My cory can't swim anywhere in the tank without doing a barrel roll so I think he has a SBD. What is the suggested course of treatment? I heard to try and give him a slightly cooked pea as that will help with any constipation he might have. One of my danios looked like she may have been pregnant but her erratic behavior today caused me to isolate her fearing it may be dropsy. Could a bacterial infection from the danio possibly infected the cory and given him the disorder? Should I quarintine the cory? I know the SBD itself is not contagious but whatever gave it to him may, although it looks like much of SBDs are attributed to either defects or diet/constipation? Any suggestions?
Cory with swim bladder disorder
- Thread starter push350z
- Start date
what are your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)?
In my experience (I've had 2 fish with swimbladder problems), these are caused by poor water quality, thus weakening the fish's immune system so that bacterial infections can occur, wihch can lead to swimbladder disorders. I used to be bad about water changes (50% every month) and there was black hair algae everywhere. the presence of so much algae was an indication of high nitrates. High nitrates are an indication of poor water quality, the best remedy for which is water changes.
Now I change my water 50% twice a week and haven't had any problems since.
The fact that some of your other fish are also ailing also clues me that you might need to do more tank cleaning. How big is your tank, what are its inhabitants, and what is your current water changing schedule (how often, and how much water)?
In my experience (I've had 2 fish with swimbladder problems), these are caused by poor water quality, thus weakening the fish's immune system so that bacterial infections can occur, wihch can lead to swimbladder disorders. I used to be bad about water changes (50% every month) and there was black hair algae everywhere. the presence of so much algae was an indication of high nitrates. High nitrates are an indication of poor water quality, the best remedy for which is water changes.
Now I change my water 50% twice a week and haven't had any problems since.
The fact that some of your other fish are also ailing also clues me that you might need to do more tank cleaning. How big is your tank, what are its inhabitants, and what is your current water changing schedule (how often, and how much water)?
Last edited:
Parameters are:
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrIte: 0 ppm
nitrAte: 10 ppm
using PFS substrate @ 1.5-2.5 inches deep
The danio very well may be pregnant but because the tank was so big and they like to move around so much it was hard to check to see if there was any scale raising to indicitate dropsy. She could just be pregnant and ready to lay her eggs since she has slowly gotten bigger over a period of 2 weeks, and I read that it takes about 4 weeks for a danio to lay the eggs, I will more closely observe her tonight and look for popped up scales since she is in a smaller tank and more easily observable. I don't think water quality could be a major concern because my tank is about a week old added bio-spira in the initial break in stage to speed up the cycle.
I've done periodic 15% water changes throughout the week, and today I performed a 25% water change since I changed out my gravel substrate for PFS and I want to make sure I get out all the small sand particles that may stay suspended in the water and the filters can't catch. 46 gallon tank.
New development: went to go isolate the cory and noticed it was scavenging and swimming along the bottom fine, with 0 spinning or odd behavior. I wonder if the little guy just had a case of gas lol He's hovering around the bottom now like nothing ever happened. I will continue to observe him closely every half hour or so and check on his condition.
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrIte: 0 ppm
nitrAte: 10 ppm
using PFS substrate @ 1.5-2.5 inches deep
The danio very well may be pregnant but because the tank was so big and they like to move around so much it was hard to check to see if there was any scale raising to indicitate dropsy. She could just be pregnant and ready to lay her eggs since she has slowly gotten bigger over a period of 2 weeks, and I read that it takes about 4 weeks for a danio to lay the eggs, I will more closely observe her tonight and look for popped up scales since she is in a smaller tank and more easily observable. I don't think water quality could be a major concern because my tank is about a week old added bio-spira in the initial break in stage to speed up the cycle.
I've done periodic 15% water changes throughout the week, and today I performed a 25% water change since I changed out my gravel substrate for PFS and I want to make sure I get out all the small sand particles that may stay suspended in the water and the filters can't catch. 46 gallon tank.
New development: went to go isolate the cory and noticed it was scavenging and swimming along the bottom fine, with 0 spinning or odd behavior. I wonder if the little guy just had a case of gas lol He's hovering around the bottom now like nothing ever happened. I will continue to observe him closely every half hour or so and check on his condition.
Last edited:
Ok my cory once again is doing his spins and I took a close look at him today and some pics I'm afraid it's not looking good 
It's weird though because he was swimming around fine for about 16 hours before he started spinning again.
Here's what looks like some fluid build up inside of him while he was laying on his side:
I took some shots of his gills because I thought they looked a little red. Ammonia and nitrite are both at 0 ppm and nitrate at 10 ppm. Did a 30% water change to help with any other potential water quality problems to see if it helps.
Anyone have any ideas?
It's weird though because he was swimming around fine for about 16 hours before he started spinning again. Here's what looks like some fluid build up inside of him while he was laying on his side:
I took some shots of his gills because I thought they looked a little red. Ammonia and nitrite are both at 0 ppm and nitrate at 10 ppm. Did a 30% water change to help with any other potential water quality problems to see if it helps.
Anyone have any ideas?
My initial guess with those red gills would be ammonia or nitrite poisoning...however since you say both are 0 (what type of water testing kit do you use? Strip testing is notorious for being inaccurate) you should look into other water quality issues. How often do you change your water, do you gravel vac? Do you add any type of chemicals other then de-chlorinator to your water? Any signs of rapid breathing, clamped fins or general lethargy? It looks like an infection affecting not just the swim bladder but also the kidneys, which could explain the fluid you see. If it was my choice I would think about treating the whole tank with Melafix, but that is just my guess. I hope someone else may have an alternative opinion to give you more options. Hope it gets better.
I ended up losing the little guy, he got stuck onto the filter again and it actually pulled off some of his skin so I euthanized him because he looked to be in a lot of pain. I have no idea what to do now, it seems anything that goes into this tank kicks off. Water quality is fine, only other thing I could think of is some sort of bacteria or parasite in the water, but my 2 danios that are left look fine, although one of them seems to be losing a little color on his stripes, but that could also be because I haven't really fed them in the past day to rule out some ideas I had for sicknesses. I don't know what to do, it really disheartens me that I've sent all these fish to their death. My tank has now aquired the name the tank of death from my family :-/
He was breathing really rapidly up until the time I put him down. I've been doing 25-30% water changes daily in an effort to help with water quality if that indeed was the problem. I haven't gravel vac'd yet as the tank is a week old and I haevn't fed much since there haven't been many fish in the tank and I just did a substrate change.
He was breathing really rapidly up until the time I put him down. I've been doing 25-30% water changes daily in an effort to help with water quality if that indeed was the problem. I haven't gravel vac'd yet as the tank is a week old and I haevn't fed much since there haven't been many fish in the tank and I just did a substrate change.
Last edited:
