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My idiotic paadisefish, who, up until recently has spent his life lounging around in my plantedtank, spend 2 weeks in my betta tank and just doesnt look well.
(it is possible it was coming on beforehand, he was becoming more reclusive, but it certainly wasn't visible to this extent)

Water conditions were normal/acceptable, but it was slightly warmer than my tropical tank (78*F?)

I can see nothing physically wrong with him, except rapid breathing. Gills are fine, colour is normal, no signs of parasites.

he seems to just sink like a lead weight. I finally poted pics of his foolish behaviour 2 days ago, and it is common behaviour for paradise to snooze on the gravel, but this falling and rapid breathing that has come on in the last day is not normal at all.

I just am rather baffled. I can't see anything that i can treat.

he looks like he is dying, but he doesn't look infected or damaged


the rapid breathing came on about day 13 of the betta tank, and on day 14 i moved him back to the trop tank in case the heat was getting to him, or he was stressed with the lack of plant cover...

Gary? Tammy? Cory? Anyone? wanna gimme an idea here?

Last edited by Callatya at 09-Nov-2004 09:59

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Was there a prime reason to move the trop from one tank to another in the first place??...

There's always a shock/stress factor when shifting trops to different tanks.

--garyroland.

the prime reason is that he is a collossal bully. I moved him out while i settled in some smaller skittier fish in the hope that they wouldn't be so flighty as if i had just introduced them while the evil white fish was on the prowl.

I mean, the two tanks aren't vastly different other than decor, all the levels i have tests for are the same or very close.


*I just checked. He is gone. I'm really at a loss. I know shock is bad and deadly, but this really dragged on, and it seemed to be repiratory. the fish itself looks completely normal, no redness, no anything

I dont know


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Is it possible it was just old age? Or maybe internal bacteria of some kind? I had some platys that behaved like that once which turned out to be internal parasites.

http://www.greenspersonalprinting.com/

it could have been parasites i guess, but i would have thought i'd be able to see something at least, even now when i can manhandle him, i cant see anything in his gills. I might slice and dice tomorrow morning.

He was very young, about 8 months maybe? he did have some conformation issues (very compact and stocky, and had a bump on his noggin), so i do think he was a bit inbred, but i dont know if i can really blame this on bad breding, it seems like a cop out.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I'm sorry to hear your trop didn't make it, Calla...

In fact, I'm a little surprised that such a tough fish with a reputation of being a scrapper, but not mean, and able to thrive in dirty water down to 10c, died so young.

The Paradise Fish was first introduced here in the States in 1876 by the famous beer mogul Adolphus Busch and considered a novelty at that time.

Of the many hobbyists I've talked to who have a love for the trop, they all seem to claim the fish can't be trusted in small community tanks.

The Paradise Fish is common in the rice fields of China, where they endure a wide range of temperatures.

--garyroland.

I'm really suprised too, its not somehing that i had expected.

He wasn't too bad in the tank actually, he only ever attacked 2 guppies, the rest he just menaced a bit to make sure they knew he was the boss.

*sigh*



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Oh I am sorry you lost him Callatya its always a retch when you loss one of the bigger fish especially if you can't figure out why. I hope you discover what it was that made him die. There is one other thing I have found that sometimes if I stress my fish out to much in a short space of time and there happens to be a fish in there that doesn't like you messing around in the tank they end up sulking for days and then eventually kind of give up the will to even want to live it sounds strange but it has happened to me a few times.

http://www.greenspersonalprinting.com/