Swim bladder infection-contagious?

[Marinemom]

I have a 25 gallon fully planted aquariium that has been set up for nine and a half years. At the moment it has four swordtails in it. Two of them are red velvet swords and two of them are pineapple swords. One of the pineapple swords has been sick for a day or two. I think it is swim bladder infection but I am not completely sure. She swims mostly in the front of the tank kind of funny like she is waddeling or something. She does not seem to get better but she does not appear to get worse either. I have increased the water changes in an effort to help her get past this but there is no improvement even with pristine water conditions. The ammonia and nitrite are at 0 and the nitrate is 5-10 which I know is low for an aquarium that is fully planted so now I am adding florish excel. What else can i do for her? Is she in pain and suffering? I do not want her to suffer. I know I cannot use salt because of the plant level in this tank. Is there a medication that is considered safe that will treat this without comprimising the planted aquarium? Is it possible to give this to the other three swordtails in the tank? Are they sick too and just not displaying any symptoms yet? What else can I do for her to make her more comfortable? I am really at a loss here because I do not want her to make the others sick and infest the entire tank or is the entire tank infested already?

PLEASE HELP!!

Marinemom

 

[plah831]

In my experience, swimbladder infections are not contagious. I've had two fish develop SB disorders as a result of very high nitrates (back when I was not good about water changes). The high nitrates and other excess nutrients in the water allowed bacteria to thrive. The two fish I mentioned did not develop the disorder at the same time, nor did other fish get them from them. It seems that each fish reacts to the bacteria differently, and that some just may be more susceptible than others. I even had others of the same species who were unaffected.

You're doing the right thing by keeping the water quality immaculate. If the infection does not heal on its own, you might want to try a broad-spectrum antibiotic, hopefully in a QT so you can concentrate the treatment on only the fish affected.

I don't think she is in pain. I think the worst part is having to swim extra hard to maintain their position in the water column. That, in itself, is exhausting in addition to fighting off an internal infection. But I don't think it really hurts. At least mine never exhibited any signs of pain, only discomfort that they couldn't stay where they wanted.

SB disorders/infections are very hard to treat, let me warn you. One of my fish died after months of battling it (when I moved house, the stress was finally too much for him). The other is still not totally better, after nearly 2 years. But he is about 85% better. I'm willing to deal with the occasional bobbing. He eats great, is active and interactive, so doesn't seem to be suffering much at all.

Good luck!