Swim Bladder Disease help?

[c4talys7]

Recently, like the couple weeks my fish has been staying on top of the later and can't seem to swim down to the bottom of his tank, or even try. He also just floats back up without actually swimming. From what I've learned so far, this is SBD? I don't know how to go about treating this though.

He has not eaten for the pasted three weeks. I just bought some smaller pellets in case his other food was too big and am soaking them in garlic. He swims away from his food if anything.

For the past ~2 weeks I have been treating his Fin Rot with Aquarium Salt and everyday 100% water changes, it does not seem to be getting worse. He has become very thing though and his color is starting to fade. He just won't eat anything and he floats on the surface all day. He can't even swim right.

I am using AquaSafe (By that Tetra brand) on my 2.5gal tank, it is heated to about 72-74. I currently cannot afford a better heater that is not preset. His tank is not filtered and he has one of my old ceramic mugs in there as a cave which he liked before not floating to the top (could this be making him sick?).

I was thinking about trying the API Stress Coat to see if that would help promote healing, unless advised otherwise. I use 1/2 teaspoon aquarium salt for every half gallon because of the fin rot. I wasn't sure when I should stop treating and if I should just use a regular amount or not. Is it compatible with the API Stress Coat if I were to use it? I was using Melafix but was advised against it and just used the salt.

Help?

Let me know if you need more info please.

[Oldfishlady]

Poor fella....he may be floating because he is weak....true these guy can go awhile without food...but that is geared more toward a healthy fish to start....when they refuse food....that is a tough one.....have you tried live foods or frozen foods....you really need to get him to eat-3 weeks is not good in his compromised condition...(I am sure you know that).....do you have mosquito in Hawaii...if so, I would go mosquito larva hunting....
Without good nutrition it will be hard for him to heal

I would change the aquarium salt to Epsom salt 1tsp/gal with 100% water changes for 2 days and then increase the Epsom salt 2tsp/gal with 100% water changes for 8 days
I would QT him in something smaller and float it in the heated tank-you need to try and get the water temp to at least 76F-if the heater is the submerged type lay it on its side in his tank and decrease the amount of water so the QT will sit in the water but not over flow-wrap a towel around the tank to try and retain some of the heat

If you have any tannins from dried oak leaf, indian almond leaf, blackwater extract or even decaf green tea-get a 1gal jug and add one of these, the Epsom salt and dechlorinater if you normally use it and shake well before use and use this pre-mixed treatment water for your water changes-the longer it sit the more tannins will be released and this is what you want.

Cover the QT with plastic veggie wrap (poke one small hole) so the air above the water will be warm and humid for his labyrinth organ and cover the top of the main tank too with a towel or something- that you have the Qt container and heater in to help retain the heat....make sense....hard to explain...lol....

Find some live food and try and get him to eat...unless he start to eat soon the outcome is sadly grim.....

Good luck and keep us posted....

[c4talys7]

I have some decaf green tea, should I just add the whole 1 gal jug to his tank and then fill the rest with water (both of these treated with dechlorinater and salt)? I am going to look for like or at least frozen at my local Petco today. I am back in Oregon now and leave in a little more than a week to go back to Hawaii.

Thank you for your help, I'll post if there is any significant change.

[Oldfishlady]

It works best if you mix up a 1gal jug of dechlorinated water-add the decaf tea bag (or other tannins of choice) and salt-let it steep for an hour (the longer it steeps the more tannins are released/the darker the water)

Use a small QT container-half gallon or less-(the small temporary containers that a lot of Bettas sold in work great for this)-you can float and attach to the inside of a heated tank to maintain water temp or lower the level of the main heated tank so the QT container sits in it without over flowing or water from the main tank getting into the QT and dilute the QT treatment water

Use the pre-mixed treatment water for the daily water changes-this help to make correct dosage and water changes easier

Depending on the QT container water volume the 1gal jug of treatment water may last for several days worth of water changes and this also allows the tannins to steep longer so each day they get higher amount of tannins and it also allows the salt to dissolve easier and stay dissolved.