The first clue that there was a problem was that she was head-down, wedged into a plant. I thought she was dead and went to scoop her out, but no.. she was still barely alive. This was about a week ago.
I moved her to breeder net in another tank. She was doing things like float upside down, head down, corkscrew spiral swimming, etc. She was obviously suffering greatly. I was just about to put her out of her misery when I noticed a fry (with its egg sac still attached) on the bottom of the net. I left her another night and she looked even worse. I was sure she was going to die. She had white tube-like tissue out the rear vent.
Against my better judgement (and advice), I scooped her in my hand and gave her stomach a slight rub. Three fry popped out (with egg sacs too). For the first time in a while she showed the first real signs of life and actually put up a bit of a struggle. She was NOT happy, to say the least. I stopped right there, and transferred the fry (who couldn't swim yet) and put them in a second container.
A few hours later, she'd propped herself in a vertical position between one of the rails and the net and there were two more fry on the floor.
Over the next 5 days, she had another 16 fry, one at a time, hours apart.
Two of the first group of fry died, and a few more over the next couple of days. The rest are still alive and kicking around. Most have absorbed their egg sac and are swimming around quite well, but there are two that have a fair way to go yet.
Each day, she seemed to be getting a bit better. She spent a while propped up againt the net, then moved to the floor and held herself the right way up, then started moving around a little. And yesterday she started eating again.
Today I let her go in the main tank again and she's doing fine...
But now that I've let her go, I've noticed one of her pectoral fins has rotted away to the point that its a small stump. I think I'm going to catch her tomorrow and give put her in some antibiotics, I'll give her the rest of today to get some excercise since she's been cramped up for a week.
Has anybody seen anything like this before? And the real dilemma... do I let the fry grow? what are the chances that problems like this could be genetically passed on?
Before mentioning worms, I gave them a dose of prazi-pro 36 hours before she went head-down into the plant....
Immediate Help
