tang w/ swim bladder problem

[Bughead]

My powder blue, Tangy-Too, had been the picture of health up until about three weeks ago. After eating some caulerpa I had put in from the other tank, Tangy began to swim with a sort of bobbing motion with his head down. His belly is swollen on both sides and he does a lot of farting, so I thought he had a bad case of indegestion. He seemed better the next morning.

But over the past couple of weeks, his swimming has gotten worse. He now eats standing on his head and a couple of times I thought he was going to tip over. I've seen him swim while lying on his side. His tummy is still swollen, but his color is its usual fantastic (a powder-purple rather than blue), he eats all the time as usual and doesn't seem stressed over his condition.

I feed Selcon soaked Seaweed Selects or nori, and Formula 2 every day. They get fresh wakame or red Tang Heaven several times a week. The tangs also eat some of the home made frozen mixture with Zoe added that I feed the other fish.

Water params are fine with the exception of nitrates which are still in the 30-40ppm range. I finished adding sand for a 4-6"DSB a couple of months ago, and last week removed the last of the bioballs.

We are going on vacation Thursday and will be gone a week, so I won't be able to start any treatment until then. But it upsets me very much to watch Tangy and I'm anxious for any suggestions.I love this fish very much and want him to get better. I want to know if this condition is fatal, too. [img]/ubb/frown.gif[/img]

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If it's broke, don't fix it---hide it.

[albee1947]

This might sound strange, but I had a queen angel that had the same problem. I took her out of the primary tank and started to treat her with myacin2, I also rubbed her stomach every 2 hours for about 24 hours, she recovered completly. I told you it would sound strange

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HHeeeerrrrrsss ALBEE


Come see my new Web Site!

[jmick01]

I have had success with feeding goldfish sliced peas to clear the swim bladder. Unknown if this is a common practice for salth2o

JMM

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Remember Fish are alive when we get them, lets keep it that way!!!

[Bughead]

Thanks for the replies. I may try Albee's method when I get back from vacation. My son will be taking care of the fish but can only make it over here once a day, so I don't want to leave him with the responsibility of a sick fish in quarenteen. It doesn't help that Tangy doesn't like Colin, either.

I like the idea of feeding peas, but I tried to feed these fish peas once and they all acted like some alien had landed in their tank. They'd swim up, take a look at the peas, then turn around and race back to the other end of the tank. But I might be able to get the tangs to eat them by mashing them and tucking them inside the rolled up nori. At least it's worth a try and can't hurt, right?

What about the possibility of giving an antibiotic soaked in the nori? The hippo tang and foxface would eat it too, but it shouldn't hurt. Also, it shouldn't effect the tank, which is 100 gal FOWLR. Let me know what you think. I have only tomorrow to figure something out, as we leave Thurs. morning and will be gone until next Friday--7 days.
Do you think feeding less would help? Tangy seems to be a little better in the mornings and his swimming gets more skewed in the evening.

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If it's broke, don't fix it---hide it.

[jmick01]

Look at this[img]/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]eople have debated for years over the cause of swim bladder disease. It is pretty well established now that a number of things can cause swim bladder disease. Some of the things which have been suggested are:

A virus. The virus attacks the epithelium of the sac and inflammation occurs which makes the epithelium too thick for gases to diffuse across. Thus the fish is stuck at a certain buoyancy because gases have nowhere to go. This may be more of a factor in non-goldfish species.
A Bacterium. There is little evidence to support this, but it's widely known that bacterial infections can cause the same kind of thickening of the swim bladder epithelium as viruses.
food impactions which in turn clog up the pneumocystic duct.
Diet. Feeding dry foods which tend to take on water like a sponge and expand in the fish predispose to food impactions.


JMM


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Remember Fish are alive when we get them, lets keep it that way!!!

[Bughead]

I asked Bob Fenner about this and he think's it's more of a digestive problem than swim bladder. His suggestion was to feed a bit less and not add the Selcon for a week. I have been very heavy handed on the Seaweed Selects and nori, so maybe the dried stuff is harder for Tangy to digest. I cut the amount of the dried seaweed in half for my son to feed this week while I'm gone. If Tangy shows improvement with this regimen, I'll probably use the dried seaweed as a side dish or treat and feed Formula 2 and spirulina formula for the main course. I'll let you know how it goes.

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If it's broke, don't fix it---hide it.