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Sick Borelli

gnrlklaymore

New Member
Messages
7
My new male seems to have lock jaw. I am not sure how it happened but the lock jaw seems to be getting better.

To go back a bit and elaborate on the rest of the issues.

My wife brought home some neon tetras that my kids wanted while I was away (3 of them). She is not a "fish" person per say but does at least know to float them before putting them in. She floated then proceeded to dump the entire bag into the tank. The next morning I noticed some of my fish were acting strange and took some water to LFS for a test. Ammonia levels were spiked to 2.5 (was less than 0.5 24 hours before) and nitrate levels were slightly elevated. I haven't retested yet today but plan to around lunch.

My male swims within maybe a 4 inch square of the tank and keeps hiding in a notch on a large chunk of driftwood in that area. He also is showing lockjaw symptoms since yesterday morning. The female seems ok stays in the same half of the tank as him but nothing abnormal otherwise.

Could the water really have spiked my Ammonia that fast and that hard? Also could this have been the cause of the lockjaw? nothing else even goes to their side of the tank besides 1 cory.

I don't know what to do and am slightly worried about A. losing the male, and B. whatever it is spreading.
 

gnrlklaymore

New Member
Messages
7
Little one in question.
There is movement in the jaw but he isn't closing all the way. Goes to about 40% closed
 

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gerald

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Messages
1,491
Location
Wake Forest NC, USA
I doubt the neon tetras or the water from their bag has anything to do with the ammonia spike or the sick Apisto. Not enough info to determine if his illness is from an infectious disease, water quality issues, or something else. No sign of sores or swellings around the head or mouth? Sometimes a piece of gravel can get stuck in their throat if the pieces are angular, rather than smooth/rounded. How are the new neons looking?

Also, that doesn't look like a borellii.
 

gnrlklaymore

New Member
Messages
7
No other signs of distress, no swelling, slightly elevated breathing but I would attribute that to trying to close the mouth.

I use VERY fine sand as substrate not gravel. Neons and everything else in the tank is healthy looking with no other issues. Also checked yesterday for anything deceased in the tank and found nothing.

I agree on the look but it was sold to me as such from a LFS I have been using for a few years and never had an issue with. It strongly resembles my female cacatuoides but having never owned a borelli I didn't argue and took the owners word for it. Both are extremely young and small from my experiences with apistos (which is not a whole lot)
 

gnrlklaymore

New Member
Messages
7
Good news, still labored breathing but mouth is almost closed. Fingers crossed may pull through. Then we can look at species when I can get some healthy pics of him
 

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