i've had him for about 4 yrs now and just recently he started tilting to his side at the top of the tank. about a month ago he recovered from fin rot and he's been healthy ever since. he wont eat at all, but at times he acts normal. he gets excited when he sees us and sometimes for short period of time he swims normal. then back up to the surface. he is a pretty aggressive fish but he has always been that way. i was reading some forums here and from what i saw it might swim bladder... oh i had a temperature rod that would balance the temp but i noticed it's no longer working. it wont maintain the temp and in fact it actually melted some of the plastic it had. i just did a water change about 5 minutes ago but so far its a little the same. i'll post some pictures so you guys can get an idea. please help.

Have do you tested your water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH? You will need to do this and tell us what the results are. The nostrils on your fish look rather eroded, this could be a sign of Hole in the head disease.

Is the fish having stability problems all the time? How about its appetite, is it still eating?

Anyway, welcome to the site

For certain there's something up with his/her nostrils and there seems to be a fairly prominent hole in the middle eeek..

hey there and welcome,
i took the liberty to delete your double post of this thread.
This way you will get all responses on this thread.
@ OFL: the fish doesn't eat anymore.

x2 on the nostrils,please post test results asap.

he started eating normally yesterday and swimming around like nothing was wrong. as far as HITH i did some research and i'm now looking for some medication. but just today about 5 10 minutes ago he started do the same thing again.

to be honest i noticed a pattern. during the day he floats around on his side at the top of the tank and towards the afternoon its as if nothing is wrong.

I would guess that your tank maintainence isnt good enough. You need to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I bet your nitrates are too high and that your fish has HITH. The best cure for HITh is great water. Buy yourself a test kit (the bottle types- not strips) In the meantime do 25% water changes every other day

delboybully wrote:


To the point there buddy