Swim Bladder Treatment

[Fish Enthusiast]

Hi there! I just want to confirm this is the right treatment for this little gal Winnie. I picked her up today and she’s not in the best condition. I put her into a quarantine tank to treat her for fin/body rot and a swim bladder problem.

 

right now she’s in a five gallon quarantine tank with half a tablespoon of salt and MaracynX. I might add another half tablespoon tomorrow as well. I just didn’t want to overwhelm her system on the first day. I put a couple Catappa leaves for tannins. She didn’t eat today but at first she tried and than spit it up and gave up! I have a couple options for her to try whenever she’s ready. She also seems very bloated. I wonder if I should treat for parasites as well. She seems to have a white fuzzy matter extending from her anal region. 

Anything else I should be aware of to ensure best recovery for little Winnie would be greatly appreciated 🙂 

[Tony s]

Sounds like you’re doing everything right so far. Maybe have some frozen or live foods to tempt her with.

Hopefully she responds well, but she might not. She looks like she’s had a rough time before you. If she came from one of the big box stores, they don’t often last long anyway. I keep buying from them just to give the little guys a chance. I keep 6 in various kinds of tanks. Mostly community tanks. They usually last anywhere from 4 months to a couple of years. But, we try to make things better for them. 

[Colu]

On 2/4/2024 at 8:53 AM, Fish Enthusiast said:

Hi there! I just want to confirm this is the right treatment for this little gal Winnie. I picked her up today and she’s not in the best condition. I put her into a quarantine tank to treat her for fin/body rot and a swim bladder problem.

 

right now she’s in a five gallon quarantine tank with half a tablespoon of salt and MaracynX. I might add another half tablespoon tomorrow as well. I just didn’t want to overwhelm her system on the first day. I put a couple Catappa leaves for tannins. She didn’t eat today but at first she tried and than spit it up and gave up! I have a couple options for her to try whenever she’s ready. She also seems very bloated. I wonder if I should treat for parasites as well. She seems to have a white fuzzy matter extending from her anal region. 

Anything else I should be aware of to ensure best recovery for little Winnie would be greatly appreciated 🙂 

I would add Epsom salt instead of aquarium salt and gradually up the level of epsom salt to 1 table spoon for 2 gallons as epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant to help relieve pressure on the swim bladder I would do a full course of maracyn then if she still isn't eating I would follow up with Fritz expel p once a week for 3 weeks 

[Fish Enthusiast]

Thanks so much for the help! I ordered Epsom salt and Fritz expel and it’s coming on Tuesday. So far she’s looking a lot better today she’s more colored up and is no Longer staying at the surface. She’s still struggling to swim low but not nearly as bad as yesterday. She’s swimming near a bottom a lot more. 
 

 

I put all the colonized beneficial bacteria I could into the quarantine tank and the tank looks to be going through a bacterial bloom unfortunately still. It looks as though it’s not effecting her but just want to double check to see if I should do daily water changes to help even though she’s going through med treatments.

On 2/4/2024 at 3:34 AM, Colu said:

I would add Epsom salt instead of aquarium salt and gradually up the level of epsom salt to 1 table spoon for 2 gallons as epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant to help relieve pressure on the swim bladder I would do a full course of maracyn then if she still isn't eating I would follow up with Fritz expel p once a week for 3 weeks 

Is there any specific brand of Epsom salt that you would recommend @Colu

Edited February 4 by Fish Enthusiast

[Colu]

On 2/4/2024 at 8:54 PM, Fish Enthusiast said:

Thanks so much for the help! I ordered Epsom salt and Fritz expel and it’s coming on Tuesday. So far she’s looking a lot better today she’s more colored up and is no Longer staying at the surface. She’s still struggling to swim low but not nearly as bad as yesterday. She’s swimming near a bottom a lot more. 
 

 

I put all the colonized beneficial bacteria I could into the quarantine tank and the tank looks to be going through a bacterial bloom unfortunately still. It looks as though it’s not effecting her but just want to double check to see if I should do daily water changes to help even though she’s going through med treatments.

Is there any specific brand of Epsom salt that you would recommend @Colu

Just plane unscented epsom you get from a pharmacy lots of different brands if your use antibiotic I would water change unless the medication say to I would add an extra air stone if your having a bacterial bloom as that can lower the level of desloved oxygen