New to Glass Catfish and have a prob already
 

I decided for something new and picked up 2 glass cats the other day. I wanted 5 but they only had the two. So I get them situated in the tank, they are happy and swimming around, having fun with the other fish I have then all of a sudden, one starts going vertical. It is now vertical most of the time, goes upsidedown sometimes, and swims erratically. Honestly for such a longer fish, it makes the fastest and tightest little turns! The other one is just fine. All the other fish are fine. The water is good. The plants are happy and growing, and in general everything is good except him. When I feed, he does go to the top and eats normally after he does the fast crazy swimming for a second. I am going to do a water change (just did one yesterday) when I can figure out where my bucket is. The water tested fine though so not really sure what the problem is. He has no visible discolorations or parasites, fungus...anything. Any ideas?

maby somthing wrong with swimbladder= (internal organ that contirbutes to balance and swimming )? or perhaps just having fun hopefuly like a upsidedown catfish other wise hope sombody hybridized it with the upsidedown catfish/ dont reely have exp with glass catfish just making guesses here.

This is usually a swim bladder problem as cole suggested. It is not curable, and in my experience fish never recover. Sometimes they can go on like this for weeks but eventually they die, perhaps from starvation since feeding can become impossible in severe cases. I have had several fish over 20+ years develop this, often out of the blue--I've had them for months and even years, then suddenly overnight this develops in just the one fish.

As to what causes this, I understand it can be genetic, or brought on by water parameter shocks. One reason why careful acclimation of new fish is important. In established tanks (not new fish) any shock may initiate this, and again this is tied mainly to water parameters and stability.

Another cause though can be internal or external protozoan that sometimes affect the nervous system. Without an autopsy examination of the dead fish by a biologist, this is next to impossible to determine unless other fish begin showing the same symptoms. I have also had this occur, once.

Byron.

Byron there is one thing you left out it could be internal damage from rough handling or from being bounced around on the way home and sustaining internal injury from that but the rest you have covered pretty well also the reason I suggested hybrid or playfulness was to be optimistic but often it is better to have the heavy cold hard facts than being oblivious and hoping for the hopeless if this were a perfect world and life were longest until sickness came upon we probably wouldn't have to worry about this issue but fantasy unfortunately must be sorted from reality but the good thing about this is it gives us a chance too better understand rather than live in ignorance and be blind to the truth -_- so I must remain neutral about my optimistic urges to give more accurate information rather than false hopes this being said I am sorry about this persons fish may death be better to it than life amen
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Thanks for the ideas everyone. He is still swimming like he was before, in circles usually, and then laying on the bottom of the tank. All other fish are still fine, as is the water. I have tried bacteria and fungus meds to no avail. I thought he was fine in the store and on the way home (only 3 minutes away from the store) and I did float the bag for 15 minutes. Every 5 minutes I added some tank water until it was mixed, then let them all out. They all came out fine, and he did too. Then a couple of days later he started with the weird swimming. the store said I can bring him back in and exchange him, so I am considering that. they can put him in their quarantine tank and use different meds than I have.

I see I didn't say this previously, so I will now for everyone's benefit.

While this can be due to internal protozoan, it is more usually not. The fish can have been injured at any point along the way to your tank, and the symptoms only show up down the road. I have had fish develop this problem months after acquiring them, which could be this or something genetic.

The point behind this is the detrimental effect of using any medications when the specific issue is not known. These can make things much worse, and for all the fish. All medications stress out fish, and this weakens their immune system. If the medication is specific to a real need, fine; but otherwise the additional stress is not worth the risk. If this treatment was carried out in the main tank, then it also exposes all fish to this. As well, some anti-bacterial products can disturb various good bacteria. And plants can sometimes be affected too. Something to stay well away from.:-)

Byron.

Thanks Byron. I did med the whole tank but will separate the sick ones from now on because I was unaware it could affect the other fish detrimentally. They are all doing just fine and the tank is cleaned out from the meds, and I can no longer find the sick one! I guess he finally died and the others ate his body because I can't find him or his remains anywhere. The plants are doing good too. I now have 3 cats but they hang out separately, 2 in one cave and one in another. Not sure if I should get anymore to get them to school, but I am thinking no, I will return them as I am not familiar with them. Thanks for the info though, and I will certainly keep it in mind in case anything else ever comes up. oh, and on a very quick side note, I am getting conflicting info on the size a rubber lipped pleco will get to. Some say only 4 inches, but I thought they averaged about 6-8 inches. I wanted to get a snail but have a tiny amount of salt in the tank so don't want to take the chance. So I was thinking a dwarf pleco and someone mentioned the rubber lipped one. I cannot get anything over 4 inches though, so maybe have to stick with an oto.

Cant' won't comment on what may have affected the Glass Cat's for no mention was made of water parameter's (good,fine,normal,are subjective ).
Will say 20 gal tank listed under your aquarium's is a bit small for the species which thrive in group's and appreciate softer,cooler water with moderate current.(30 gal or larger would suit them).
Do research fishes before you buy them.
As for rubber lipped Pleco,,four inches would be about normal size for adult .
This species also enjoy's cooler,water not too hard,with moderate current.
Might consider acclimating fish via drip method with light's off, and no food's for a day or two until fishes adjust to new water chemistry.
Species mentioned(glass cat's) are particularly sensitive in my view/expieriences with them so anything to lessen stress would be of benfit.

Agree. But you (jeeplassie) also mention salt in the tank...what is this for? Salt should never be generally added to a freshwater fish aquarium.

And just to make sure what I earlier said was correctly understood, it is OK to medicate the entire tank if the problem warrants it. It all depends on the symptoms. Sometimes we remove fish to treat them in a Quarantine Tank (as for pop-eye for example), sometimes we need to leave them and treat the entire tank (as for ich or velvet, etc) if it is a highly contagious disease.

My earlier point was never treat a fish or the tank for "something" just on the off-chance they may have it.