# Piranha Might Be A Goner



## newtripoli (Aug 8, 2009)

hey so about 2 weeks ago one of my 5 reds got in a fight and lost half of his right eye. So I put him in a 10gal feeder tank I have and added some salt. He was recovering in there healing nice, even started to eat again. Then all of a sudden 2 days ago he starts swimming weird and upside down, and almost as if he was in zero gravity. Splashing water out of the tank when he got near the surface and frantically threw his tail about. He then got progressively worse almost losing energy going in and out of phases of frantic random swimming to just a lifeless free-floating body. Now he lies on the bottom of the tank sideways and just breathing and making a few kicks with his tail every couple of minutes. I did an emergency water change earlier today thinking that maybe the higher salt was the culprit. Now he is not improving and I think he will be dead by morning. I don't know what the cause is. Any ideas? Also any remedies at this point might be too late, I think I did all I could for him.


----------



## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

I'd just keep an eye on him and make sure the water is clean and oxygenated. I probably wouldn't do any meds or even salt unless you can see some specific problems. I'd also do a test on the water as a larger fish (what size is it?) could create an ammonia spike in a 10g farily easily if not monitored enough. If he is having trouble swimming properly he COULD have some issue with his swim bladder which there isn't much you could do at that point. he isn't bloated or showing any phsical abnormalities is he?


----------



## newtripoli (Aug 8, 2009)

thanks. yeah he has no signs of bloating or anything wrong on the outside. he looks like a perfectly healthy piranha except for the eye. I just did params 0 amonia, 0 nitrite, 20ppm nitrate. thats it. ph of 6.6 I dont know what happened to him, its almost like he lost the will to live, hes on the bottom of the tank still today. But alive yet.

also the piranha is 5 inches. I keep a lot of feeders in this tank normally, it should handle the bio just fine since I he isn't eating either now.


----------



## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

If he is having a hard time keeping himself up rite try lowering the water level by half and that will take some of the pressure off of his bladder and should help him rite himself. If he just lost an eye you should have kept him in the tank with the others and it shouldnt have been much of a problem. I had one of my Macs take a hit to his eye the other day and looks like he will lose it but it happens.


----------



## newtripoli (Aug 8, 2009)

water level is dropped, it did not seem to help. He is lying on his side still breathing, but he does swim to another location occasionally (once every half hour). I took him out of the other tank after the eye damage because he was not swimming and defending himself at full strength and the other piranhas were noticing this and picking on him, so I put him in the 10gal to give him a chance to heal a little and regain strength. If I would have left him in the other tank with the rest of the reds they would have surely ate him by the end of the day.


----------



## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

You wont notice a difference rite away but it has worked in the past to help with swim bladder problems. Give it some time and see if it helps.


----------



## Vince302 (Sep 8, 2008)

Ahhh thats s*cks man

the description you made is exactly what my redbellie was doing before he die after i feed him a dead golfish that i use

for cycling another tank couples month ago









maybe i picture could help , i'm surprised a fish could die after losing an eye,it is common ? maybe infection ?


----------



## Piranha-Freak101 (Dec 8, 2010)

hope he makes it bud


----------



## Bacon Of Time (Feb 1, 2011)

Update? You said you dint think hed survive the night... did he?


----------



## newtripoli (Aug 8, 2009)

hey guys sorry for the long reply, I work and go to school full time. THAT PIRANHA HAS DIED! HE made it through the night, but he was lying on his side and almost gasping for air, I put in a powerhead for surface agitation, and dropped the water level to 5 gallons, perfect read-outs for paramaters, and he just did not make it. So I am going to take him to my anthropology division at my university and donate him to that museum.

EVEN WORSE. I just got home from work today, there are 4 p's left in the 75gal. I noticed something floating..... It was another piranha... This time one of the healthiest and biggest. All chewed clean off up to the dorsal fin down to the stomach... So they had a good meal tonight. f*cking assholes. There was a huge fight too, because all the plants and powerheads were all messed up when I checked the tank. Only explanation is they are trying to pair up and breed, or is it the odd principle? (only 4 in the tank an even number, which means one must die) The p's are about 5 years old.

I have a small one in that tank which has some sort of warts all over his body. I tried curing him earlier with salt, melafix, and pimafix (at different times) this year which i posted in the disease forum here as well. Nothing cured his wart growth or whatever it is, and he seems fine and healthy now tail slapping with the rest of the big dogs. I was surprised he was not the one to go next, instead this healthy strong one died. I dunno im at a loss of words here.

thanks for any condolences.


----------

