Storm struggling to swim?

[khiyasu]

Got a pair of storms but found that one of them seems to take more effort to swim when compared with the other. It would swim up then sink down and repeat that over and over again while the other (male) is more adventurous and seems much more comfortable in general. Any thoughts?

Unfortunately I don’t have any videos I can post on here

 

[BadFish619]

Sounds like normal clown behavior... They are weird swimmers and strange fish in general. Mine look like they are struggling all the time but its just them. Only one can do it or both or the other. Vid would be nice to know for sure but sounds ok to me. No heavy breathing? Not flipping over or laying down?

 

[khiyasu]

I can't seem to upload a video here unless I upload the video to a different website first?

There's no heavy breathing although her gills look a bit more swollen, but not too noticeable. It just looks like it needs to "wiggle" a lot more to swim and when she stops, she doesn't really stay in place and kinda sinks. Eating okay, not as much as the other guy but still eating. The male just seems to swim with ease compared to the female and just seems healthier in general. It might be fine but when I look at the 2 you can notice the difference. At first I thought maybe it was due to stress moving to a new tank since I only got it Sunday but nothing has really changed too much.

 

[BadFish619]

Could be settling in still. Ammonia level ok? U can upload to YouTube and post link here

 

[khiyasu]

Yeah it’s fine. The other fish is doing fine too. I’ll try to upload to YouTube.

The ammonia colour is actually more yellow than that, just the photo doesn’t capture the exact colour

 

[BadFish619]

Also api test results will always show ammonia as it test for total ammonia. If it reads .25 I usually consider that a 0.

 

[khiyasu]

Here's the video:



I'll upload another video shortly

 

[Bryson.bobby]

Looks like normal behavior to me.

 

[khiyasu]

Here is video #2

 

[khiyasu]

Looks like normal behavior to me.

Yeah I think they are probably fine, just when I watch them side by side one just seems to have more difficulty swimming so just thought it was weird and wanted to make sure she wasn't sick or had swim bladder issues. The male just explores more whereas the female just swims up (while looking like its swimming with difficulty), then sinks down and just does it over and over again lol

 

[BadFish619]

I see that little free fall he's doing but looks normal from what I see. Someone might spot something different but they are pretty new still.

 

[khiyasu]

I see that little free fall he's doing but looks normal from what I see. Someone might spot something different but they are pretty new still.

How long to they take to comfortably adjust to a new tank?

 

[BadFish619]

It's different for every fish. Some adjust in hours others weeks. Different personalities. They've been in there 3 days so its very possible he's just settling in. How long has tank been up and running?

 

[khiyasu]

It's different for every fish. Some adjust in hours others weeks. Different personalities. They've been in there 3 days so its very possible he's just settling in. How long has tank been up and running?

2 weeks but have been cycling with Prodibio Start up and Microbacter 7. Tested with some food and inverts and all are doing fine and parameters have been stable before I added them in.

 

[BadFish619]

Well they are hardy fish. Someone else may chime in with something they see but they look ok to me. If you see any heavy or rapid breathing or him laying down you may have a problem. As of now I wouldn't worry too much

 

[khiyasu]

OK thanks - really appreciate it!

 

[khiyasu]

So spoke to the LFS and they mentioned that the female has a mild swim bladder issue. It should still live a long life but will always have some challenges swimming.

They were generous to offer to exchange for another orange storm they have in store.

Now my question is my orange storms are getting along well together. If I split them up, the one that I would be returning would be the larger one which I’ll assume is the female. How challenging would it be to bring in a new male/female orange storm? They haven’t been in the tank that long so they might not be “established” yet but not sure if it’s better to just keep the one with a mild swimbladder issue or return and try to pair with a new orange storm?