# The strangest thing I've ever seen in any tank



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I have my own fairly solid theory as to what happened but I won't post it yet so I can get fresh opinions on the matter. This incident occured yesterday roughly 24 hours after the puffer was introduced to his tank. He is about 2.5 inches big, and the current inhabitants of the tank were 4 rummynose tetras. The tetras are being found a new home since the puffer will eventually eat them otherwise.

Anyonw, I walked past the tank and saw the tetras frantically swimming in every direction. Faster than I've ever seen my exodons swim to give you an idea. They were scatered and bouncing off the tank walls like I was watching a pinball machine. Within seconds they all stopped moving along the sides of the tank, 1 in the back right corner, one along the right wall, and two along the left wall. Right in front of me they all turned belly up and were motionless. I tapped the glass next to a few of them and got no response. So far as I could tell, they looked dead. I freaked out and ran up stairs to grab the bucket and do a water change before my puffer died too and when I came back one of the tetras was swimming around. "what the hell?" I thought and looked at the tetras still upside down once again. Not movement I could see, but while looking at them another one righted itself and swam off. My fish were coming back to life right in front of me. Within five minutes the other two were also swimming around fine and all four tetras are alive and apparently well.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10

Have fun with this one, wierdest sh*t I ever saw but I think I know what might have happened.


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## piranhaqueen (Nov 18, 2004)

That is weird..... so, what do you suppose happened?

Maybe they got scared from your new puffer and had heart attacks, or they fainted, or they were playing dead...... who knows man, never saw a fish do that!


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## mr_rob_boto (Aug 31, 2003)

thats just fuggin weird


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## sadboy (Jan 6, 2005)

Do you think that they are playing dead?


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## jsh3434 (Apr 8, 2005)

I think that they were just playing dead?????


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## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)




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## masterofdragons (Feb 1, 2005)

Well if they were ramming into the sides of the tank, its very possible that they knocked themselves out. I haven't seen it very often (only time anything similar happened to me the fish hit so hard it died), but every now and then I see it happen at the LFS when the new stock gets introduced. I am curious to hear your theory on it though, so don't keep us all in suspence







.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I'm not sure fish play dead, I've never sen it at any rate because I'd imagine a fish trying to eat it would say "oh good, it died on it's own and I can just get right ahead eating it".

My theory, and it sounds logical enough to me at least in light of the circumstances is that the tetras all knocked themselves silly on the glass walls. For whatever reason, the puffer likely did something that scared the crap out of them causing them to panic and scatter. In their complete panic they darted in all directions forgetting that the tank glass constricts them from moving beyond it (something we've all seen our piranhas do I'm sure) and basically tried to swim away from something as fast as they could. Since all of them were swimming at full tilt they all hit the glass at an extremely high speed... head first. Upon hitting the glass they experienced what happens when any animal smashes it's head against a hard object with alot of force. They knocked themselves unconscious. This corroborates with the fact that I found every one of them along the glass walls. During their state of unconsciousness they went belly up and appeared dead. After a few moments, they regained consciousness and seemed fine.

Now, I don't know for sure this is what happened, but it is quite frankly the only thing I can think of. Nothing else seems to make a bit of sense, and I even put my finger in the water while the heater was on to make sure it wasn't electrocuting my fish or anything.

If anyone has a more plausible explanation, I'm dying to hear it. Nonetheless, it's still the wierdest thing I've ever seen. My girlfriend absolutely freaked when the tetras woke up from being "dead" and to b honest it threw me for a loop as well.

EDIT: exactly what I was thinking icedizle


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## P-Power (Jan 23, 2004)

you didn't turn you're tank into a bong?









that was my first guess


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## Handikapped (Nov 5, 2004)

a 20 gallon bong doesnt sound like such a bad idea


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Maybe tonic immobility isn't restricted to sharks alone: good to know in case you have to handle a rogue tetra...









Seriously though, I have no clue... In what way are Puffers toxic? The meat, after eating it? Or do they release toxins when stressed? Or what?


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

What's tonic immobility Jonas? I've never heard of it before

Puffers being toxic is the first thing I considered, since the action of the toxin is to suppress nerve impulse transmission and basically cause paralysis and possibly death (because the heart isn't told to beat) but I had it explained that they would have to eat the flesh to consume the toxin and I don't think it's likely all four tetras took a chunk out of the puffer simultaneously.


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

when i transferred a bunch of fish out of my hex tank. my male platy did the same thing. he would be ripping around fleeing from the net. then all of a sudden he stopped, went stiff, and floated to the top. i scooped him up and put him in a container with water, to get a look at him. i went to pick him up, and BANG, he was up and swimming again.

when i went to put him into a new tank he did the same thing. he went so rigid and stiff that i swore he had had a heart attack. but it seemed like he playing dead or something.


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## Scrap5000 (Mar 4, 2005)

I was thinking maybe temporary shock (electrocution) that they were more sensitive to?


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## rbp 4 135 (Mar 2, 2004)

i was also thinking that mabey there was some sort of electrical discharde in your tank


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## Puff (Feb 14, 2005)

im thinking el twitcho is right about them stunning themselves.

i think my platy knocked out when he hit the side of the tank...or maybe im confused.

20 gallon bong...naw...gotta go with a 125 or something. damn that would pack a punch.


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

elTwitcho said:


> What's tonic immobility Jonas? I've never heard of it before
> 
> Puffers being toxic is the first thing I considered, since the action of the toxin is to suppress nerve impulse transmission and basically cause paralysis and possibly death (because the heart isn't told to beat) but I had it explained that they would have to eat the flesh to consume the toxin and I don't think it's likely all four tetras took a chunk out of the puffer simultaneously.
> [snapback]977063[/snapback]​


Tonic immobility is a weird trance-like state seen in sharks (and maybe other fish as well - not sure): flip them over on their back, and they become rigid and motionless (I'm sure you've seen it on TV before...)
Some suspect it has to do with mating: subdueing the female during the act.

I already thought it's the Puffer's meat that is toxic, but I wasn't quite sure.
I highly doubt Rummy Noses are agressive enough to nip other fish: some tetra's do (like Serpa and Black Skirt Tetra's), but not these guys...


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

my first assumption was the same as Jonas's. puffers have toxic skin (hence the bright colors on some of them) i thought, i didn't think one could be poisoned only by actually eating flesh I thought they can also poison from the consumption or absorbtion of poison from the puffers slime coat. anyhow, it's good they survived.

then again i got that poisonous skin part from a puffer book and we all know just how good those damn informational books are :laugh: .


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## LiLMic (Apr 14, 2004)

Thats what happens when I take my goldfish that I bought from the LFS out the bag, And put them in A bucket of water, To feed laterr on to my RBP, They lay belly up on the water and it looks like there dead so I leave them there then 5 mins later there swimming again,


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## mauls (Mar 25, 2004)

That happened to one of my irrodesant (can't spell) sharks, i saw him 1 day in the 55 gallon and he darted across the tank and smashed into the wall, he was about 8" long so he hit it pretty hard, then ended belly up, i laughed, then poked him with the net and he came alive and swam again. Well ever since then, i'd watch him swim, and he'd start going slower and slower, then kinda die again, so i'd just grab the net and poke him to wake him up and he started swimming again, It was weird but funny.

I wondered what would happen if i wasn't there to wake him up with the net, and it finally happened, after about a few weeks of that i woke up and saw him dead.
But he held in a good fight.

Just thought i'd share.


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