2 Ryukin goldfish with suspected swim bladder disease

[Bidadash]

Hi Eveyone, I’ve been reading in this Communtiy before but this is my first time posting. My two goldfish are sick, I think, and I’m going to try to treat them with maracyn, I’d like feedback and advice on my plan. Here is some background and my plan, thanks in advance!
 

I just upgraded my 20gal to 40gal for two young Ryukin goldfish, and 9 WCMs. I’ve had the goldfish for about 2 years and I’ve upgraded their tank as I’ve learned more about how to better care for them from 10, to 20, to 40gal. It’s planted with sand and river rock bottom. I noticed they were acting a little strange, the larger one a bit more at game a few weeks before I changed the tank, spending more time than usual on the bottom. Only new thing I’ve added to the habitat with the tank move  is the sand, but I noticed issues before the move and the swimming issues were only super noticiable now that the tank so much deeper. Can come to the surface to eat. Can do spurts of swimming around and rooting around in the bottom. Big one seems tired out easily. There seems to be no tail rot, no spots or discoloration. I tried the pea technique for a few days and it didn’t really help much. The smaller one is a bit better, but bigger one just sits in the bottom. I just ordered maracyn and it gets here Friday (it’s Tuesday now).

water parameters are the following:

Ammonia is 0; nitrite is 0; (API test tubes) nitrate is between 25-50 on the test strip, my water is pretty hard; buffer is high; and I think pH is around 7.6. Temp is 70f
 

when I do the maracyn, my plan is to put the goldfish into a 10 gal tank, not use the carbon filters and have a waterstone. It looks like the treatment is for 5 days. It looks like from advice on other questions it’s good to add some beneficial bacteria when dosing the medicine, I have the Fritz 7 live bacteria, but 1) won’t the maracyn kill the bacteria I add and 2) how do I keep the tank clean enough for those 5 days? It looks like you don’t do water changes until after the treatment is over.

Also, the difference between aquarium co-op instructions and the Fritz instructions are vastly different, any advice on which to follow? I want to help my little guys to feel better asap. I don’t know how much people believe about fish personality but the smaller fish, despite doing better generally, sits on the bottom next to the bigger one sometimes. They will often follow each other around and copy each other exactly. If the big one dies I think the small one will be very sad, and I will be too. 

 

Edited July 16 by Bidadash

[Tony s]

Sorry to hear about your fish. But I'm think that maracyn is not going to do the job. I believe maracyn2 will. but there are some other things that can be done to help as well. unscented epsom salt baths or even epsom salt in the tank is a start. it acts to relieve some of the pressure. and then maracyn2 in a food mix if it's a bacterial problem. @Colu

 

[Colu]

Swim bladder issues can be caused by the fish over eating and stomach putting pressure on the swim bladder or a bacterial infection of the swim bladder or a parasitic infection first I would try Epsom salt baths 1 table spoon for 1 gallon for no more than 15 minutes for 5 days as Epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant to help relieve pressure on the swim bladder if after 5 days of epsom salt baths your seeing no improvement than I would do a course of maracyn2 in food feeding a small amount twice a day for 7 days  @Bidadash

Edited July 17 by Colu