# Rusty swimming in vertical circles



## MbunaMan07 (Feb 26, 2011)

one of my 2 inch rusty's is swimming very fast head first in vertical circles, been doing this about a week. Waste is normal, he's eating normal fresh vegetables too, ph, temp, n all that's good. He does this for hours tho maybe swim bladder ???


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

If he has control of his position and he is upright maybe not swim bladder. Fish can pace the tank, but it is usually up and down constantly against the glass. Is he doing this with another fish? That could be aggression.


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## MbunaMan07 (Feb 26, 2011)

It's not back in forth or up n down, or any chasing he will sit in one spot by himself rapidly swimming in circles basically doing front flips for two or three hours straight. I've had mbuna for a long time and dealt with bloat from fish I bought at my lfs, and everything else. But i never had any fish do this before.


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## MbunaMan07 (Feb 26, 2011)

Just wanted to make sure its not a symptom of any diseases I'm not familiar with, oh and he does occasionally swill upside-down and eat that way sometimes too.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

He's trying to catch his tail :lol: 
Doesn't sound normal but if there aren't any other symptoms and he's eating, he's probably just enjoying himself.


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## MbunaMan07 (Feb 26, 2011)

Lol yeah maybe.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Definitely strange. I've never heard of anything like that before. Sometimes when there's high ammonia a fish will dart around--if you haven't already done so you should test the water and then do a partial water change of 30% using a good quality dechlorinator--just to see if there's any change.

Fish are confusing. . . :roll:

Robin

will he snap out of it at feeding time?


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## MbunaMan07 (Feb 26, 2011)

Water is good, and yeah he'll snap out of it and eat, but he'll eat upside-down lol. I guess I'll just let it be since its been 2 weeks now n he's otherwise healthy. Thx tho.


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## Lisa67 (Apr 15, 2011)

I had to sign up for an account on this site just to see if this issue ever resolved. I have an orange zebra doing the exact thing that you described. It does it up against the glass for hours. Otherwise seems completely healthy.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Lisa67 said:


> I had to sign up for an account on this site just to see if this issue ever resolved. I have an orange zebra doing the exact thing that you described. It does it up against the glass for hours. Otherwise seems completely healthy.


Welcome to Cichlid-forum. Is it a newly set up tank or is the fish a new addition? I find this activity normal in both situations.
You can try turning off the lights, in some cases I think it may be a reflection.


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## Lisa67 (Apr 15, 2011)

I have had fish in this tank for about 6 weeks. The fish swimming in circles was part of my origional stock. It just started swimming in circles yesterday and otherwise seems healthy. Right now it is acting completely normal. Very strange. Thank you for your reply.


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## MbunaMan07 (Feb 26, 2011)

Yeah swimming in circles can be normal, but in my case it defiantly wasn't he no longer does it but he does still swim and eat upside down. He's like a upside-down cat except he stays out when I turn the light on lol.


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## DRBrown (Nov 28, 2011)

My yellow cichlid is swimming in vertical circles against the side glass. He is slightly larger than the 9 other cichlids, all about 1.5". They are in color pairs. I had the water tested and all chemical levels are perfect. He eats fine. Is more aggressive than I would like, but everything else seems normal. Has only displayed this behavior for a week.


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