two times a strange thing happened to my fish, I wrote off the first incident as an anomaly, but just now it happened again so I must ask if anyone has ever had anything similar happen to their fish... here are the incidents...
1. the first time it happened to my 2 year old ~10" black ghost knife. I found him on the bottom of the tank, drifting upside down where the airstone's lower pressure develops. I know that he sometimes just sleeps during the day and doesnt move for a a few seconds but in such cases I still see his gills moving. Nothing was moving this time. I was on my way to work so I dropped everything and picked him up, he did not move at all, I held him under the waterflow of one of the filter returns and opened his mouth with my fingernail. I got water to move through his gills that way and after about 10 minutes of that he started moving his gills on his own. but still sank upside-down. I continued holding him under the current until he snapped out of it and swam off out of my hand, hid in a cave and was acting "normal". This happened about 3 months ago.
2. Just now one of my 2.5" bristlenose plecos did the same thing, I found it on the bottom of the tank sideways and not breathing. I put him under the current and after about 5 minutes I can see his gills moving. I feel him moving lethargically and once I let him go he still falls down to the bottom sideways, right now he is in the current, head first, stuck between two root vines of a plant. Im checking on him periodically to see if he can swim ok... if he can, he should free himself if he swims forward.
this happened in different tanks, bristlenose resides in a 10 gallon riparium used for my fry, which he currently shares with another bristlenose of the same size. The other fish is acting normal. I do 2 waterchanges a week on all of my tanks so Im not concerned with my water quality.
is it possible for fish to knock themselves out if they swim into something fast enought or is this indicative of some other problem?
1. the first time it happened to my 2 year old ~10" black ghost knife. I found him on the bottom of the tank, drifting upside down where the airstone's lower pressure develops. I know that he sometimes just sleeps during the day and doesnt move for a a few seconds but in such cases I still see his gills moving. Nothing was moving this time. I was on my way to work so I dropped everything and picked him up, he did not move at all, I held him under the waterflow of one of the filter returns and opened his mouth with my fingernail. I got water to move through his gills that way and after about 10 minutes of that he started moving his gills on his own. but still sank upside-down. I continued holding him under the current until he snapped out of it and swam off out of my hand, hid in a cave and was acting "normal". This happened about 3 months ago.
2. Just now one of my 2.5" bristlenose plecos did the same thing, I found it on the bottom of the tank sideways and not breathing. I put him under the current and after about 5 minutes I can see his gills moving. I feel him moving lethargically and once I let him go he still falls down to the bottom sideways, right now he is in the current, head first, stuck between two root vines of a plant. Im checking on him periodically to see if he can swim ok... if he can, he should free himself if he swims forward.
this happened in different tanks, bristlenose resides in a 10 gallon riparium used for my fry, which he currently shares with another bristlenose of the same size. The other fish is acting normal. I do 2 waterchanges a week on all of my tanks so Im not concerned with my water quality.
is it possible for fish to knock themselves out if they swim into something fast enought or is this indicative of some other problem?
