Swim bladder problem

[Lonnie]

My Lion fish suddenly started to float head uphill & turn upside down. He was OK 1 minute & then started acting oddly. He is swimming well & can continue to correct himself, but will immediately surface if it does not keep moving.

Water quality is great & he ate yesterday. Otherwise he looks fine... shape & color are great. Is there anything I can do to help fix the problem? This has been going on for 4 hours now, so I separated him from the other fish.

Thanks for any info you can provide.
Lonnie

 

[sl-atl]

Is he new? The symptoms sound like what happens when a fish isn't decompressed properly (brought to the surface too quickly) when it's captured, but that obviously wouldn't make sense if you've had him for a while...

 

[Lonnie]

No, I've had him for over 2 years.
He was fine 1 minute & flipping over the next.

I put him in a segregated area away from everyone else last night & he seemed somewhat better today, but still not cured. He can sit on the bottom & also swim, but he tilted to the sides a lot, like he had bad balance, whereas he immediately floated to the top yesterday. He seems to have less energy today.


I put him in the main tank for a while to see how he reacted, but am reluctant to leave him here for fear he will get picked on or he will puncture someone due to the situation. He is non-aggressive & will eat from my hand, but my Stingray usually swims under him & I do not want to lose any more fish due to a collision.

Any ideas?
Lonnie

 

[sl-atl]

I don't, sorry. It sounds like he might have some kind of infection that's affecting the swim bladder. Might be a good idea to leave him in segregation for a while with low light to limit stress and help him fight it.

Hopefully somebody who recognizes the symptoms will post a suggestion. Good luck!

 

[NexDog]

Having same problem with my Emperor Angel. Spent hours researching and all the advice is vague. Heard advice from:

1) Constipation - wait it out
2) Give it Green Peas
3) Puncture with a needle to bleed off air
4) Feed with antibiotic food

Number 4 sounds good but I don't see any such food available. And I don't see any medicine that addresses bacterial infections of the swim bladder. There is anti-bacterial medicine for cuts, wounds, eye infections, skin infections etc - but nothing internal.

I'm at a loss.

 

[Lonnie]

I hate to see it suffer, but I have no idea what to do.

It will only eat krill & silversides, so a food treatment is out of the question.

He mostly sits against a rock pointing uphill or floating at the top.
He does not look bloated, but I can't exactly grab ahold of him either as I do not want to find out what a sting feels like.

 

[NexDog]

How's it going? My Angel seems to be getting steadily worse. Wish I could just find some treatment for it.....

 

[Lonnie]

Unfortunately he did not make it. I just wish I knew the cause.

 

[NexDog]

Sorry for your loss. I have some medicne on order from MarineDepot for my Angel. Hope it gets here in time because it's getting worse by the day.

 

[sl-atl]

Lonnie, sorry to hear he didn't make it. Did you happen to do a necropsy? (Maybe a little touchy with a lionfish, but...) It would be very interesting to know if he actually did have a swim bladder infection. I'd guess that if it were bacterial the lesions would be readily visible on such a large organ. You could also freeze the tissue so that if any of your other fish developed the same symptoms, you could get a strain specific antibiotic from a vet. From what I know, fish are kind of like people in that antibiotics are most effective when you can identify the bugs you need to kill.

Laurence, good luck! It probably goes without saying that you should isolate your Angel before you treat it. Here is a really interesting article on hyposalinity therapy.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish/view?searchterm=fish disease treatment
I will probably try this the next time one of my fish develops a disease I can't diagnose, since strengthening their immune system can only help. Good luck!!!