Swim Bladder Issue? Fish Is Exhausting Herself Trying To Dive

[daizeUK]

This poor threadfin rainbowfish has been desperately fighting to dive for nearly three days now.  It looks like she is too buoyant for some reason.  If she stops swimming she rises to the surface.  She spends most of her time swimming energetically head down just below the surface or staying under the filter flow where it pushes her down to the bottom.
 
I was hoping that it was a temporary imbalance that would resolve itself quickly but it hasn't.  She must be getting really tired.
 
I've tried feeding peas, the fish were fasted yesterday and I will try peas again tonight.  They had a large water change yesterday too.  Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Chad]

It depends on cause. It can be due to bacteria or parasites. So if that's the case you can treat for that. Sometimes fish will have issues just from age as well. If this is the case a swim vest is an option depending on tank. This is a little vest that is weighted just right to correct the buoyancy issue. You can search YouTube for some videos that show some successful creations. 

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks for the reply Tcamos!  Those little swim suits are such a sweet idea.
 
Her gills are also looking quite red so I ran full tests on the tank and detected a slight trace of ammonia, up to about 0.25ppm.
 
Throughout December I've only been able to do water changes fortnightly due to illness.  I hadn't expected that a couple of skipped water changes would cause any problems but I can't think of any other reason for a trace of ammonia

  - although if that's the cause, only the one fish out of about 20 inhabitants seems affected.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Two quick comments.
 
As far as I know swim bladder issues do not result from ammonia. In fact they are usually not a direct problem with the swim bladder itself but are a symptom of something else that effects it. As Tcamos noted it is often bacterial or parasitic causes at work. However, the most common cause is constipation.
 
No matter which of the above causes is involved what happens is they cause pressure on or side effects that interfere with the swim bladder. I have also had fish end up an this sort of situation because they got scared and bolted hard into the glass. In such cases the problem is permanent nerve/brain damage and is not fixable,
 
I cannot imagine any swim suit that would work for a threadfin bow. It is too tiny. How can one avoid it blocking the gills or fins from working properly?
 
As for how to treat it, you will have to decide which of the three usual causes might be at the root of the problem. Each is treated differently and may depend on whether the fish is eating or not.
 
If the fish is eating I would try feeding it veggie matter (flakes or a bit of crushed pea.) This would help if it is constipation. Daphnia are also know to help. Some folks try adding Epsom Salt to the water, but this will raise the TDS in the tank so I suggest doing this in an H tank. There is no reason to subject all the other fish to the stress of this.
 
Secondly, Daize, I doubt you actually have any ammonia. It makes little sense. More likely something is causing you to get a false reading. Failure to change water might cause a number of issues including a build up of nitrate but it should not create persistent and constant low level ammonia. Your tank is established so the bacteria should be pretty much self sustaining. To make them not be requires that your tank pH and/or KH dropped substantially. But, dropping the pH would also lower the potential toxicity of any ammonia.

 

[daizeUK]

Thanks for the reply TTA!  You're very helpful and informative as usual.  I think you're right about threadfins being the wrong size and shape for a swimsuit but in this case I don't think it is an age-related disability anyway, I've had her about 7 months so she is unlikely to be that elderly yet.  She is certainly swimming very strongly, I'm amazed at her continued endurance!
 
I am hoping it is simply constipation and I will give her some more peas shortly.  I'm worried about the red gills though.  Is it possible her gills could be red through sheer continuous exertion?
 
Thanks for the advice about salt in a hospital tank.  I will do this tomorrow if she is still struggling.  She seems to be doing a little better at the moment and is no longer swimming head-down.
 
I'm glad you think the ammonia reading is false.  Perhaps it could be related to the water change yesterday (using Prime).

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Unless you tested fairly soon after the wc, then yes it could very well be due to the Prime. But that is not all that might cause a false reading. Iron is one of the most common things that effect ammonia test results. If one is testing ammonia in mission critical situations and there is iron present in the water, one must do the following the the blank sample which is used for the baseline ammonia reading. You test the iron content of the water and then you add that concentration of iron to the blank sample. The when one either does a visual reading or uses a spectrometer, the effect of the iron is neutralized.
 
With planted tanks iron is usually being added in some fashion.
 
If curious how the above type test work- you fill two test tubes with the sample water. Then you do the ammonia test on one. Both get inserted into a device and there is a color wheel inside. The color wheel is rotated behind the untreated sample until both samples match in color. This give the reading. It is much better than the tube and color card method we typically use in the hobby and a lot more expensive too. For the most precision, instead of a human eye and wheel a spectrometer is used.
 
The Hach Visual test kit sells for $87.65 plus shipping and does 100 tests using two reagents. 100 more tests reagents cost $52.19 for one and $71.59 for the second. You can see it all here http/www.hach.com/nitrogen-ammonia-test-kit-model-ni-sa/product?id=7640220995
 
Sorry if this is TMI.
 

 

[daizeUK]

That's interesting and yes I am adding iron to the tank along with other plant nutrients.  I actually added some iron today not long before I did the ammonia test.
 
I had another thought after you mentioned Epsom salts.  I also add small amounts of Epsom salt as a source of magnesium to the tank on a regular basis as part of my EI dosing.  Since the regular dosing schedule has been a bit lax over the last few weeks, maybe the resulting reduction in Epsom salts could be a cause of constipation to fish who are using to having it all the time?

The good news is that the threadfin is eating the peas and looks like she is not having to spend as much effort as she was earlier.