Swim bladder issues

[Kat_Rigel]

Would like some advice regarding a swim bladder issue that I am beginning to see in my community tank. On Monday evening I had a pencilfish that was tilting to the side whenever it wasn't in active motion. Thought that was really odd so I transferred him to quarantine and added 1tsp per gal (thats 1tbs per 3 gal) aquarium salt because I was feeling confident it was an overfeeding/constipation issue. Whelp that didn't go well because it qas dead when I got home from work the next day. I was obviously concerned it was a tank-wide issue so I am keeping my eyes peeled and saw another pencilfisb that has a similar issue- the back end falls when it is not in motion, and its also skinny. And same tilting issus on one gold cloud minnow, who is also a tad pale. I began dosing maracyn in the entire tank per the package directions yesterday. I am suspicious of a bacterial infection; what do you guys think? I want to focus on the antibacterial for now and will dose General Cure and Ich-X after completing the antibiotic dosing, since those meds have specific water changing instructions. Should I increase temperature as well? Currently at 75.2*F; Last month I had been keeping is a few degrees higher so maybe that is playing some part.

I would prefer not to dose salt since it is a planted tank with inverts. Water parameters were: Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia all zero. GH has risen from 12 to 15 over the past month for unknown reasons. KH has been steady at 7. PH steady around 7.9. 60 gallon, stock includes: guppies, pencilfish, kyathit danios, aeneus (bronze) corys, assassin snails. Heavily planted. I added the danios recently after a 4 week, no-med quarantine and am wondering if they brought something in. Other than the two fish mentioned, everyone else is looking active and healthy.  No skin lesions, red gills, or other physical symptoms other than the one pale minnow.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Kat_Rigel
Add pertinent negatives

[Cory]

What type of pencilfish? I ask because if they are eques, then it would be normal for them to have their tail down. 

In general when having a swim bladder issue and suspecting constipation, you'd want to use epsom salt as a muscle relaxer. At this point I'd probably just keep an eye on things. Water parameters look good, fish look good minus 1 gold white cloud, could be bullied to lose color. If it's a different type of pencilfish, it may mean something is up, but I would try some foods that are laxatives first. Like Spirulina and Brine shrimp. 

[Kat_Rigel]

9 hours ago, Cory said:

What type of pencilfish? I ask because if they are eques, then it would be normal for them to have their tail down. 

In general when having a swim bladder issue and suspecting constipation, you'd want to use epsom salt as a muscle relaxer. At this point I'd probably just keep an eye on things. Water parameters look good, fish look good minus 1 gold white cloud, could be bullied to lose color. If it's a different type of pencilfish, it may mean something is up, but I would try some foods that are laxatives first. Like Spirulina and Brine shrimp. 

Thank you so much for the advice. They are Beckford's pencilfish, and I have been feeding a bit of baby brine every day because I had it available for some recently hatched corys. I will move towards spirulina and brine only, thank you.

[Kat_Rigel]

ACTUALLY you know what, I looked up some pics of eques and I think you are absolutely right, I have a sneaky eques in there with my Beckford's! I remember when I got them like a year ago the store just had a tank of "pencilfish" and I the employee tried to get all Beckford's,  but I can see now that they look very similar. Thank you so much, @Cory! I am glad to see I was freaking out for little to no reason. 😅 It was stressing me out this week.