strange swimming

[dolphineducator]

I have toby fish in a 20 gal salt water aquarium. This morning when I turned on the light the toby was swimming and he would turn upside down he would try to correct himself but kept flipping over. His stomach area looked bloated like he had gas in there. What can I do for him. He looks find other wise
Parameters are normal
ammonia= 0
PH= 7.8
Specific gravity is a little high at 40 ppt
temp is 74.6
nitrate is 20
nitrite is 0
Any ideas what could cause this? He ate yesterday and appeared normal. This happened overnight. Please help.

 

[fijiwigi]

As far as I know the minimum PH for a saltwater aquarium is 8.1 and 40ppt is like 1.030 SG Natural sea water is 35ppt 1.026 I personally wouldn't go higher than 1.027 although I am unaware of 1.030 having any ill affect on the fish. Temp for a saltwater aquarium should be at least 76 from what I understand. Perhaps some of the parameters with your tank are causing the fish to be ill and swimming strange because he's not healthy. Normally water parameters cause most problems. I would suggest doing a decent water change at a lower SG and turn up your heater a bit.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Swim bladder issue? Or maybe swallowed an air bubble?

Even though your water parameters are a bit off, if they've been consistent then I wouldn't be in a hurry to change them. Change at this point may just cause the fish more stress. Just my opinion though.

How long have you had the fish? How long has the tank been set up?

 

[melosu58]

It is a swim bladder problem. Let me see if I can find something on it. BTW what is a toby fish?

 

[cmor1701d]

It sounds like a swim bladder problem. Could be bacterial or other.

Try feeding a single green pea (canned or cooked and lightly crushed) once daily. "Exactly how the "green pea" treatment works is unknown, but it is possible that the pea helps move or displace lighter and/or air-filled food through the digestive tract."

Also start getting your water parameters in check with PWC's. You might try a 10% daily pwc at SG of 1.020 to start bringing that back in line. Raise the temp a notch to 76.