I have a pencilfish that potentially has a swim bladder disorder; looking to either confirm or get other opinions. I haven't seen any fish acting strangely except for this poor guy. He actually looks really good... just tilted. He has been displaying to the females and showing off those red tipped fins. But when he stops actively swimming, he tilts to the left, and even ended up taking a rest on his side once I placed him the the specimen container. (I think its because there isn't enough space for him to get up to speed and get oriented.) I dont see any other signs of illness; very weird to see an otherwise healthy fish laying on its side.
After some internet research, I suspect I have been overfeeding and this has caused him constipation, resulting in a swim bladder issue. Aside from cutting back on feeding and feeding him peas (which is ALL OVER the internet.. has anyone actually TRIED it with success?) is there anything else I should be doing for him? I got some new fish recently and already have 2 quarantine tanks running; I'd rather not set up another for him but I can. Im not sure any meds will help. I suppose it could possibly be a result of bacterial infection or parasites, (very easy to accidentally cross contaminate with quarantine tanks,) but I would expect to see other symptoms such as lethargy if it was an infection. For now he is going to hang out in his own specimen container there.
Tank specs:
Planted 60 gal, has been pretty stable for about 3 years. Nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia all zero. Gh has increased from 12 to 15 in the past month for unknown reasons. Kh 7.0. Temp 74.9* F. Contains pencilfish, guppies, gold white cloud minnows, orange fin zebra danios (added a few weeks ago after a 4 week quarantine, no meds), bronze corydoras, assassin snails
Top down view
Poor bud