Endler On His Way Out? :-(

Right... so my peacock endler Madge (despite being male) hasn't been quite right the last couple of weeks. It seemed to start from when I changed the heater over - before this, he always used to nibble on the heater happily and would be found there most days.

Then when the heater was a shiny new one with nothing to nibble on, he was always found swimming on his lonesome. He seems quite slow compared to the other fish, though I assumed this was just his 'personality', and he was never or rarely ever part of the 'group'. However the last couple of days he seems to be increasingly slow and plodding, and some times I struggled to even find him in the tank. When I got home from work today after a panic and assuming the worst I found him in the corner of the tank and he wasn't moving. I tapped the glass to confirm but he swam off slightly, but he just seems to be 'resting' on the gravel, and at one point was completely vertical on it. His eyes seem to be black all over. I'm fearing the worst, as this was similar behaviour to my first fishy death.

All other fish are happy and well and water is fine (in fact I changed some of the water yesterday as I was worried about some leftover brine shrimp).

I don't know what to do at this point or why he's such a sorrowful looking fishy :-(

I'm afraid that non of my guppies who looked like this ever survived.... you may have to do the decent thing.

I had to do that this morning with Biscuit the Platy. He'd been fin-clamped for a couple of days, shimmying on the spot in front of the pump outlet and not eating. It's a final act of kindness..... but it's still poo. 

You haven't done anything wrong at all, but I know how you feel. It's what I thought when a number of my guppies died within a few weeks of getting them, even though I carefully and patiently cycled the tank just like you.

I suppose it's the stress of being shipped into this country, shipped to the distributor, shipped to the shop, put in a bare tank, caught and put in a bag, put into a new tank. It must take its toll on the poor things and some of them really don't get over it.

Whatever you do.... don't beat yourself up over it..... and don't go and get a replacement yet, wait a few weeks to see if it's a tank problem, or just an individual fish problem.

Oh Jesnon,

I'm so sorry to read about Madge, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a miraculous recovery, but it doesn't sound hopeful, does it?
Good luck with whatever you have to do.....

Resa
 

Thank you Resa - a sad day all round :-( Unfortunately I was having a really good day until discovering poor Madge.

In a desperate googling frenzy it could be swim bladder, which people seem to be saying is easy to treat...

Madge seems to have an inability to control his height, hence the nose diving. For a while he also had a long string of poo hanging out of him, it looks like it's fallen off now though. He seems much livelier / active at the minute (though still same or similar symptoms) and is frantically swimming in circles with his nose on the floor but rest of his body floating up. I want to make sure that this isn't something I can fix... online people have said it's really curable by feeding peas??

I'm reluctant to do the deed, as if I found out I'd killed my fish unnecessarily I'd be really upset. Equally though I don't want to leave him to suffer if he's terminal.

Any opinions ASAP would be great

Thanks anyway Resa. Unfortunately we decided his time had come and put him to sleep earlier

Swim bladder disease is one of those illnesses that can have several causes. The symptoms we see are caused by the swim bladder not working as it should, but that can be due to anything from bacterial infection/viral infection to constipation compressing the swim bladder. When it's caused by infection, that has to be cured to save the fish - viral infections can't be cured, and bacterial ones really need antibiotics which we can only get on prescription in the UK.
From the other symptoms, it sounds as though your endler had an infection; he probably already had it when you bought him and it's taken a few weeks to become critical. Sometimes, there is nothing we can do to save a fish, and the only option left to us is to end its suffering.

It's hard to say if the colouring of the other fish in the shop has anything to do with whatever it was that killed Madge. As you've already seen endlers come in a lot of different colours so they could have been naturally that colour.

As for the remaining endlers getting the same infection as Madge, it is possible. But the most efficient way for an infection to pass from fish to fish is by healthy fish eating the body of an infected one. Since you removed Madge before she died this did not happen, significantly lowering the risk to your other fish.
But still watch them.