# Apisto swimming as if his rear does not work.



## frankeyser (Jul 29, 2008)

Yesterday I sat down to play some video games and I noticed my male apisto (orange flash) is swimming really really weird.
If I could say it looks like anything it looks like a bird trying to fly into a big head wind.
It seems like only his front fins are working. He is still eating when I feed them. He just cant seem to control where he moves that well. He tries to swim up and he goes in loop de loops. Or gets stuck upside down and has to right himself. I watched and it is as if his back half is nto working.
I have not idea what could be wrong?
I did a extra water change and said I would see how he was doing in the morning. he is still swimming wierd but eating. He is hiding way more than usual.
In the tank I have a female, 3 emerald cories and two bristle nose plecos. I do two 20 percent water changes a week. One on wednesdays and one on saturdays.
What do you think could be wrong with him. I have never seen anything like this so I wanted to get advice before treating him.
Water parameters are good, it is a custom 21 gallon tank, heavily planted, and I feed them a brine shrimp spirulina mix twice a day.
here is a picture of the tank.








any help and advice would be much apreciated. I bought these apisto as fry about 3 months ago and have watched them grow to adulthood.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

It sounds like he may have been injured by a falling rock or something like that. Have you moved things around in the tank recently? Any rock slides?

It could also be due to organ failure and the body cavity filling with fluid. Does he appear to be bloated? Any raised scales?

Occasionally, something like this happens for no obvious reason. It's almost as if they are paralyzed on one end, usually the tail end. In these cases, I think it may be the fish equivalent of a human stroke.

If he cannot stay upright, you might try putting him in a breeder net or a hospital tank for better observation.

I've rarely see fish rally back from these kinds of problems, unfortunately.


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## frankeyser (Jul 29, 2008)

cichlidaholic said:


> It sounds like he may have been injured by a falling rock or something like that. Have you moved things around in the tank recently? Any rock slides?
> 
> It could also be due to organ failure and the body cavity filling with fluid. Does he appear to be bloated? Any raised scales?
> 
> ...


I have not moved anything but I did noticed a small rock with a java fern attached had slid down to inbettwen an adjacent rock and the back of the tank. I guess it could have possibly bumped him or trapped him till he disloged himself.

Checking for bloating was the first thing I did thinking it might be a bladder infection. I had been out of town for four days with someone else feeding my fish. I thought maybe they had overfed them. But there seems to be no bloating. I was going to fast him for 24 hours.

Also no raised scales.

It is as if his rear is paralized but I swear every now and then when he is getting really out of wack (upside down and side ways) he uses it for a short burts and rights himself.

After putting him in my hospital tank should I do anything further to treat him? How long should I wait for improvement? If he is eating and surviving should I allow him to live or do you think this is causing him lots of stress?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I would do daily water changes on the hospital tank. As far as meds, I usually use a broad spectrum antibiotic when in doubt...Sulfa is always a good one to start out with. I'm not sure that it will help, especially if it's an injury or a neurological deficit, but I usually try something rather than just sit back and wait.


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## frankeyser (Jul 29, 2008)

cichlidaholic said:


> I would do daily water changes on the hospital tank. As far as meds, I usually use a broad spectrum antibiotic when in doubt...Sulfa is always a good one to start out with. I'm not sure that it will help, especially if it's an injury or a neurological deficit, but I usually try something rather than just sit back and wait.


thanks for the information! I really appreciate it!


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