Hi all,
I have a broadtail Ryukin that has been having swim bladder issues for the past 2 months now. It isn't a standard SBD issue though. Below is some background:
- He didn't have issues when he was a juvenile ('22 summer), no bad habits gulping at surface either and never had any buoyancy issues
- I groomed him summer to fall 2022 and he grew roughly 1.5 inches. At times, I did notice that he had some weird swimming habits, but no issues with floating or sinking through this entire phase. Seemed like general clumsy fancy goldfish swimming.
- In October when I was slowing down the grooming process, I reduced the heater setting from 80 -> 78 (no issues). Kept it like that for around 2 weeks or so. Then 78 -> 76. I was still feeding high protein food in the taper down. One day after reducing the temperature to 76, I noticed he was floating upside down in the tank (no other fish in my 2 tanks of ryukin had this issue).
- I was alarmed by this and separated him into a hospital tank. I acclimated him to a higher temperature of 80 again and fasted for 3 days. Then I fed only peas and spinach for a week. I also gave him epsom salt baths each day at 1 tbsp per gallon. His hospital tank was also dosed at 1/4 tbsp of epsom salt for 10 gallons.While he was no longer upside down, he was still at the top.
- I tried a few rounds of prazi, kanaplex, and metroplex. Nothing. I will admit it wasn't a full dosing schedule. I just wanted to see if these medications would show any signs of improvement and then pursue further from there.
- He started to develop some redness on his body due to exposure to the surface, so I bought this breeding net cube that people use to separate fish within a tank. I would put him in it to prevent surface exposure. What I found out was that he would actually stop floating after a few hours. In fact, he would stay at the bottom as if he had negative buoyancy at that point. When I would release him, he would be unable to swim properly and would topple over. It seems that he was gulping air at the surface which would cause him to float. It appears he has negative or wonky buoyancy otherwise.
- This leads me to believe that perhaps that something happened during the grooming slow-down process that messed with his swim bladder's function or he got injured somehow that I didn't see.
- For additional detail, I also have 9 other ryukin that don't have the same issues. Just 2 that are a bit more susceptible to floating if I feed a bit too much.
- Tank parameters 0 NH3, 0 NO2-, and less than 40 ppm NO3- (from API test kit)
I'm at a loss for what to do now, it's been around 2 months and he's been living not the best life. But, he still has a lot of rigor and eats well. I've been taking care of goldfish for a few years now and have seen swim bladder issues due to digestive issues, but nothing like this. Anyone have any clue as to what this is or what I should do?
I have a broadtail Ryukin that has been having swim bladder issues for the past 2 months now. It isn't a standard SBD issue though. Below is some background:
- He didn't have issues when he was a juvenile ('22 summer), no bad habits gulping at surface either and never had any buoyancy issues
- I groomed him summer to fall 2022 and he grew roughly 1.5 inches. At times, I did notice that he had some weird swimming habits, but no issues with floating or sinking through this entire phase. Seemed like general clumsy fancy goldfish swimming.
- In October when I was slowing down the grooming process, I reduced the heater setting from 80 -> 78 (no issues). Kept it like that for around 2 weeks or so. Then 78 -> 76. I was still feeding high protein food in the taper down. One day after reducing the temperature to 76, I noticed he was floating upside down in the tank (no other fish in my 2 tanks of ryukin had this issue).
- I was alarmed by this and separated him into a hospital tank. I acclimated him to a higher temperature of 80 again and fasted for 3 days. Then I fed only peas and spinach for a week. I also gave him epsom salt baths each day at 1 tbsp per gallon. His hospital tank was also dosed at 1/4 tbsp of epsom salt for 10 gallons.While he was no longer upside down, he was still at the top.
- I tried a few rounds of prazi, kanaplex, and metroplex. Nothing. I will admit it wasn't a full dosing schedule. I just wanted to see if these medications would show any signs of improvement and then pursue further from there.
- He started to develop some redness on his body due to exposure to the surface, so I bought this breeding net cube that people use to separate fish within a tank. I would put him in it to prevent surface exposure. What I found out was that he would actually stop floating after a few hours. In fact, he would stay at the bottom as if he had negative buoyancy at that point. When I would release him, he would be unable to swim properly and would topple over. It seems that he was gulping air at the surface which would cause him to float. It appears he has negative or wonky buoyancy otherwise.
- This leads me to believe that perhaps that something happened during the grooming slow-down process that messed with his swim bladder's function or he got injured somehow that I didn't see.
- For additional detail, I also have 9 other ryukin that don't have the same issues. Just 2 that are a bit more susceptible to floating if I feed a bit too much.
- Tank parameters 0 NH3, 0 NO2-, and less than 40 ppm NO3- (from API test kit)
I'm at a loss for what to do now, it's been around 2 months and he's been living not the best life. But, he still has a lot of rigor and eats well. I've been taking care of goldfish for a few years now and have seen swim bladder issues due to digestive issues, but nothing like this. Anyone have any clue as to what this is or what I should do?