Are your swordtail fish acting strange? The chances are that if they are, they’re not fine, and something is bothering them. But, on the other hand, if your swordtail fish do not seem happy and act weird, they are probably sick, or worst, dying! So, how do know if your swordtail fish is dying or just sick?
To know if your swordtail fish is dying, you should pay close attention to the behavior of your swordtail fish. If your swordtail seems inactive, is lying at the top or bottom of the tank, has strange swimming patterns, has caught a disease or parasite, and does not eat as much, then sadly, it might be the time to say your final goodbyes.
Swordtail fish do not die easily. They are hardy and tolerate a wide range of temperatures. Their capability to tolerate allows them to fight against minor stress and diseases. However, some rookie mistakes from your side can lead to the death of your swordtail fish.
This article will discuss major causes of death in swordtail fish and the signs to know that your swordtail fish is dying.
What Causes Death Of A Swordtail Fish?
Many reasons can lead to the death of swordtail fish. They will die when they are old and have lived up to 5-6 years. Apart from natural death, swordtail fish can die of disease, weakness, and stress.
Some of the causes of death are listed as:
Insufficient Space
To minimize tension and hostility, swordtails require plenty of space to move about and swim. As a result, unless you can create much room by separating other fish, a tank is not the ideal choice for swordtails.
Water Quality Issues
Swordtails are sensitive to water quality and demand impeccably clean environments. An uncycled tank, a dirty filter, or a lack of air circulation are all possibilities.
An Unsuitable Diet
Swordtails need a varied diet to stay healthy; therefore, failing to feed them adequately can result in death.
Oxygen deficiency
A tank with insufficient oxygen levels is harmful to swordtail health since it can cause suffocating and death.
Illness
Parasites and other illnesses, like dropsy and fin rot, are common in swordtails. If left untreated, these can lead to early death.
Excessive anxiety
Swordtails can die due to excessive stress levels; therefore, if you detect any signs of rapid breathing or darting out for air, the fish is stressed.
Signs That Your Swordtail Fish Is Dying?
When your swordtail fish are stressed or ill, or the tank environment is not favoring them, they show peculiar behavior. The behavior might be signs that they are dying.
You must learn how to identify the symptoms and try to save your swordtail before it’s too late. Sometimes, you might be able to save a dying fish. Hence, it is important to know if your swordtail fish is dying.
They are:
Fish At The Surface Of The Tank Gasping For Air
If your water has high ammonia and nitrite content, it will reduce the oxygen in your tank. This will cause difficulty in breathing. In addition, this compels fish to come to the surface of the tank to gasp for air.
This act leads to stress, and eventually, your fish will die. The lack of oxygen in your tank is the sign that your swordtail fish is dying.
Fish Lying At The Bottom Of The Tank
Swordtails are active swimmers and swim around the mid-section of the tank. It is unusual for a swordtail fish to lay at the bottom for an extended time.
Sometimes, you can find swordtail fish sleeping at the bottom of the tank, but that usually occurs for just a few hours. Thus, if you find your swordtail always lying at the bottom, it might be dying or already dead.
Diseases
The diseases that affect freshwater fish like swordtail are fatal and deadly. The most common diseases are white spots, cloud mouth, fin rot, and attack from various parasites.
If your swordtail fish suffers from any one of the diseases and you do not treat it soon, they may get stressed and severely ill, leading to death. Moreover, they can also infect other healthy fish in the tank and jeopardize their lives as well.
This, you should get your sick fish tested before it is too late.
Loss Of Appetite
When something is bothering your fish and is dying, it will stop eating. The loss o appetite is a sure sign that something is wrong with your swordtail. Stress can be a major reason for the loss of appetite in your swordtail fish.
Apart from that, feeding the wrong kind of food can also be why your swordtail isn’t eating. Whatever the reason may be, if your swordtail is not eating properly, it will weaken its immunity, which will cause death.
Strange Swimming Pattern
Swordtail fish actively swim in the middle region of the tank. Suppose you see your swordtail fish acting strangely and has an unusual swimming pattern. It is a sign that they are sick or stressed. They rub themselves to the side of the tank or against rocks or gravel in the tank. Similarly, they turn to their side or fold their fins in and bump into the tank’s glass intentionally.
Likewise, if you see your fish swimming erratically, flipping, swimming in circles, or swimming vertically, it means that your fish is in trouble. Again, you should consult a vet as soon as possible.
Respiration Rate
When a swordtail fish’s time is near, it tends to breathe quickly and heavily. Just like humans tend to breathe quickly when under stress to create more oxygen, fish do it too when under stress from diseases or bad tank conditions.
When swordtail fish contracts any disease, fungus, or parasite, it secrets mucus to cover its entire body. This also covers their gill, so they have difficulty getting enough oxygen inside. That is why you can see them breathing rapidly. Rapid, heavy breathing is a sign that your swordtail fish is dying.
Color Fading
When the fish is under stress, their body colors start to fade away. This is a sign to tell you that fish is not living in a favorable environment. When fish is not happy in your tank or in the environment you’ve set up for them, they come under stress. The stress leads to fading of colors in the swordtail.
If you see that your swordtail is losing its color and looks dull and bland, It is a sign that your swordtail fish is dying.
