Yesterday my comet started acting very strangely-all of a sudden he has fits where he can be fine, then the next minute hes swimming around ULTRA fast and jumping. Im afraid hes going to poke his eye out or hit his head hard on something >.<

He looks like hes gone insane...I tried to turn the light out to see if it would calm him but it didnt.

Ive had the fish for over a year now, and Ive never seen him act like this. Theres no ammonia, Ive not changed how I manage the tank in a year, I dont see any parasites on him-so I dont understand this??

Its like hes suddenly gone mad???

Anyone have any idea at ALL what can cause a fish to start acting hyper/crazy like??

He also seems to be gasping but there is an air pump in there? There is NO gravel, its barebottom so theres nothing he could have swallowed?? hes only had flake food the past few days

He is by himself in a 10 gallon right now, in march he will be getting a 20...if hes still alive O_O

I'm sorry to hear you're little fish is having some trouble.

Is it possible for you to answer the questions in the red box above? We need information such as tank size, water parameters, etc etc. You mention you have no ammonia, but how do you know this? Are you using test kits? What about the other parameters?


Parasites cannot be seen with the naked eye. You would need a microscope to identify one. However, the symptoms you are describing can lead one to believe there are parasites involved.

I would like to see your answers to the questions before we can make a correct diagnosis.

Please post back soon!

Yes I have an ammonia test kit

* Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? 0
Nitrite Level? I dont know
Nitrate level? Idont know

Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? Acidic-yellow (I didnt know O_O) 6.5

Ph Level out of the Tap? Basic-blue-7.5

* Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 10 G - for about 2 weeks

* What is the name and size of the filter/s? Tetra for 5-15 gallon I believe

* How often do you change the water and how much? each week, 10-15%

# How many fish in the tank and their size? 1 comet, looks like 4.5" atleast including the tail

# What kind of water additives or conditioners? Ammo Lock, API stress coat, STress ZYme

# Any medications added to the tank? No

# What do you feed your fish? Tetrafin goldfish flakes, natural peas sometimes

# Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt", No
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? None that I can see ;-;

# Any unusual behavior like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..? Acting VERY hyper for over a day now

Dont know why the ph should be so low if the tap ph is 7.5. Do you have bogwood in the tank or using any ph adjusters? Have you got tests for gh and kh at all?
As the tank is only two weeks old it is probably cycling and its really important you get tests for nitrites and nitrates done as well. Your pet store should be able to do this if you take a sample for them to test.
How are his fins when you see him scoot around the tank? Are they standing upright or are any laid down. Does he scratch his body on the gravel or the corners of anything? Any flicking of the fins or excessive yawning.
You say youve had him a year so unless you have added new plants or anything similar then i doubt its parasites but you never know what the tap water can bring in.
How are you cleaning out his filter? Tap water or tank water and are you squeezing the sponge out?

Thank you - SInc emy last post Ive changed the water and the PH is not acidic anymore...

I will buy nitrAtes and NitrItes tests then tomorrow at nnnnnn if they have them..there is no pet store where I am...Ill have to buy some kits online..::sigh::

I dont have any bogwood, and I havent used any PH adjusters until tonight to raise the PH.

whats GH and KH???? More tests to buy, lol >.<

When he swims his fins are upright,they go down a little but not clamp. Its just with the force I assume

************** I have now discovered a purple wound on his nostrel. Its I took the best pics I could but he just wont slow down long enough to get a rystal clear shot...

Do any parasites make a purpleish dot like wound????? He does look like hes trying to get it off his head but maybe thats just me looking too much into it??

It doesnt look like a wound though? Unless its a scab?? I really am worried...

I havent cleaned the filter since i set up the tank again 2 weeks ago because its brand new

ANY help here would be appreciated, and pic sites with parasites? That doesnt look like a wound >.<

yes as I said before he seems to be "gasping" an awful lot

Hi there.


It looks like a wound to me. It looks like a fresh one to boot.

Firstly, If you've changed your pH recently in the tank, this could cause erratic behavior and an injury from bumping into something. Large pH swings are dangerous to fish and can damage their gills and beyond. So, we REALLY need to know the stats on what your pH WAS and IS and how quickly it was changed aaaand what you did to change it.

Most likely, the injury to his face is from flashing or scratching on ornaments or gravel. Wheter it be from parasites, the pH change or both, we don't know yet.

Post back soon


Paul

Hi,

He was acting strangely before I changed or even tested the PH in the water...thats why I dont think it was that. Maybe because the water was all of a sudden too acidy??? could that cause strange behavior?

I added some melafix for the wound so it doesnt get infected...

Thankyou. I was worried it was some bug or something in his head making him mad

the PH was rather acidic as I said before, 6.5. Testing it now it appears neutral 7 according to the colors chart (Oh I love those :/ wish I had a test that could just giv eme a number)

I added PH powder stuff to raise the PH and changed some of the water.

