I have been having problems with my weather loach floating and someone told me it might be swim bladder. What exactly is swim bladder? What causes it? And what can I do to fix it?
:huh:
:huh:
What is Swim Bladder?
- Thread starter DaisyTattoo
- Start date
The swim bladder is an organ that regulates how boyant (sp) a fish is. It is how they swim up or down effortlessly.
When this organ become "bad", the fish can be stuck at the level where the orgam went bad at. I had a blackskirt tetra that could not float and spent his entire life swimming (not floating like other fish) upward to stay in the level he wants. But he lived another 2 or 3 years like this without any other problems. He ate well and lived well.
Swim bladder disease is not curable - at least I am aware of. Unless it prevents the fish from acting "normal" otherwise, it is not worth euthanizing them.
Good Luck
Aries
When this organ become "bad", the fish can be stuck at the level where the orgam went bad at. I had a blackskirt tetra that could not float and spent his entire life swimming (not floating like other fish) upward to stay in the level he wants. But he lived another 2 or 3 years like this without any other problems. He ate well and lived well.
Swim bladder disease is not curable - at least I am aware of. Unless it prevents the fish from acting "normal" otherwise, it is not worth euthanizing them.
Good Luck
Aries
That pretty muh sums it up, although i generally just kill the fish and put it out of its misery rather than let it limp along in a tank.
swim bladder disease may be caused by many different factors including virus, bacteria or diet:
a virus can attack the epithelium of the swim bladder causing inflammation which makes the tissue too thick for gases to diffuse into the blood system. when this happens the fish exhibits lack of buoyancy because gases have nowhere to go. unfortunately, if this is your problem, it's untreateble.
bacterial infections can cause the same kind of thickening of the swim bladder epithelium as viruses.
anatomy ... globoid-shaped fish like ornamental goldfish are predisposed to problems with the swim bladder because of their anatomy which result in mis-placement of the bladder in the body cavity. this can lead to food impactions, which in turn clog up the pneumocystic duct.
feeding dry foods which tend to take on water like a sponge and expand in the fish can result in food impactions due to the swelling/expansion of food in the gut.
so how are you going to treat swim bladder disorders? there are two means: prevention and treatment.
1. first and foremost, maintain good water quality. this will enhance your fish's ability to naturally resist viral or bacterial infection.
2. Pre-soak flake or pelleted food. this will allow expansion to occur prior to the fish eating it, and will lessen the chance of impaction.
3. try feeding your fish a couple of peas. peas high fibre content can encourage destruction of any impaction which might be present.
4. 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.
5. a product called Paragon II by Aquatronics® supposedly aids in treatment of swim bladder disease.
6. add one teaspoon of salt per gallon of water.
7. treat with Mardel's Maracyn-two or other broad-spectrum antiobiotic.
8. last resort - aspiration of the swim bladder. essentially you stick a needle in the swim bladder and suck out some of the air.
a virus can attack the epithelium of the swim bladder causing inflammation which makes the tissue too thick for gases to diffuse into the blood system. when this happens the fish exhibits lack of buoyancy because gases have nowhere to go. unfortunately, if this is your problem, it's untreateble.
bacterial infections can cause the same kind of thickening of the swim bladder epithelium as viruses.
anatomy ... globoid-shaped fish like ornamental goldfish are predisposed to problems with the swim bladder because of their anatomy which result in mis-placement of the bladder in the body cavity. this can lead to food impactions, which in turn clog up the pneumocystic duct.
feeding dry foods which tend to take on water like a sponge and expand in the fish can result in food impactions due to the swelling/expansion of food in the gut.
so how are you going to treat swim bladder disorders? there are two means: prevention and treatment.
1. first and foremost, maintain good water quality. this will enhance your fish's ability to naturally resist viral or bacterial infection.
2. Pre-soak flake or pelleted food. this will allow expansion to occur prior to the fish eating it, and will lessen the chance of impaction.
3. try feeding your fish a couple of peas. peas high fibre content can encourage destruction of any impaction which might be present.
4. 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.
5. a product called Paragon II by Aquatronics® supposedly aids in treatment of swim bladder disease.
6. add one teaspoon of salt per gallon of water.
7. treat with Mardel's Maracyn-two or other broad-spectrum antiobiotic.
8. last resort - aspiration of the swim bladder. essentially you stick a needle in the swim bladder and suck out some of the air.
The water quality is good in my tank. I have already tried the peas and can't get him to eat them. I have 1tsp per 5 gal of water in my tank already. But I will surely try some of the other suggestions. Thank you all for the advice. I would probably euthanize him if he wasnt so great. The poor guy. He really looks terrible trying to turn himself over all the time. I have to check him to be sure he is alive sometimes. It is just so sad. All of my other fish, including my other loaches are doing really well. I just hope this guy pulls thru since he is my favorite.