Possible Swim Bladder Problem

[DirkW]

I've got a female lyretail swordtail that has suddenly taken ill. She is breathing hard and sitting on the bottom. Occasionally, she will swim with great vigor to the top, but will soon slow down and sink to the bottom. She shares a tank with several other swords (adult and fry) plus some neon tetras.

So, what do I do? Quarantine and medicate? What type of medication?

 

[Kairi]

i have no idea the actual symptoms of swim bladder, but i do know that feeding them cooked shelled peas will sometimes help. hopefully someone else who knows more about this will answer- but in the mean time, a pea might help a little.

 

[Fire_an_Ice]

Do you have a test kit?? Can you post some water stats? Obviously there's something amiss...are any of your other fish affected??

F&I B)

 

[DirkW]

Ammona and nitrites undetectable, nitrates < 10ppm, PH 6.9. No other fish are effected.

 

[DirkW]

Thankfully, all is well again. Her problem started a couple hours after feeding on dried flake that was floating on the surface. I read somewhere that one possible cause of swimbladder problems is when the fish eats flake that then expands in their digestive system and creates a blockage. One recommendation is to feed peas, another is to not feed the fish for a few days.

I left her in the display tank, and she retreated to a well-covered corner. I fed the rest of the fish on the opposite end of the tank so the sick fish wouldn't get any food. Last night, she was breathing better and swimming around a little. She also did not sink as fast as she did before. This morining she was up and swimming almost like normal. I fed fry food to the tank this morning (beefheart, spirulina, liver, etc) and will try peas this evening.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck, get them on a varied diet.

 

[DirkW]

Thanks for the concern. I give them some variety but I've been too dependant on flake food and got giving enough veggies. Partly because of the mess it leaves in the tank.

My sick fish is not doing quite as well as I thought. When I thought she was swimming, it turns out she was resting on the spray bar, which is about 1.5" from the surface. She frequently moves about, but spends most of her time resting on something. She does not seem interested in food. I also noticed this morning that her lower lip is starting to swell, which may be a secondary, opportunistic infection. If her lip starts turning white, I'll have to quarantine and medicate. Unfortunately, my quarrentine tank currently has some new arrivals that I'll have to place into a tank that shares water with my fry and display tanks.

I've been feeding mainly peas and fry food, but I'm concerned that my neon tetras might not get enough to eat; they don't touch the peas and reluctantly taking some fry food. This is another reason I should quarrantine.

 

[DirkW]

She appears to have cotton mouth. She is now in a hospital tank medicated with Furan-2. Added salt to both the hospital and display tanks.

Any ideas on what is happening?