[Update, advice please] Possible swim bladder condition

[Kat_Rigel]

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

Edited September 16, 2020 by Kat_Rigel

[fishnerd]

I have pencil fish myself and think they are really pretty fish for lack of vibrant blues and other colors you see from other fish. If it is constipation causing the swim bladder disorder and if the peas arent working, try using live baby brine shrimp, its a good laxative, its really small so they have no problems eating it,and most fish love live BBS I feed it everyday to my pencil fish. Really hope this helps!!!

  -fishnerd

[Kat_Rigel]

8 minutes ago, fishnerd said:

I have pencil fish myself and think they are really pretty fish for lack of vibrant blues and other colors you see from other fish. If it is constipation causing the swim bladder disorder and if the peas arent working, try using live baby brine shrimp, its a good laxative, its really small so they have no problems eating it,and most fish love live BBS I feed it everyday to my pencil fish. Really hope this helps!!!

  -fishnerd

Hm. I actually have been feeding BBS to the tank because I have some recently hatched cory babies in a breeder box in that tank and I like to spread around the good food. Salt is a good idea- and easy treatment that I always forget about. Thanks for the tip!

Any other opinions from folks?

[fishnerd]

No problem!!! I always forget about salt to, Lol!

[Kat_Rigel]

Well, bad news! The one that was worst off died today. He was acrive this morning and I thought he'd be ok, but I came back and the water was very dirty. (I had them in a specimen container within the main tanm to maintain temperature, but treated 1tsp per gal aquarium salt.) I had a second one there too because it was looking thin and the rear would always dip down when it stopped swimming. That fish was like, "peace OUT of this dirty dead fish water!" and actually jumped back into the tank.

So now I am a little uncertain what to do. I am worried about treating the entire tank. All of the fish look ok, but if some disease were to sweep through, it would be terrible. But it is possible these were older fish (purchased in 2016) and their immune system just isnt up to par.

With the thinness in the one fish, I am suspicious of parasites. But swim bladder issues says more of bacterial infection to me. The tank is heavily planted and I would rather not treat with salt, unless others can say they have successfully treated without significantly harming the plants. What would you guys do if this was your tank? Bomb with meds? The full trio, or just anti parasite and anti bacterial? Relax and wait a bit? (I am worried that the fish will react poorly to the meds, but I cant give you a good reason why honestly. Just feels like... I treated one fish and it died, so my brain is making the false, unsubstantiated connection that treatment = death.) Nothing in the tank that I am concerned about, such as shrimp, snails, or scale less fish.

[fishnerd]

i would use fenbendozole. Take one packet, which is like 40 grams or so and mix it with ten ounces of dechlorinated water and use one ounce of that solution per ten gallons. I have used this method several times to treat parasites and never lost a plant, fish, or snail. I dont have any shrimp so i dont know about that one. It always works for me. Also leave the meds in for 3 days do a 75% water change and dose again if neccasary. Hope this helps!!!

[Kat_Rigel]

5 minutes ago, fishnerd said:

i would use fenbendozole. Take one packet, which is like 40 grams or so and mix it with ten ounces of dechlorinated water and use one ounce of that solution per ten gallons. I have used this method several times to treat parasites and never lost a plant, fish, or snail. I dont have any shrimp so i dont know about that one. It always works for me. Also leave the meds in for 3 days do a 75% water change and dose again if neccasary. Hope this helps!!!

Thank you, I havent heard of that med before so I will look it up. Appreciate your input! This post kept getting drowned out and it was driving me nuts.

[fishnerd]

sorry just now seeing this, ive been really busy with school and my own breeding projects. I hope that i was able to help you and that it worked just fine.

[Kat_Rigel]

Yes, all worked out fine. I lost just the one fish and I'm thinking he was actually just old. I ended up treating the entire tank with a course of maracyn just to be safe, and didn't end up losing anything else. I'm very thankful for the good outcome!