problem with male a. wolli

[anewbie]

My male a. wolli has an issue - i believe he has had this issue since purchase mid july 2024 but i didn't put all the pieces together earlier. Basically he can't swim - when he swim he goes in a spiral - the issue has gotten worse over time and he is also suffering from lack of food since he has motor control issue. There is no doubt that he will die soon but i'm reluctant to kill him since he is my only male and so far he has been able to fertilize eggs. My hope is one of the frys will turn out to be a nice healthy male.

My question is what are the potential causes of this issue? Vaguely i think i've heard in larger cichild it can be a parasite but then would this become an issue for the full aquarium. Could it be bacteria or a natural birth defect ?

 

[anewbie]

Here is a picture of the male - not sure what is up with the eye - he is still very alert and when i do things like water changes he will perk up and raise his fins but again stay on the substrate. He also still eats. The picture was taken a week ago and when he attempts to swim he goes in a spiral so he won't swim much he prefers to just scoot long the bottom - my concern is if what he has can infect the other fishes - i.e, if it is a parasite will it eventually leave him: