My red flame gourami is on her side. I was looking for her this morning (I always look in the tank to check on them) and I found her under a decoration on her side. I rushed her to the petstore, they said maybe swim bladder. I've got her in a breeding box separated from others, but she still is just lying there on her side. Her lips are moving, so I know she's alive. No visible spots or disease look about her. lfs said she looked very healthy.
My tank has had an uncontrollable Nitrite problem for about 5 days, doing many water changes, etc... What can I do to save her?
There are generally 3 causes of Swimbladder disease.
1. A virus. The virus attacks the epithelium of the sac and inflammation occurs which makes the epithelium too thick for gases to diffuse across. Thus the fish is stuck at a certain buoyancy because gases have nowhere to go. This may be more of a factor in non-goldfish species.
2. A Bacterium. There is little evidence to support this, but it's widely known that bacterial infections can cause the same kind of thickening of the swim bladder epithelium as viruses.
3. Anatomy. Globoid-shaped fish like ornamental goldfish are predisposed to problems with the swim bladder because their guts are all squashed up in their abdomen. This arrangement predisposes to food impactions, which in turn clog up the pneumocystic duct.
4. Diet. Feeding dry foods which tend to take on water like a sponge and expand in the fish predispose to food impactions. See #3 above.
Treating Swimbladder
1. Feed your fish a couple of peas. That's right, peas. Just get some frozen peas, thaw them, and feed them to your fish. A professor of fish medicine at N.C. State College of Veterinary Medicine has done this in several cases with very good results. He thinks that the peas somehow encourage destruction of the impaction. No hard scientific data yet, but it's worth a try.
2. Periodic aspiration of the swim bladder Requires a VET
3. Fast your fish for a couple of days. Withhold all food for three or four days, and sometimes this alone will break up the impaction and return things to normal. Most fish can go a week to ten days without food and be just fine.
Great responses both of you, thank you for the information. I am happy to report she is still alive but still lying on her side at the bottom of the breeder net. Tank is back to good levels. ammonia .25, nitrites .25, nitrates 10-20.
She is not swollen at all, which is weird. Gouramis, as you know are very flat bodied, so it would be noticeable. I also felt her body yesterday just to be sure there were no lumps, etc...nothing out of the ordinary.
I will let her fast for another day - she has never been a big eater - just one or two flakes a day, so I know she can go without food for a few days, then I will try the pea.
I will keep this thread updated. Keep letting me know of other ideas.
She could just be lying on her side from the stress induced by your high nitrite problems. If I recall your test came back with Nitrites above 7.0. This would cause lots of hemoglobin in the fish to react with the Nitrite losing its ability to carry oxygen. The Nitrite binds to the hemoglobin permenantly altering it and the fish get oxygen starved. He might just be resting since he has lost lots of hemoglobin which could take a week or two to return back to decent amounts.
Good to know. I am sure that was it. I know you've been following both posts here and on the other site. Thanks for all the great input. I'll keep her condition posted here. I hope she gets better. I am sure it was the nitrites; everything looking good for the others now, though. Thanks again for everything. :fairy: (angels watching over poor Wendy)
One of the reasons I think your fish is still alive believe it or not is because you had ich in your tank. Ich infecting your fish was a blessing in disguise because you used salt to treat the ich and this same salt reduced Nitrite uptake sparing your fish. Nitrites above 2.0 normally kill fish very quickly.
Fascinating. I know I've seen you and others use salt in every water change - what's the standard level to keep in the tank to prevent illnesses and reduce stress? I searched the archives and can't find the exact thread stating the parameters.
I only use salt to treat disease in my freshwater tanks. Once the salt has done its job, out it goes via 40% waterchanges every 2 days until my tank registers little to no salt on the hydrometer.
Keeping the salt at 1tsp per gallon while the nitrite is still spiking is a good idea. It must be NaCl and as was mentioned it may be what saved your fish. Daily water changes while that nitrite is spiking is also recommended. Replace only the salt you take out.
