Ember Tertra

[Hsep]

[align][/align]Hello,

I have been keeping Ember Tetras for approximately 4 months now. I have a group of 6 and today I observed that one of the fish is swimming weirdly. It almost looks like it is falling down and always swimming with its head pointing at a 45-degree angle.

Water parameters have been stable for the last few months at NO2 of 0, NO3 of 0, NH3 of 0, GH of 10, pH between 7.5 and 8 (all measured using Colombo test kit) and temperature at 25 Celsius.

It is 100l super fish start, which is relatively heavily planted with both fast and slow-growing plants. Other other fish include 4 adults of swordtails with 4 babies, 7 corydoras and one pleco.

Does anyone have a clue what can be going on? I did not recently add any new fish or plants to the aquarium. Thanks

[Martinspuddle]

Sounds to me it's the swim bladder, most likely an infection. Antibacterial treatment can help and there's a few products on the market like Interpets 'Swim Bladder Aquarium Treatment'

Also stop feeding them (Won't harm them) for three or four days.

[plankton]

Is your water hard or soft?
You're more likely to get problems like this with harder water.
Martin has also pointed to feeding, what are you giving them (including make )?

[black ghost]

Possibly just the hard water taking its toll. I presume you have hard water because you have Swordtails.

[Martinspuddle]

Have to agree with @black ghost and @plankton your water pH parameter suggests your aquarium could well be the underlying factor here.

I've never kept Hyphessobrycon amandae but looking them up on the web, a pH 7.0 is really the maximum of their range. In hard water calcium deposits can build up in the fishes organs leading to their demise.

[Hsep]

I presume you have hard water because you have Swordtails.

Yes, that is correct. I got the tetras before I learned about water parameters and how they might affect fish health, so I am trying to balance not very soft and not very hard water.

Martin has also pointed to feeding, what are you giving them (including make )?

Crushed bug bites and sometimes tubifex.

So I have a follow up question, could this be solved if I moved the group of 6 to my 30l where I have super chill beta?

[plankton]

Small fish with a betta after he's got his territory? I think you'd be asking for trouble.
It will also mess with the betta's feeding routine.