Should I just buy the additive that supposedly regulates the PH?

Actually, we need to know what the pH and KH of your tapwater is. With that info, we should have a good idea of what needs to be done to keep your pH stable. Try looking online for your local water suppies Water quality report for 2005. It should be on your cities official homepage...........


IF your fish has been acting strangely long before the pH thing, then you might be looking at a parsitic invasion. BUt, It could still be linked to your water chemistry/quality. Until we can get all the info, start doing daily 25% waterchanges. That should keep everything stable.

Post back soon.

Paul

Well he isnt acting hyper anymore, but now hes laying on his side on the bottom and righting himself again >.<

I also see now a piece of his tail, on the top, has fallon on the bottom of the tank. From the hyper activity I assume? its like a petrified hair piece...

the PH is no longer acidy...its a little above neutral...

Should I heat the water and try for peas? hes layin gon his side, is that buoyancy issues? He doesnt look bloated..

It sounds like you may have changed the chemistry of the tapwater too fast. If you could answer the questions here:


how quickly did you change the pH with the pH additive? Did you just start adding it til the pH was where you wanted it? Did you do the changes very slowly?

What is the pH of your tapwater? Whats the KH of your tapwater? Test for them and post the results.


Post back soon.

I dont think I changed it too fast, doing a water change brought it down quite a bit I surmise since out of the tap the PH is above 7 (Think it was 7.5)...

but I dont mean to belittle everyones concerns over the PH, but as I said Ive had the fish for over a year and havent seen him act like this before-I didnt change anything in my maintenence habits-so why now? And again I want to say he started acting very hyper before I raised the PH to not be acidy anymore...

a few days before he started acting hyper he was constipated. As of now he has no appetite, and "stands" straight up and stays still.

I dont know what KH is >_>

::starts googling fish vets in rochester:::

Well, if your unsure of what KH is, then you definitely can't know, for sure, that you had not changed the pH too fast. Nor can you say that your water quality was stable and strong enough before the funny behavior started. You see, pH is one of the most major factors in keeping fish healthy. Every fish has a specific pH range and if the water chemistry moves out of that range (wich it can and does) things happen.


Look at it like this:


Your water from the tap has a specific chemistry. Once its out of the faucet and circulating in the aquarium, it begins to degrade in quality. After a while, the water quality has a tendency to finally hit a level that affects the fish. Then, going and changing the chemistry of the water, abruptly, causes further problems.

Here's a little known fact tht I think will oipen your mind to the dangers of changing pH: The pH scale is logarithmic. this means that 7.4 is 10 times more acidic than 7.5.... with that in mind, 7.4 is 40 times more acidic than 7.8!!!! So, a pH of 7.4 is 100 times more acidic than a pH of 8.4........ I think you see where this is going....... Changing the pH more than 0.4ppm in less than 12 hours is too much. Any faster a rise and your risking stress and comprimised health.

Since you have listed pH problems as happening in the general time frame that the funny behavior started, we have to rule out pH as a culprit before we can go any further in diagnosis. Hence, my questions regarding your water quality. Any competent fish vet will lead you along this line of questioning and thought first and foremost........

So, if you can find an online source for a water quality report for last year, we can proceed in diagnosing the problem. If you cannot locate one, then what is the name of the city and county you live in? I will do a search for one for you.......



Post back soon.


PAul

O_O wow, I didnt know that...


Well he ate the peas I gave hm today where he hasnt been eating, so I hope that means hes getting better...the wounds on his face look better too and last night he wasnt hyper. Nor has he been standing straight up or laying on his side and righting himself.

The county Im in currently is Monroe...I will start searching now. Town is Brockport, NY (which already has water full of chlorine and who knows what else >.<)

Yes, an appetite returning is indeed good news and probably heralds improvement in his health.

Well, it seems that your water quality reports dont include general hardness, clorine content or any other useful stuff. I searched through several sources too. Anyway, your tapwater comes from Lake Ontario and is filtered through coagulators and seives. This translates to the need for you to have a KH test kit and a box of arm and hammer (baking soda) to keep your tankwater's chemistry stable for your goldie.

You'll need to experiment a bit with a bucket of freshly drawn and dechlorinated water. Draw some water, dechlor it, test it for pH and then let it sit out overnight. After 24 hours, test the pH again. If it has not changed any, then great, you wont have to age your water. Aging water is mainly for those with a water supply that contains c02 as a pH buffer. Once the tapwater is drawn and the c02 dissipates, then the pH rises. so, we need to check for this first and foremost.

Once thats done and we have recorded levels of pH before and after aging, we can proceed into the calculating of how much baking soda your going to need to add to each gallon of water you use for your tank.


Don't worry, this is only about as complicated as it gets.