Fish getting worse, Disease and Treatment Identification Needed!

Hi,
I've had this fish for about a month now and he has been having trouble. When I first got him, he was fine but after about a day he began to swim sideways. Other than swimming sideways, he had no other symptoms or other problems. With the help of a few other people on the forum, we identified that the problem was likely a swim blader problem. I bought some midground feeding food to try and decrease the amount of air the fish has in him and that seemed to help the fish to swim normally again. The other day, I woke up to see my fish and he was a bit bloated. I was concerned but I waited to see other signs of something to help my identify the problem. Yesterday was not so good. He began becoming a bit more bloated, he began swimming sideways again, and his scales were much more visible than normal. I made a post asking about it but didn't really get much of an answer or treatment path. I thought about trying an antibiotic but after reading about it more became more aware of the danger. I currently have done no treatments yet, however I have been doing daily water changes and gravel cleans until I find the problem. The fish's poo is a light brown color, always has been, and not stringy. I feed them with fluval bug bites and frozen brine shrimp once a week. More info, there hasn't been any bullying outside of occasional chasing around, but never extensive. All of the other fish in the tank are doing fine, with no signs of problems.

Tank stats:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: <10
pH: 7
Fish: 6 Neon tetras (All about a month old) 4 platys (3 of them about a month old, one about 4 months old, the fish with the problem is 1 month old) 1 Chinese algae eater (About 4 years old, I know its not in a good tank size, I am working to move him but he is very timid and calm)
Tank: 29 gal tank with good filter, filter, and heater, lightly planted with many hiding spots. The tank its self is about a year old.

I'm hoping to get any ideas of what could be wrong with the fish and how I can treat it. Any recommendations are welcome and any questions I will be quick to answer. Thanks!


The first picture is from day one, you can see the massive amount of bloating. The other 4 are from today, the bloating went down a bit but its still there. You might also be able to see th checkerboard like pattern on the side of the fish, this is what I was referring to in regards to the more visible scales.

Hi, I’m a newbie too but, I keep platies. I’ve never seen that before but, he does look really bloated and it does look like swim bladder from my research and your description.
I use interpet disease away, it helps when they’re not right.
I know interpet do a swim bladder product as I was looking at it earlier and a couple of the ingredients are the same as disease away.
If it was mine, and it definitely seems to be a boy and not a pregnant female, I’d change what you’re feeding them, it might be too rich.
I use flakes most of the time as they’re always hungry, feed once a day or once every other day. Try some stress coat and keep up with the water changes, the disease away helps as a general tonic. Good luck.

If the fish is eating well and pooping normally (no stringy white poop), then it is probably just fat. It could also be a balloon platy or one of its parents was a balloon platy. Balloon fish have shorter bodies and their organs are squished up. This makes them fatter than normal fish and more prone to health issues, particularly internal health issues (because their guts are all squished up).

The fish itself looks fine apart from being fat and a little shorter than it should be.

The only other reason it would have trouble keeping its balance is if it has a neurological problem and that is causing balance issues. This is rare but not unheard of and mostly occurs in fish that are inbred.

Thanks for all of the help! In the original forum a while ago about his strange swimming people did say he might just be a bit special, needing a bit more attention. Glad this doesn't seem to be anything to bad. I do have one question though. Because the fish isn't super healthy, would it be a good idea to move it to my betta tank? Its a well planted 10gal tank with one betta and one snail. If this isn't a disease, and just something this fish will have to live with, would it be smarter to put him in that more calm environment? The betta is very peaceful as far as I can see and putting the platy in the tank would likely be a better fit for him. The past few days the other platys have been chasing him around constantly and I feel that might be a factor to his problem. They only ever chase him specifically and I've tried everything other that separating him. I've moved the décor around and changed it all up twice with no luck. Is moving him a good idea? I'd love to hear your opinions!

You can try moving it into the Betta tank but it might get killed. If one of the other fish is picking on it, you could put the bully in a breeding net for a few days to see if it chills out a bit, but if it doesn't then you will need to rehome one of them.