# Electric Blue Jack Dempsey swimming erratically



## red_alley_cat (Feb 23, 2012)

Having an issue with my \electric blue jack dempsey...he has started swimming erratically. Twisting, spinning on his nose and flipping in all directions. This behaviour started sometime today. I have read posts where people have said they have seen this behaviour in the ebjd before but I havent seen a reason given for this behaviour. He is just young. i have had him for only 3 months and he is about 1.5 inches long. He is in a 120gal tank seperated from the other tank mates as he is too docile. His only friends right now are 2 peacock eels. He will not eat any pellets but will take blood worms, glass worms and plankton. the water parameters are GH 120, KH 80, PH 6.5, NO2 0 and NO3 20. I did a 20% water change after those readings. Temp is at 76 degrees and filtration is a rena xp4 and a fuval fx5 with an air pump for surface aggitation. If anyone knows of what is going on I would be very greatful. Also there is no physical signs of distress. His colour is vibrant and there is no indication of sores or fungal/bacterial infection.


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *red_alley_cat*,

I am not qualified to diagnose or recommend treatment. However, based on my own experience with fish dieses, it sounds like your EBJD might have a gram-positive bacteria infection of the swim bladder. Try looking up information on whirling dieses or swim bladder infection.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,
Matt


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## red_alley_cat (Feb 23, 2012)

I had susspected swim bladder disease but unfortunately he is too small for me to feed a pea to so my only option is to not feed him for a few days and watch what happens. As for whirling disease, the only info I could find on it was for wild fish. Apparently salmon are the worst hit with that disease in the wild. I havent feed my ebjd for 2 days now and he seems to be doing better. I think I will have to watch him closely from now on and really watch his diet. Thanks for your suggestions.


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## Leviathan64 (Sep 23, 2007)

Blues while young as you may well know are fragile. If you have had him 3 months and he is still only 1 1/2" then I suspect a runt. There are a few things I would. I would get him a tank for himself, get the temperature up a few degrees, good aeration and feed high protein. I have soaked food in " garlic guard " to entice feeding. If you are able to get him to 3-4 " then introduce tankmates but keeping the blue the biggest and dominate fish. I have had success and failure with this fish. Some require a little more tlc than others. Good luck.


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## red_alley_cat (Feb 23, 2012)

I turned the temp up a few degrees...it is now sitting at 78. I have read in quite a few places that too much protien is not a good thing for cichlids. Are south americans different? I have also read that ebjd's are very slow growing, so I wasnt concerned about his size. I have owned tanks for 20yrs but this is my first attempt at cichlids lol. Anyone out there have some helpful hints on keeping ebjd"s. What you read and actual experience is to different things lol.


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## sjwrx (Apr 15, 2009)

Like someone previously said, ebjd's in general under 3" are very fragile and disease prone.
I've lost quite a few of ebjds in the beginning. A lot die fairly young due to all the inbreeding.

I dont rememeber where i read this but someone recommended to treat the tank with jungle parasite clear, or the now tetra parasite clear. I've had success with this method on numerous ebjds, a few that are now about 4-5". Fairly slow growers.

Though recently i've acquired 3 more ebjds (2"), but have not used the previous method with success.
These recent 3 however are crazy eatters, really active constantly up glass, and are growing at a faster rate. I feed New Life Spectrum Thera A + Garlic.

ime when i see that they are not eating something is usually wrong. Things with small young ebjds is even though u do everything correctly, things can go wrong quickly for no apparent reason.

Like someone also said, keep the ebjd as the dominant fish, as they get picked on fairly easily.


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## red_alley_cat (Feb 23, 2012)

I have about 40 gallons of the 120 sectioned off for him. I am looking at getting him his own tank til he beefs up. He has been fine for 2 days and he is now doing his break dance impression again. I cleaned all filters and did another water change, minimal this time, and treated with melafix and will run the full 7 days of treatment. I have some of the old jungle parasite treatment but not enough for one dose. I will have to go and see if I can find some. I have heard about feeding your fish garlic before. Thanks for the tips I will definitely try them both.


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## sjwrx (Apr 15, 2009)

glad to see he's doing better!


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