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A buddy of mine back home in Iowa has a mated pair of 8" Dempseys in a 125 and they're acting funny. They have around 75 of 3 month old babies with them. The babies act fine, but the parents seem to be dragging their tails and their bodies are like at a 45 degree angle. They eat but have been fed nothing but pellets, no variety. The temp is 80 degrees and he did a 20% water change a few days after it started. No external parasites or fungus can be found. I recommended leaving the temp at 80 or 82 and doing w/c every couple days. I also suggested getting them some night crawlers. I've never seen this "tail dragging" except in arowanas just before they died. Thoughts?

If they are constantly swimming at a 45' angle then I would suspect an issue with the swim bladder or the lateral line system.
Either of these could be caused my a nutrition issue or a bacterial infection. Getting a wider variety of food would be a great place to start.

Kevin

Were any water tests run-- especially for ammonia and pH?

mewickham wrote:Were any water tests run-- especially for ammonia and pH?

No tests done but would have expected some of the babies showing some symptoms. I'll see if he has any tests.

I normally would expect the babies to show symptoms, too-- but sometimes adults and juveniles respond differently.