Death Spiral?

[JSB]

I have a Blue/Green Chromis (1 of 4) which have been in my tank for the best part of a year now. With the exception of this one fish, all others appear fine, including clowns, goby, a tang, an anthias, and a six line. This evening when i was feeding the fish, the fish in question come out of his spot up top and proceeded to do a rough spiral decent to the bottom of the tank where he came to rest on the sandbed leaning against the glass.

He shows no signs of any bacterial, viral, or protozoa infection. Eyes are clear, breathing is normal, color is normal, fins are intact and smooth. He is struggling to remain upright, and attempts to swim always wind up in a circle. I have been doing this for a long, long, time and have never seen this. Any help identifying the cause and cure would be appreciated.

sb

 

[JSB]

A minor update. The color is not as good as I had initially reported, as he is somewhat pale. I have removed him from the display and placed him in the hospital tank, where the waters are calmer. In his attempts to swim in the display, the MP10 would blow him into a flat spin. Since the hospital/Q-tank was already set up, it made the most sense to pull him. The shrimp were following him around the display waiting for him to check out.

 

[JSB]

One last note. Thinking this through, this fish has demonstrated some minor, yet similar, symptoms over the last couple of months. Just before I pulled him from the tank, he found a corner, and went nose up, tail down, with his tail lightly touching the sand. This is the same behavior I have witnessed once in a while where I would come to the tank early morning and find him doing the same thing. However, he would eventually join the herd and do fish stuff, only to be spotted doing the same thing a few days later. Related? I don't know.

 

[NanoNathan]

dang hope he pulls out of it. maybe he was doing tricks??? :clap2:

 

[Steelerfan747]

Sorry to hear but it sounds like it may be due to bullying and slow starvation which is normal among chromis

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JSB]

Well, he did not make it through the night, so curing whatever it was is out. I will admit that he was always smaller than the others, but never missed a meal. Also, my tank is generally very peaceful. I see only the rare aggression among the tank mates. However, your hypothesis makes sense as this fish was prone to hiding since he was first introduced, as one of the first inhabitants, along with the other Chromis.

Thanks for your input.