Rope fish having balast issues

Help - I have a rope fish that seems completely off kilter. His head and 3 cm of his body is on the ground but from on it is sticking straight up. Is not swimming. What can I do?

 

Hey rookie.

When trying to figure out what the problem is, it's best if you could give us some details about your setup so we can work out exactly what it is and what might be causing it. Details like tank size, nitate and nitrite levels, tank mates, feeding and feeding schedule and how often you're doing water changes can be vital in finding out what's wrong.

But if I can take a guess, I'd say that there's definitely an internal problem - ropefish have a lung-like swim bladder that allows them to breathe air directly from the atmosphere, as opposed to from the water like normal fish. If there were to be a pollutant in the air, there is a chance that such a pollutant would have an effect on the rope fish's swim bladder. But that's just me taking a guess at a stretch.

 

The bit that I can answer is that it is 4 foot tank. Not sure of nitrates and nitrites but did take my water to b tested at LFS and they said all was okay. The tank mates are an oscar, 2 x polypterous, perch, parrot, african knife. They have been all together for a while now - but did have a tank leak approx 3 weeks ago and had to have the fish in the bath for 3 days. They used to be in a 3 foot tank. got new one and put them in it. This has been about 2.5 weeks now. Obviously it was all new water when I setup the new tank. Used existing canister filter.
Any different advice?

 

Update: The tail is no longer sticking up in the air but flat on the ground. Did a water change - no change. Help