Decompression issue - anything I can do?

[chrissreef]

Anything I can do for a fish with decompression issues? he seems healthy and swims around... the internal bubble just makes him want to try to float now and then.

ty!

 

[jpcoll01]

feed him a pea? I always heard that would help the process.

 

[JHemdal]

The pea idea works really well if the bouyancy issue is due to intestinal gas, or constipation (like in fancy goldfish). If the fish is a deepwater species, that you just acquired, and you suspect that it was needled improperly when captured, then there is not a lot you can do. Some people try re-needling, but this just increases the chance for infection and the problem often returns.

I've done some work using a pressure chamber - holding the fish under pressurized oxygen at 1 ATM (15 psi) in a chamber for 16 hours and then backing it down to normal pressure over 10 hours. It works, but wow, even at 15psi, you have to really be careful in designing the chamber as they can explode. This article (on page 40 or so) in the public aquarium journal Drum and Croaker goes into more depth (pardon the pun):

http://www.colszoo.org/internal/drum_croaker/pdf/2008.pdf


Jay