urgent help needed!!!!!

[UK Discus]

i have 4 wild spotted tefe greens and one of them has just started swimming oddly ie: round in circles, bumps into side of the tank. I do water changes daily, the only thing i have done recently is added peat to the filter (which was added 3 days ago) slight bits have been added daily to lower the PH slowly. the fish hasn't lost colour all the fins are upright, no other signs of illness apart from not been able to swim properly.

Mark

[Merrilyn]

Doesn't sound too good Mark. Can you give us a bit more information on the tank, and how long you have had the fish.

Wondering if it's an inner ear infection affecting the balance of the the fish (yep, fish do have ears) in which case an antibiotic might be called for.

[UK Discus]

Thanks for the help,but sadly the fish died today.I have had these fish for about 4 months they are kept in a bare bottom tank to keep the water in top condition and I do daily water changes(I mix my own RO water).As said before the only change was to add peat to the filter which I did slowly so not to shock them, in the 3 days I had changed the PH from 6.5 to 6.0 KH 2 GH 2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 to 10.
I was shocked how quick this happened the fish was fine at dinner time feed but when checked about 3 hours later it could not swim properly then this morning was dead.
As for the other 3 fish they are fine and can not see any problems with them,The only reason I was lowering the PH was to try to encourage them to breed as I had been told to do this with them been wilds,I hope it was not this what caused this.

Thanks
Mark

[Merrilyn]

Sorry to hear that Mark. Wild caught fish are notorious for carrying a huge parasite burden, and it's not unheard of for them to die suddenly.

It wasn't anything you did, and certainly that slight lowering of the pH would have made no difference. A lot of folk with wilds keep them at a pH of 5.5.

Good luck with your remaining fish. Hope they pair up for you.