Red tail cat won’t stop swimming

[MrDuckBootz]

One of my red tail catfish won’t stop swimming. I watch him and he constantly swims into things. Not hard but she will put his nose against the plant (his favorite) and swim into it. I think I notice him slowly floating to the surface but he keeps correcting it. I think it might be swim blatter how do I treat for swim blatter disease? His tank mates are a pb another rtc endlicheri and a pleco

Tested my way ammonia came back as 1.0ppm and nitrate came out as 40ppm I’m doing a 50% water change as I type this what else can I do to lower both ammonia and nitrate?

 

[Dloks]

Prime

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

You have answered your own question. Good job.

Your tank is not cycled. Nitrate is ok. You need to measure nitrite too.

Ammonia can be detoxified as stated above by prime. AmmoLock can be used too, which is what I do.

1 ppm ammonia even short term is enough to make any fish sick. I'd suggest that at any sign of anything problematic or even just unusual one needs to measure ammonia and nitrite, then nitrate, pH, and hardness KH and GH.

Once the stress is gone, the fish usually recover on their own.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Put in a filter from another tank if you have one, which has been used for more than a few weeks. Not a final solution but should help.

 

[MrDuckBootz]

He’s acting very weird he mostly swims into the glass in one specific spot unless I turn on a light then he moves. He doesn’t come to food I have to pour it on him and even then he barley eats. Is it possible his whiskers don’t work? He’s plat and I know u guys said mutations can occur. The other one acts totally normal eats normal swims normal and chills under logs normal.

The one that acts weird is also breathing heavier

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

You must not feed the fish until your tank is cycled or at least the ammonia detoxified. You are killing them. At 1 ppm ammonia they will soon die.

Sick fish can do all kinds of weird stuff. It doesn't matter other than perhaps its brain is starting to be affected.

Have you detoxified ammonia?

Have you measured the nitrite?

Have you measured all other parameters I had mentioned?

 

[MrDuckBootz]

Yea I used cycle by Fluval today and prime yesterday.

Ph: 6.8-7

Ammonia: .25ppm

Nitrate: 40-80ppm both colors on the test kit look the same to me

Nitrite: 0ppm

I think his whiskers may be broken there are like kinks in his wiskers. He likes to swim around at night

 

[aroijuana]

Wait you have a platnium rtc in an uncycled tank??

 

[MrDuckBootz]

The tank has been up for months I’m pretty sure it’s cycled

I have a bunch of other fish that are living perfectly fine in the tank it’s just one red tail that seems weirdd

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

How can you say you are sure it is cycled if you had just stated two factual measurements that say it most obviously isn't?

If there is a measurable ammonia+ammonium in the water by a liquid API test kit, your tank is NOT cycled and all your fish will get sick and perish, some sooner, some later, but there will be no exceptions.

Ammonia and nitrite MUST read zero ppm at all times. This is fish keeping rule #1. There is none more basic than this. Nothing else anyone does for their fish matters if this is not accomplished. As an example, you can place your dog or cat in the most exuberantly luxurious quarters and feed them the most expensive diet and hire them a personal massage therapist and get them a TV channel and the best toys and take them for long walks, but if the air they breath at home is contaminated with smoke, carbon monoxide, paint thinner, whatever, none of it would matter.

IDK what cycle by Fluval is but I hope you really got the ammonia detoxified.

I still would not recommend feeding until your tank's cycled. At the face value of your statements, you either don't understand what being cycled means or you are in some deep denial.

For instance:

The tank has been up for months I’m pretty sure it’s cycled

I have a bunch of other fish that are living perfectly fine in the tank it’s just one red tail that seems weirdd

You can have a tank run for a millennia but if the biofiltration is not coping with the stock, the tank is NOT cycled.

But you have never been forthcoming with the information much, so I personally find you hard to help. Yet, we will keep trying our best, bro.