Stella's floating rear end?

[casey]

Stella's been eating really well lately, seems to be putting on weight and her gills have been growing back nicely after being in the fridge for so long.

BUT, now her rear end is floating. Sort of like she's trying to do a handstand.

Could this have anything to do with the temperature of the tank? It's 21c today, but my chiller should be going in tonight to keep the temperature constant and hopefully lower.

Has she just not gotten rid of enough air? I took her out and put her in shallow water for a few minutes so I could try to rub her tummy, but she freaks out and swims away from me. I got a couple of strokes in but I still haven't seen her burp or anything.

She can get her legs on the ground when she tries, but sometimes it looks like her tails floating so high that she's going to do a somersault.

Here's a pic...

 

[casey]

She just bumped into Martini and seems to have gotten a fright (which may have caused her to burp) and now she's not doing it at the moment.

Did she just need a good scare to get the air out or do you think something is seriously wrong?

Also, are her gills too red? They never used to be this red before - is she stressed or is she just taking in lots of oxygen? Today she doesn't seem to have been gulping air from the surface as much, so perhaps she's decided to use her gills instead today?

 

[casey]

Now she's doing it again. I haven't seen her take one bit of air since the time she stopped floating her rear and now it's suddenly come back up again.

This is so frustrating! What's happening to my girl? She was doing so well.

 

[sharn]

sorry i cant help you on the floating but the red gills can be caused be the highish temp or because she is stressed or active. probably nothing to worry about unless they turn blackish purple

 

[casey]

She's not doing it anymore, but I have found a very um *large* axie poo.

Is it possible that she was trying to pass and that was why her tail was up for so long?

 

[rob]

that sounds very similar to what my white one was doing last night, but she wasnt out of balance for too long but floated for a few seconds too and same, this morning big poo in the tank
i had fed them both live worms b4 she started doing hand stands, mine both seem fine today

as for the red gills, maybe cause it's working harder to try keep it's bum down ?

please let me know how ur chiller goes, cause i'm tossing up on the Aqua one 1/2hp or the Resun CL-450 ? i have read that the resin one is a little noisy ?

 

[joan]

Casey, poo is a pretty common cause of floating bum. Just a little gas buildup behind the poo gets the bum floating. It's pretty normal. Happens to mine all the time. Little poo-alotls.

The gills could be because it's warmer (needs more oxygen, so increased blood flow), or she's more active, or she's startled. If she's not showing signs of stress (curled gills, curled tail, etc), I wouldn't worry.

 

[casey]

They both look fine this morning and Stella's gills have gone back to normal colour.

That's funny that all she really needed to do was pass wind! hahaha!

No curled tail or gills, her tail is a little red sometimes, and so is Martini's - i'm guessing b/c of the temperature. My dad is buying tubing today to hook up my chiller.

I'll let you know how I go, Rob. Mine is a Resun CL280