HELP!! Swim bladder medicated food in the UK??

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Princess1982

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
Messages
157
Location
London
Hi All

I have a fish that I suspect has a swim bladder issue. It is a new fish I recently added to my tank and the problem started about a week after bringing it home from the pet shop.
I have done all the usual things to remedy this including checking for nitrites/nitrates and water changes, stopped feeding for a few days then feeding a shelled pea, feeding just green veggies for 1 week and although water parameters are OK I am having no progress.

Someone has suggested I get some medicated fish food containing metronizadole like Jungle medicated fish food but I cannot seem to find it anywhere in the UK. Does anyone here no where I can find it? The only thing I can find is Interpret Swimbladder treatment. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Tank details are as follows:

180 litre Fluval with 2 filters
1 x black moor
1 x red cap
1 x calico ryukin (the sick fish)
1 x common goldfish
1 x leopard plec
1 x white rachu

All fish are very small approx 1 - 2 inches and I will be getting a larger tank soon. I know that it is fully stocked but other than this issue all the fish are healthy and water parameters are checked regularly and all is OK.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!! :thanks:
 
Hi, I tried the swim bladder treatment and it didn't make any difference. The usual methods are peas, blood worm, epsom salts and I have just discovered that green algae wafers can help.

Check that you dont have high nitrate, that can sometimes have an adverse affect on swim bladders problems, and of course water changes.

What make you think is is swimblabber?
 
The fish could have been stressed from the move in. Perhaps your temp was a little bit off from his and it was too big of a jump for him? Also he could have gulped some air which I've read could cause swim bladder.

I've heard that goldfish are quite susceptible to it.
 
EDIT

Is it all the time or after eating? What are you feeding?
 
According to older posts, it's the Calico Ryukin. I've had this same issue with my black moor. I've never been able to fully fix the issue, but it seems blanched zucchini chopped finely and
mixed with blood worms or Hikari pellets somewhat helps.
 
Donkey Gun said:
According to older posts, it's the Calico Ryukin. I've had this same issue with my black moor. I've never been able to fully fix the issue, but it seems blanched zucchini chopped finely and
mixed with blood worms or Hikari pellets somewhat helps.

Yeah I skipped over the stocking list and missed it.
 
Thanks for your replies. Yes it is the ryukin that has this problem. The reason I think it is swim bladder is because he seems to struggle maintaining neutral buoyancy. He is always nose down tail up and and when ge tries to swim round corners he often ends up upside-down.
I have had him for about 2 months now and all my fish are fed a mixture of frozen bloodworm, fresh green veggies, sinking pellets and flakes soaked in vitamins so they sink. He developed this about a week after bringing him home and he is like this all the time not just after eating. I got my white ranchu on the same day and she is showing no problems. I have tried everything suggested and I'm just not sure what to do next. I'm hoping my fish isn't in pain even though he looks very awkward! :-(
 
Maybe it's the bloodworms? I've heard a diet that's too high in protein can cause issues. I have one little guy that has SB issues constantly no matter what we've tried. What has been most successful for me has been feeding pellets one day and 4-5 peas per fish the next with one day of fasting a week.

Good luck!
 
First read through the below link

http://thegab.org/Illness-and-Treatment/buoyancy.html

Is he floaty or unable to leave the bottom? The reason I ask is because if is bacterial then he would be floaty because the bacteria break down certain starches or sugars this creates gas which would make the fish floaty.

Are you confident it is not food related? This is all the time not just after eating, it never goes away, etc

How long has this been occurring?

Approximate Size/Age of the fish?

As I am sure you know fancy goldfish are prone to swim bladder disorder. A lot of what we do to treat it is guess work.
 
