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Fish behavior help Anonymous Prime !/RDa1B/y1o
Hey again /an/, I have another problem this time, hoping you guys could bestow some of your wisdom upon me.

I just got a Bichir today, maybe 4 inches long at most.

He was doing great when I put him in the tank until maybe an hour later he seemed to have trouble staying down. He was floating along the top of the tank almost unable to stay down, and then he started curling himself into a circle so his tail met his nose. He's not dead though he just keeps trying to get down and I don't know what it might be besides maybe a blatter infection, though he didn't have it before he got into the tank and neither of my fish had it beforehand, so I'm a bit confused.

I've quarantined him from the rest of the tank and administered some PimaFix I had from before.

Anybody know what could be the problem or what else I could do? Did a 30% water change earlier in the day and a little while ago did another 20% change btw.
>> Anonymous
could be that his swim bladder ruptured and he is not able to control it anymore.
What's your setup? How long did you cycle your tank and how long did you acclimatize the fish to the new water?
>> Anonymous
>>182775
Don't bichirs actually have lungs instead of a swim bladder? Swim bladders are supposed to be modified primitive lungs, and I'm dead sure bichirs have actual lungs, so...
>> Anonymous
The bichir has lung-like swim-bladder and gills to help breathing when it comes to the surface; nevertheless, it does not bring any advantage because the bichir has to breathe again in short time. Another physiological characteristic is a paired swim-bladder which the two parts do not have the same size.
>> Anonymous Prime !/RDa1B/y1o
>>182775
I have a 20 gallon set up with a 40 gallon filter. It's been cycled and running for months now. I have it with a Rocket Gar just a little bigger than the Bichir, (they swim around and get along surprisingly well), an Alligator Pleco, and a Gobi Dragon I'm going to be giving to away to a friend soon.

Also, I got the fish used to the water temp and what not for a little over 15 minutes.

>>182782
I know they swim around a bit and go to surface as well as chill at the bottom, but mine's has been just loafing around at the surface. I almost thought he was dead for a second but he's just being lazy, I don't understand it, though yeah it might have something to do with the blatter.

Anyway I could heal him?
>> Anonymous Prime !/RDa1B/y1o
I should mention. I did a little research on swimming blatter problems. My Bichir doesn't flip upside down or anything at all, he has complete control over his movement, he just floats alot and I don't know why!

Anyway, thanks in advance.
>> Anonymous
I've never kept a Bichir, but I have quite a bit of experience with aquaria (fresh and salt).

I'm of the opinion that 15 minutes may have been far too short of an aclimation time. Did you just float the baggie with the Bichir in it in your tank for about 15 min? The temperature may have gotten right but the water chemistry did not, and that could be problematic--and it is at least somewhat likely given that the "problem" happened very quickly when you put him in the tank.

I prefer to use a drip acclimation technique, such as:
http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/aa111802.htm
>> Anonymous Prime !/RDa1B/y1o
>>182842
Well, when I do acclimate a fish, during the 15 minutes minimum that I let it sit, I'll cut a hole in the bag and I'll let some of the tank water mix in with the bag's water briefly and then bring the hole up above the water surface so that it doesn't sink. I don't know if that's the correct way to go about it though, as in if I'm supposed to dip in any chemicals, I'll check your link to get a better understanding of the process, thanks.