glass catfish sick

Question
Hi I have 4 glass catfish in my 35 gal tank. Along with 6 danios 2 snails and a plecostamus. One of the glass cats seemed to get white spots on it (not ich) and they go away. One day he looked like his spine was crooked but he swam and ate normally. Within the last couple of weeks, he seems to have lost his equllibrium. He just spins in circles so not sure if he is even getting to eat. I have no idea what this would be but feel very bad for him. Have you heard of this happening before and what can I do for him if anything?
thanks,
Karen

Answer
Hi there! Sorry to hear that.

Is there any way you could test your water? Glass cats tend be very sensitive to any pollution build up in the tank and we definitely want to knock that out of the way before we move on any further.

Your ammonia and nitrites should be ZERO and Nitrates under 20 ppm...much less ideally for glass cats.

If in doubt, do a 30-50% water change. It never hurts.

Besides that, loss of equilibrium seems to signal a swim bladder issue. Here is an article on that that helps describe the various causes and symptoms as well as a treatment for them-

http://flippersandfins.net/SwimbladderDisease.htm

Its always difficult to diagnose fish without being able to see them. The white spots are a bit concerning. They might have been ich that dropped off the fish in part of the ich's lifecycle where they stay attached to the fish for a while then later drop to the tank bottom to multiply, then swarm and attack the fish again so watch out for that. Sometimes white spots show up on fish and they simply go away and don't come back. I think some of these are 'injury' spots that heal with time.

Best of luck with the poor little guy. I hope he gets better.

Karen~