Hi, Yes I am positive it isn't food related. The fish has been like this for about 2 months now and started about a week after I got him. I have always fed mixed food as detailed in my last post as I know it is good for them and the last week I have only been feeding veggies especially peas to try and rule out gas and constipation.
He doesn't float or sink particularly - he just cant stay horizontal. He has taken to propping himself under an ornamental bridge to keep himself upright! If he stops swimming his tail end will start rising straight away and from watching him just now he very very gradually starts sinking to the bottom. He doesn't spend much time in the upper half of the tank anyway unless he sees me coming with food. I do sometimes see him sitting at the bottom with a couple of other fish but they only do this at night. I assume he is just resting. The rest of the time he swims about normally albeit rather awkwardly and seems to have a good appetite.I have never seen him at the top gulping air and I don't feed any floating food so don't thing this would be the problem. Maybe his swimbladder just got damaged in transit?
I only got him 2 months ago and he is an inch long. I couldn't guess his exact age but he looks young and small. Other than buoyancy issues he seems happy and healthy. He did have white poo for a couple of days when I first got him and a couple of other goldfish were flicking so I treated the tank with one dose of Parasite Guard and the flicking stopped straight away. Poop returned to normal but he still isn't right. His little fins just don't seem big enough for his swollen egg shape body and swimming looks like such an effort. It's so hard to tell if he is bloated with his body shape!

The results of my latest test 2 days ago were as follows

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 20ppm
PH - 7.8

Really finding the diagnosis quite difficult. I know these types of fish are quite prone to these issues i just can't think what caused it. It came on so quickly.
 
It sounds a lot like he may just have a swim bladder deformity. The rounder the goldfish the more likely they are to have SBD. It is possible it may have been damaged, but more likely genetics are to blame. There are multiple cases where fish live out there lives with these issues, yours does not sound too extreme either.

My Ryukin started having issues after eating NLS I tried everything and could not fix him. He deteriorated until he would just float belly up. After two days floating I decided to euthanize him :(

My Oranda had the same issue and I switched to gel foods to resolve the issue. This actually returned yesterday even with just gel food and veggies. I am back to the drawing board once again. I think he is constipated or has an obstruction because he is not pooping even with peas. I am going to fast for 2 days then try an Epsom salt bath as recommended by a fellow hobbyist.

Do you have a QT tank? You could try the metro, I don't like recommending meds for SBD until diet has been ruled out for sure.


When selecting goldfish from a store the rounder ones may look great but the more narrow the body the less likely to get SBD. Also most fish develop this as they age so the older the fish is without SBD the more likely they will not develop it. Also you can purchase from a reputable breeder who practices proper diet and culling.
 
I thought I had founda reputable aquatics shop in London. They sound like they know what they are talking about. But sometimes these things just happen I guess. If he ever appears to be in pain or gets worse I will have to think about something else but in the meantime I will keep on with the daily veggies for a few more days. If that doesn't work I will move him to a hospital tank and feed medicated foods. I just don't want to medicate for the wrong thing or stress him further. Thanks for all your help :)
 
Princess1982 said:
I thought I had founda reputable aquatics shop in London. They sound like they know what they are talking about. But sometimes these things just happen I guess. If he ever appears to be in pain or gets worse I will have to think about something else but in the meantime I will keep on with the daily veggies for a few more days. If that doesn't work I will move him to a hospital tank and feed medicated foods. I just don't want to medicate for the wrong thing or stress him further. Thanks for all your help :)

Even the most reputable breeders produce fish with SBD, it's like Rottweilers and hip problems. It's comes as a risk with the breed.

Good luck and enjoy your fish!
 
This is a quote from my favorite goldfish breeder,

"One of the great conundrums of goldfish is that the nearer a fancy goldfish comes to the standard of perfection (short deep body) the more likely it is to have swim bladder problems. So, as a breeder, the closer you come to the standard of perfection the higher the discard rate becomes and the more valuable the "keepers" become."
 
Some comments:
1. You cannot get antibiotics over the counter in UK (or EU). You need a vet prescription for that. However, i don't think that antibiotics will help based on history.

2. This is very likely a genetic predisposition to SB abnormalities. Not much you can do apart from altering diet and environment. For diet I would watch the protein content (try skipping the blood worms & increasing veggies). Also try different brands of food to see if one is better than the other. Apart from super clean water, the one other variable to manipulate is temperature. Some fish with SB will do better at higher temp (high 70's ie 25-26C).

3. Drastic treatment for SB disorder is surgery (for fun - visit koivet aka Dr Johnson - a fish vet). Some at the gab had made little jackets for the fish with weights to keep the fish from flipping over .....
 
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