SierraDelta
New Member
Help! One of my pearl gouramis developed a problem swimming about a week ago that progressed rapidly and has not improved. I suspect some sort of swim bladder problem, but I'm not sure how treat it.
Symptoms:
The first symptoms I noticed was that the pearl gourmi was listing a bit to the side when she swam, but she didn't seem to have any other problems. Within a day, the problem worsened and she began developing serious problems swimming quickly. When she tried, she would start corkscrewing around in the tank, somtimes swimming upside-down. At this point, I moved her to a 10-gallon quarantine tank.
In the quarantine tank, she exhibited the same behaviors, but in a day or two she got to the point where she seemed unable to maintain equilibrium at all. Every time she tried to swim, she started sommersaulting, spinning around, etc. Exhuasted, she started spending most of her time at the bottom of the tank on her side. Since being moved to the Q-tank, she has refused food (even ignoring some blanched, shredded peas right next to her) and I haven't seen her defecate at all, either. There are no physical signs of trauma or disease.
Now, she spends virtually all of her time on her side at the bottom of the tank, but she will sometimes try to swim (with very distressing -- for both her and me -- results).
Should I try treating with an antibacterial medication? I'm at a loss about what to do for her!
Symptoms:
The first symptoms I noticed was that the pearl gourmi was listing a bit to the side when she swam, but she didn't seem to have any other problems. Within a day, the problem worsened and she began developing serious problems swimming quickly. When she tried, she would start corkscrewing around in the tank, somtimes swimming upside-down. At this point, I moved her to a 10-gallon quarantine tank.
In the quarantine tank, she exhibited the same behaviors, but in a day or two she got to the point where she seemed unable to maintain equilibrium at all. Every time she tried to swim, she started sommersaulting, spinning around, etc. Exhuasted, she started spending most of her time at the bottom of the tank on her side. Since being moved to the Q-tank, she has refused food (even ignoring some blanched, shredded peas right next to her) and I haven't seen her defecate at all, either. There are no physical signs of trauma or disease.
Now, she spends virtually all of her time on her side at the bottom of the tank, but she will sometimes try to swim (with very distressing -- for both her and me -- results).
Should I try treating with an antibacterial medication? I'm at a loss about what to do for her!
