Sick tetra - advice wanted please!

[Kittykatzen]

Hi - we have a heated tank with a few guppies and 4 neon tetras. This week I noticed one of the tetras was swimming oddly and the others were attacking it relentlessly. Assuming it would die soon I took it out and put it in a small bowl just to give it peace.

A week later and he is still very much alive. Eating, swimming albeit vertically or upside down at times (still lively). My husband is rolling his eyes that I saved it and wants to put him into the Thames.

Is there anything I can do? Am I stuck with an upside down fish?? Loathe to put him back in to be attacked but also appreciate a life in a fishbowl vase with no filter is also not fair.

If he's swimming without proper balance then it may likely be a swim bladder issue. There are medicines you can buy for this, although I've also heard of cooked peas being used (I don't really know how that works, however, so maybe look up some advice before going ahead with pea-feeding!). Make sure he's also warm enough in the bowl, because when they start getting ill with one thing they can easily get others, and cold water is an additional source of stress (and thus illness).

Thank you - he is in a fairly bright spot so as warm as I can manage without a heater. He is very small - not sure how much of a pea he could eat! Will look out for medication. The chap in the fish shop told me there was no harm in “giving him a go” in isolation but I don’t think he imagined he would actually survive this long!

If it's just a swim bladder issue and he doesn't pick anything else up that's fairly fixable, so I'd definitely give him a try with some medication and see how he does. Having said that, try and get some stuff and start treating ASAP, because although tetras are hardy for their size, they're small, and they generally can't fight infections or similar off for too long.

If it does get to the euthanasia stage, please don't put him in a toilet (or the Thames) - they can survive being flushed and suffer living in sewage until they die. Better by far to put him to sleep with clove oil and then behead for a painless death.

Thank you - will give it a whirl - and yes agree flushing etc not kind. He’s clearly still got a spark about him so will see how he goes.