Senegal Bichir Broken Back?

[The Masked Shadow]

Haven't seen any rounded bending of a bichir's spine like that before, though the red and frayed ventral fins make me suspect a bacterial infection of sorts. The belly doesn't look full as a result of food IMO, and fluid buildup/swelling seems more likely. I doubt that it crashed into a wall at breakneck speeds, but I suppose it's not out of the question; I don't know if the spine would've gradually curved towards the midsection of the fish if it did indeed hurl itself at a wall, however. Perhaps Hao or giseok jung could help?

Sorry. I'm no expert when it comes to health issues/diseases issues. My expertise is identifying bichirs. Best of luck to OP! Hopefully giseok jung can chime in. I've usually consulted him when it comes to health issues/diseases.

Thanks

 

[kendragon]

May be stray electrical currently. Check your heater or pump.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

May be stray electrical currently. Check your heater or pump.

Recently the outlets in the room he’s in shorted, and I had everything plugged into an extension cable. It was all fixed about 4 days ago, and I plugged everything in 2 days ago. However, the outlet quite close to it has been doing mini shorts, everything temporarily turns off for a second or two with that outlet. Though it’s likely that I would’ve noticed if that outlet was doing it because of the filter stopping. his back thing happened within a day or so, so

 

[kendragon]

BINGO...it's not the outlet. It's your aquarium equipment. It will affect your fish.

 

[kendragon]

By the way, has the hole in the backyard filled up with water?

 

[Caveden]

IMO it does seem like a broken back… let it be and I may recover. Fish with broken backs have chances of recovering!

 

[The Masked Shadow]

By the way, has the hole in the backyard filled up with water?

Haven’t been able to dig for 2 months - been at its lowest 1’

 

[The Masked Shadow]

BINGO...it's not the outlet. It's your aquarium equipment. It will affect your fish.

What rules out bacterial infection or a broken back or fluid/air buildup?

At this point I’m not sure he’ll make it through the night. He is out of it.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

He’s swimming at a tilt. What can I do to help him?

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Bump. He made it through the night. His tail fin is also very white and transparent