SBD? Constipation? Parasite?

[ParisRose]

Alright. So after a very hectic saturday afternoon I came home and realized that Napoleon was hiding. When I looked in his cup he wasn't there and I got worried. I found him on his side looking dead behind the filter. He's in a 10 gallon tank all alone. No sharp objects Just silk flowers and a ceramic cup. Has a heater (refer to my post in Habitats) I unplugged everything and took out the filter. He's alive but on his side and is bloated. He has difficulty swimming and floats to the top. I put some aquarium salt and stress coat in. What else can I do. I don't know how this happened? I feed him 1 pellet a day.

[Oldfishlady]

Sorry you are having problems.....a few questions

In the 10g filtered heated tank-what is the water temp, how much and how often are the water changes and when was the last one, how much and what kind of additives used-how long have you had him in this set up and has he ever been sick or treated?

Can you post a pic?

[ParisRose]

The temp was 78-80 when I got home. I put 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt in. and about 10 drops of stress coat. I haven't had to do a water change yet. He's only been in this tank for almost a week. I planned on doing 1 gallon water changes once a week. I'm loading pics now.

[Oldfishlady]

It sounds like you may be cycling the tank with the fish...correct? if so you need to be doing at least twice weekly 50% water changes unless you have water testing products to monitor the levels

At this point I would QT him in a small container and start 100% daily water changes and Epsom salt 1tsp/gal (not aquarium salt) for 10 days-this is for his symptom of bloat and swimming problems-hold all food for now and cover the top of the QT container with plastic veggie wrap to help keep the air above the water warm and humid-maintain the water temp at 76-78F-you can float him in the 10g to maintain the heat but be sure and attach the container so it doesn't sink by accident.

[ParisRose]

There's a birds eye view.

This is the best shot of him on his side that I could get

[ParisRose]

I don't want to isolate him from his tank because he's the only one it it. The tank isn't cycled but I was told that since he is just one fish in such a big tank it wouldn't be a big problem. Can anyone offer any advice on how to do water changes and keep the temp steady? I don't have a bucket. I usually make all my water changes by a gallon ice cream bucket. Anything I should get for him? Aside from the water tested?