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I have a fish that has been floating on his side for a few days now... I figured that he would die before I could get around to treating him... but he is sticking it out. In addition to him floating on his side he also seems to have a crick in his spine, think he may have got have gotten in a fight... and i have had him isolated since. anyone have any clues as what the problem may be?

What kind of fish is it? And what was his tank mates? and of course are the paramters of the water ok? or is anything high or low?

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Unfortunately, you didn't give us much to go by. I mean, you didn't even tell us what kind of fish it is. We need a bit more information.

1. What species of fish?

2. Other tank inhabitants?

3. Tank size?

4. Water chemistry? (pH, NH3, NO2, NO3, etc.)

5. How old is the fish?

6. Is there anything else unusual about the fish? (coloring, shimmying, scratching, etc.)

7. Any other fish acting strangely?

The floating could be one of a few things. Most likely it is some kind of swim bladder problem. Might be from a bacterial infection or it could be diet related. The bent spine could actually be from old age. I have a few 5 year old WCMMs that are bent over like a 90 year-old woman.

Unfortunately, it's hard to make any type of reasonable guess without more information.

The crick in the spine sounds like stress.
I got some new glass catfish shipped and upon arriving, one had a crick like that. I could have sworn his back was broken and he could only swim in a revolving manner.
Next day, crick was a little less and the day after that he was fine.

Salvini Cichlid
in a 55 gallon...
no nitrates
no ammonia
do weekly water changes... no hazards in water chemistry
just bought a new test kit to make sure mine had not gone bad... and still register no nitrates

none of the other fish have any problems
salvini got into it with a Dempsey ( No surprise... both territorial... not had any problems till recently)
year or so old

The only thing that has been going on in the tank besides territory aggression is blue green algae...

that in itself is an anomaly... plenty of oxygen... ( 2 emperor 400s and 2 bubble stones 1 on either side of the tank ) no nitrates, but think lighting is causing algae.. 135 watt compact florescent... just under 3 watts per gallon... ( unfortunitly came with a 10000K / actinic combo... getting a dual 6000k to replace it soon ) should not cause too much stress... only on 10 hours

hope that helps

btw definition of crick in spine... looks like a dead fish being held on its side out of water... limp... but he is stiff and can't shake it

Nitrites (the one between ammonia and nitrates) can also kill fish.
Perhaps he just had a stoke. Maybe fish can have things go wrong with them just like people?

The Dempsey could have done some damage, albeit unseen. The territorial fights can cause fish to suffer physical damage as well as intense stress.

I have had this with 3 male guppies to date - fin nipping, chasing, fighting for food - and it all ended the same - cricked back, slow swimming, and then death. And up until the cricked back, I did not notice any outward physical damage.

Like they say....stress kills, fish, human or otherwise!

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.

Seeing it is only one fish and there are no other problems that you can see, I would take at a guess it is a problem with that fish only.
The response could be as suggested, it could also be age. You mention a

cricked back

this problem can be caused by several things but most of them would have occurred long before you got the fish.
If it happens again I would be watching the tank very closely to any behaviour problems of an agre4ssive fish.

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Keith

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