Mental State Of The Fish
When a fish is near its death, it has different mentation. They will be aware of what is happening around them, but they themselves are inactive. The same happens with swordtail fish. They show a different behavior, and the behaviors vary from fish to fish.
Some swim around normally but are still lost in mind. Whereas some sink to the bottom, stay at the top or stay motionless at a place. That is to say that if you find your swordtail fish reversing their daily patterns, then there is something wrong with your fish.
Therefore, these are some of the signs from which you know that your swordtail fish is dying.
How Do I Know If My Swordtail Is Sick?
Sickness can cause death in a swordtail. Therefore, you must check for all possible diseases by identifying the symptoms to know whether your swordtail is sick.
Check the following list of common symptoms to see if your swordtail is sick:
Behavioral Symptoms
- Restlessness
- Aggression toward other fish in the tank or aggression from other fish in the tank that might be reacting to illness.
- Strange Swimming Patterns
Physical Signs Of Sickness
- Dropsy (swollen scales)
- White spots on the body
- Abnormal bulging eyes or swollen abdomen
- Lethargy (lack of energy)
If your swordtail displays any of these symptoms, then it’s best to take them out and isolate them in a separate container to avoid passing an illness onto other fish. The only way to treat this illness is to isolate the swordtail and treat it with medication.
Is My Swordtail Fish In Trouble…Or Just Sleeping?
There is a fine line between symptoms of death and the sleeping behavior of swordtail fish. When swordtail fish sleeping, they have the same pattern of behavior like slowed breathing, moving to the top of the tank or the bottom, and as such.
Therefore, you should pay close attention so that you do not confuse sickness with sleeping. So, how do you know if your swordtail fish is dying or just sleeping?
- Swordtail fish are dormant during the day when they are unwell. So, if your swordtail fish are acting strangely during the day when there is no light, they are sleeping, not sick.
- Swordtail fish lose their hunger when they’re sick, so if your swordtails aren’t moving and lie around, they’re probably sick.
- When swordtail fish are unhappy with their tank surroundings, they move to the top or bottom of the tank. Swordtails are unwell if they do not move from the bottom to the top throughout the day.
- So, if swordtails exhibit these behaviors just at night or for a short period of time, they are most likely sleeping. However, if they act like this all day, they are ill and require your medical attention.
It would be best if you were careful enough to identify sleep to death and take care of your fish accordingly.
How To Tell If Your Swordtail Fish Is Happy?
It’s tough to tell if a swordtail fish is happy, but one way to tell is to watch how they behave.
A dissatisfied swordtail may spend a lot of time hiding or swimming towards the water’s edge to avoid being in it for lengthy periods of time.
Swordtails do not come to tell you that they are pleased, but they do have clear eyes, shiny scales, and a healthy diet.
A happy swordtail spends more time swimming through the water column and is more active. They’ll occasionally swim to the surface to get some oxygen.
Another sign that a swordtail is a content is if it is constantly following or striving to catch its owner’s attention.
Another approach to telling how your pet feels about its environment is to look at its color.
Your swordtail is probably unhappy with the habitat you’ve made for them if their coloring is dull or grayish. The scales or tail fin of a healthy and happy pet, on the other hand, will have vibrant colors.
If any of these symptoms arise, it’s time to make some adjustments to your swordtail’s environment.
FAQs
Here are some most frequently asked questions on the internet about swordtail fish.
Why Do My Swordtail Fish Keep Dying?
Swordtails usually do not die easily. They are hardy, and they can tolerate a wide range of temperatures usually protects them from stress and illness. However, this does not make them completely immune, and they might die from your carelessness.
Swordtail fish die when their requirements like clean water, adequate food, right water parameters, good tank mates, etc., are not met with.
Apart from that, they can die a natural death after getting old.
Do Swordtails Die After Giving Birth?
Swordtail fish can get pregnant each month, and they give birth to almost 100 live fry at one time. So, looking at it this way, no swordtail fish do not die after giving birth.
However, sometimes, due to complications in the pregnancy, difficult labor, stress, and repeated pregnancy can weaken the female swordtail causing death during or after the delivery of the fry.
For this reason, you should take special care of the pregnant swordtail fish. Likewise, you can separate males and females so that you can reduce multiple pregnancies.
Why Is My Swordtail At The Bottom Of The Tank?
There are a few reasons why you sometimes find your swordtail at the bottom of the tank. First, swordtails go to the bottom of the tank in search of food like algae, debris, and other residue. But this is rarely the case.
Swordtails also lay at the bottom of the tank when they are sleeping. They usually do this in groups, and it is not more than a few hours.
The reason why your swordtail is lying motionless at the bottom of the tank for no particular reason is probably that they are stressed, sick, and dying.
Conclusion
Therefore, swordtail fish are hardy and do not die easily if you take proper care of them and fulfill their requirements. Swordtail fish do not die for no reason—diseases, stress, bad tank conditions prompt the death of the swordtail fish.
If your fish is acting strange, swimming weird, not eating enough, and is not much action, it might sadly be time to say your last goodbyes. However, if you want your swordtail fish to live to its fullest, look after them with all your heart!
