catfish help!!!! please

[carppy]

My shovel nose is all messed up. about a week ago he started swimming nose down and having problems staying down in the tank. So of course he charges at the bottom everytime he floats up which has shredded his snout. He hasn't been eating his food(he's normally a 2 fish a day pig) Yesterday I discovered taht there was something seriously wrong with his water and well his substrate was kinda rough so we did a complete water and substrate change. He seems to be better now but he's still swimming nose down and he seems to be arching his back. Anyone have a clue about what the problem might be. And don't say its the water change...cuz that actually made him stop floating to the top and his wounds are now starting to heal.

 

[lighter]

Any physical injuries? Did you check the water parameters?

 

[juanveldez]

Swim bladder is what it sounds like

 

[carppy]

hey thanks for responding. I'm pretty sure we got it under control now. After the full water change and substrate change, I added some aquarium salt and some stress coat to the water. He's actually swimming normal now and he ate his goldfish. Think he's gonna recover. He was getting scratched up by the natural gravel too

 

[Kossy]

i think it was swim-bladder and the fish 'got over it' by him/herself. If you like you can follow my sig to diseases for some info about it

 

[carppy]

It may have been swim bladder....but the other problems that developed from him nose diving all the time were what would have killed him. Then again..this fish actually farts(don't ask me why) kinda funny to see though for the first few times. He is the first show catfish I've ever had so its hard to diagnose an illness. I'm more of a cichlid person and a freak fish lover. He's doin fine now and thanks for the link