomes established. Glad the fish is doing better.
-Shane