Springeri swimming behavior

Captain45 · Jun 5, 2023

I've had two Springeri Damsels in a small 13.5 fluval since March. They have been doing fine (albeit one is a little territorial). I received from full Quarantined but figured I'd let them settle for a few months before transferring to main tank.

Well the smaller one just started swimming at about a 45 degree upward angle and has a little bit of a prolapse for thr past 4 or 5 days. He's eating and I've just switched to omega brine shrimp as I read that can help with constipation etc. Haven't seen any improvement. Normal diet is a mix of frozen foods such as marine cuisine, emerald mix and mysis with some PE pellets here and there.

Thoughts on what to try next?

https://youtube.com/shorts/QqRahiFmp50?feature=share4

Params

1.025
78.3 degrees
Nitrates 5 ppm
Phos .03 ppm
Ph 8.3
Mg 1350
Calc 400
Alk 8.0

vetteguy53081 · Jun 5, 2023

Captain45 said:
I've had two Springeri Damsels in a small 13.5 fluval since March. They have been doing fine (albeit one is a little territorial). I received from full Quarantined but figured I'd let them settle for a few months before transferring to main tank.

Well the smaller one just started swimming at about a 45 degree upward angle and has a little bit of a prolapse for thr past 4 or 5 days. He's eating and I've just switched to omega brine shrimp as I read that can help with constipation etc. Haven't seen any improvement. Normal diet is a mix of frozen foods such as marine cuisine, emerald mix and mysis with some PE pellets here and there.

Thoughts on what to try next?

https://youtube.com/shorts/QqRahiFmp50?feature=share4

Params

1.025
78.3 degrees
Nitrates 5 ppm
Phos .03 ppm
Ph 8.3
Mg 1350
Calc 400
Alk 8.0

Hard to see on my phone
Are these guys squabbling with each other?
Any tail damage?
Normal breathing or labored?

Captain45 · Jun 5, 2023

vetteguy53081 said:
Hard to see on my phone
Are these guys squabbling with each other?
Any tail damage?
Normal breathing or labored?

They are squabbling. The one that's swimming weird gets chased a lot when it leaves its corner of the tank. There is a little tail damage. Breathing is hard to see cause the damsel doesn't really sit still long enough to assess

vetteguy53081 · Jun 5, 2023

Captain45 said:
They are squabbling. The one that's swimming weird gets chased a lot when it leaves its corner of the tank. There is a little tail damage. Breathing is hard to see cause the damsel doesn't really sit still long enough to assess

As suspected, I believe this may be an aggression issue, and the bully may have to be isolated

Captain45 · Jun 5, 2023

Captain45 said:
They are squabbling. The one that's swimming weird gets chased a lot when it leaves its corner of the tank. There is a little tail damage. Breathing is hard to see cause the damsel doesn't really sit still long enough to assess

Is it safe to move the stressed/injured over to my main tank (eg this isn't a parasite related issue?)

The one swimming poorly seems like a peaceful fish so I'd prefer to move that one over to my main tank that is full of peaceful fish and not move the bully

Jay Hemdal · Jun 6, 2023

Captain45 said:
Is it safe to move the stressed/injured over to my main tank (eg this isn't a parasite related issue?)

The one swimming poorly seems like a peaceful fish so I'd prefer to move that one over to my main tank that is full of peaceful fish and not move the bully

I agree this seems based on aggression. Not moving the bully is probably best. However, either fish could have some hidden disease, unless you have proactively treated them? There is some risk to moving them because of that, even though you've had the fish since March.

Jay

vetteguy53081 · Jun 6, 2023

Captain45 said:
Is it safe to move the stressed/injured over to my main tank (eg this isn't a parasite related issue?)

The one swimming poorly seems like a peaceful fish so I'd prefer to move that one over to my main tank that is full of peaceful fish and not move the bully

As Jay stated- move the bully fish.