NT Labs Swimbladder treatment - warning

[mezrie]

Good (or not so good in my case) morning all,

I had a poorly red flame tetra, there was something wrong with his swim bladder. Ignoring my instincts, I treated the tank with NT Labs Swimbladder treatment yesterday and this morning 7 out of 10 of my wonderful fish had died. I feel awful. It was very traumatic to find them all dead, and extremely upsetting. I re read the dosing instructions a dozen times to make sure if wasn't a stupid mistake I had made with that and it appears I followed the instructions OK.

Please do not use this product.

Mez

 

[Lajos_Detari]

How big is your Red Flame?
I guess it could be too strong for small fish.
Anyway, best to avoid it in future.

 

[mezrie]

How big is your Red Flame?
I guess it could be too strong for small fish.
Anyway, best to avoid it in future.

He was as big as my Harlequin Rasbora was who also passed away. The others who died were my 5 neon tetra. I shall never add any treatments like this to my tanks again. If the treatment is unfit for any fish there should be a warning within the product information and instructions.

 

[Colin_T]

You probably overdosed the tank.

Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[Colin_T]

If you think your fish has a swim bladder problem, see if the following applies.

Does the fish float up to the surface when it stops swimming?
If it does, stop feeding dry food for a week and offer frozen (but defrosted) or live food instead. If the problem improves, then the fish has air in its intestine and you need to reduce dry food in its diet.
If it doesn't improve, then it's a swim bladder problem.

Does the fish sink to the bottom when it stops swimming?
This is a swim bladder problem.

Most bottom dwelling fish (including catfish) don't have a swim bladder.

Finally, there is no cure or medication for swim bladder problems. However, true swim bladder problems are uncommon in fish so most people will never see it in their aquarium.

 

[mezrie]

You probably overdosed the tank.

Before you treat the tank, do the following things.
Work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these so you get a more accurate water volume.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.
You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. The water change and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using salt or medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Hi,

I did all this and checked the instructions a dozen times.

Thanks for the advise though.

M x

 

[mezrie]

If you think your fish has a swim bladder problem, see if the following applies.

Does the fish float up to the surface when it stops swimming?
If it does, stop feeding dry food for a week and offer frozen (but defrosted) or live food instead. If the problem improves, then the fish has air in its intestine and you need to reduce dry food in its diet.
If it doesn't improve, then it's a swim bladder problem.

Does the fish sink to the bottom when it stops swimming?
This is a swim bladder problem.

Most bottom dwelling fish (including catfish) don't have a swim bladder.

Finally, there is no cure or medication for swim bladder problems. However, true swim bladder problems are uncommon in fish so most people will never see it in their aquarium.

Hi,

Thank you for the advice, however my fish died so now I haven't got a swim bladder problem.

Thanks,
M x

 

[mezrie]

Hi,

Thank you for the advice, however my fish died so now I haven't got a swim bladder problem.

Thanks,
M x

Sorry if i was a bit blunt, i'm just a bit upset at the moment. I appreciate your help.

Can anyone suggest how I now go about making my aquarium a safe space again? I did a 70% water change this morning. Shall i do any more today or wait until tomorrow? How regularly should I do it?

Thank you,
M x

 

[Byron]

Sorry if i was a bit blunt, i'm just a bit upset at the moment. I appreciate your help.

Can anyone suggest how I now go about making my aquarium a safe space again? I did a 70% water change this morning. Shall i do any more today or wait until tomorrow? How regularly should I do it?

Thank you,
M x

You want to remove as much of the "treatment" as possible, so a large partial water change over several days are advisable. Vacuum into the substrate well (to remove any residue down there), clean the filter media for same reason.

I've no idea what is in that medication, but I will just say that I absolutely never use these preparations unless I am confident it is the safest and most effective for the problem...and that is not always easy to discern. I too learned this at the loss of fish. I came to know an online microbiologist on another forum and I used to consult her when something occurred, and her advice was always to ignore any so-called general cures, and if in doubt as to the actual problem, leave it alone. Better to lose a fish than kill off the entire tank. I had previously nearly done that with Melafix and or Primafix...not worth it.

 

[mezrie]

You want to remove as much of the "treatment" as possible, so a large partial water change over several days are advisable. Vacuum into the substrate well (to remove any residue down there), clean the filter media for same reason.

I've no idea what is in that medication, but I will just say that I absolutely never use these preparations unless I am confident it is the safest and most effective for the problem...and that is not always easy to discern. I too learned this at the loss of fish. I came to know an online microbiologist on another forum and I used to consult her when something occurred, and her advice was always to ignore any so-called general cures, and if in doubt as to the actual problem, leave it alone. Better to lose a fish than kill off the entire tank. I had previously nearly done that with Melafix and or Primafix...not worth it.

Thank you for your advise Byron, is it advisable to wait until tomorrow before I do another water change then? You are completely right when you say it is better to lose one fish than risk the entire tank, I feel awful. Should have known better. I will just have to put it down to experience and hope i learn from it.

I shall never used another treatment like this on my tank again, I should have trusted my instincts. This is the worst trauma I have had with fish keeping over the past 15 years, so upsetting and to think it was my hand that caused it. Never again.

Thanks again,
M x

 

[Byron]

Thank you for your advise Byron, is it advisable to wait until tomorrow before I do another water change then? You are completely right when you say it is better to lose one fish than risk the entire tank, I feel awful. Should have known better. I will just have to put it down to experience and hope i learn from it.

I shall never used another treatment like this on my tank again, I should have trusted my instincts. This is the worst trauma I have had with fish keeping over the past 15 years, so upsetting and to think it was my hand that caused it. Never again.

Thanks again,
M x

We all learn, you re not alone. Re the water changes, provided the parameters (GH, pH and temperature) are reasonably the same between tank water and tap, water changes cannot hurt. A second today would be fine, then another tomorrow, and maybe the day after that. Use a good conditioner but nothing else.

 

[mezrie]

We all learn, you re not alone. Re the water changes, provided the parameters (GH, pH and temperature) are reasonably the same between tank water and tap, water changes cannot hurt. A second today would be fine, then another tomorrow, and maybe the day after that. Use a good conditioner but nothing else.

Thank you so much for this advice, I'm very grateful.

M x

 

[DoubleDutch]

Isn't the point that Swimbladder is just a condition (not a specific disease) that can be caused by several diseases / infections?
Isn't that the reason that there isn't a real treatment / medication (though aquabrands tell us there is)?