# Urgent help por favor. Corkscrew swimming through the tank



## JimSparks (Apr 7, 2020)

I've been searching but haven't found much yet. I found a little bit about this exact thing with some discus and an oscar. One of my rusties has started just spiraling or corkscrewing through the tank. They will give a little propulsion and dart around then start corkscrewing again. I have never seen this before. I pulled her up with a net and kind of isolated her for a bit. She stopped for a bit and was swimming normally for an hour or so. Now she is back to corkscrewing around.

Has anyone seen anything like this?

i am so concerned for her.

Thank you
Jim


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## JimSparks (Apr 7, 2020)

I have seen things like ammonia poisoning (ammonia is 0 so i would be confused by that one), swim bladder disease, and whirling disease. Do these make sense? Has anyone experienced this in mbunas before?

I forgot to add this in my first post.

Tank details:
• 75 gallons (48x18x16)
• SunSun H303B canister filter (x2)
• SunSun H302 canister filter (x1)
• Powerhead
• Standard air stone
• Substrate: Pool filter sand
• Rocks. Lots and lots of rocks

Water parameters:
• Ammonia (NH3/NH4): 0
• Nitrate (NO3): 10
• Nitrite (NO2): 0
• pH: 8.0
• GH: 8
• KH: 7
• Temperature: 79.8


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Dechlorinator? I would say a water issue. Possibly something you can't test for...chemical on a bucket or something toxic that got into the water.

When did this start happening? What changed before that. All the other fish are fine?

You lost some fish 2-3 weeks ago...what happened to them?


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## JimSparks (Apr 7, 2020)

I first noticed it yesterday morning. Came out of the blue. Up to that point, everyone was doing just fine. Feeding, swimming, and playing just fine. Feeding twice a day. Come out to eat. I change water on Sundays usually. Usually down about 75% of that tank. Sometimes I move the rocks around. Planning on a 2-week rotating schedule for the filters. Clean out 1 canister. Then 2 weeks later another. Then 2 weeks later another. That way each canister gets cleaned out every 6 weeks.

I was a couple of days behind. I changed it last night. Did not clean the filters. Other than that, nothing different that I know of. I removed a light this past week. I am using a light that may be brighter than the overall light has been. That is the only change I can think of. This tank is in my office so the kids are only here when I am.

The previous fish losses - the ones I saw would just start hiding, seems like they were struggling to just hang out. No noticeable illness that I could see. Some of them just disappeared. I found them under the rocks. The water parameters were in normal ranges. At least the ones I regularly test for were.

Is there a point when you realize you aren't cut out for keeping fish? It is so frustrating. Now I am down to stock levels that I know I need to up the number of fish to be successful. But I am very hesitant to do so not knowing what is going on in this tank.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Most likely is something that happened last night at your water change. Can you verify you added dechlorinator?

I would change water again, but rinse, rinse, rinse...scrub, scrub, scrub your faucet and your Python first so any toxins that accidentally got on it last night will not enter your tank again. Don't put anything else in the water or let anything touch the water...buckets, nets, hands.


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## JimSparks (Apr 7, 2020)

This happened before the water change. THe water change was in the evening following the morning of discovering this.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

So the fish is fine now?


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## sir_keith (Oct 30, 2018)

It sounds like a swim bladder issue. I've never seen a fish recover from this.


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