Swim Bladder?

[pahansen]

Hi. I posted here last night about the bizarre behavior of my African Butterfly Fish. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=87630

I didn't get any responses from this forum, but one person on the Oddballs forum suggested that it might be swim bladder. The thing is, this fish keeps moving from the top of the tank to resting in the plants. (I have yet to find him on the wood or the gravel.) I was under the impression that swim bladder problems caused fish to look like they were struggling to get to the surface of the water, but when I tried to remove the fish yesterday with a net (I thought he had died), he swam directly to the top and stayed there for a bit. It didn't look like he had any trouble in doing it.

Also, does swim bladder get progressively worse, or does the fish go through periods where the swim bladder is functioning correctly? Last night the ABF was at the top of the tank and eating. This morning I found him in two separate plants. This afternoon, he's back to acting normal at the top of the tank.

This really has me stumped. I know that swim bladder can be caused by a number of things, and I hate to medicate this fish if that's not the problem, especially if it's possible that he would need to undergo more than one type of treatment to fix the swim bladder (as a process of elimination). Also, it's hard to get a good read on the health of a fish whose entire evolutionary purpose is to play dead!

Any help? Please?
--Pamela

 

[WILDER]

Does the fish look bloated, and does he flip upside down, or tilt to one side and have trouble getting about.
http/www.mushi.petfish.net/swimbladder.html
http/bettas.fishjunkies.com/Disorders/sbd.php

 

[riogal_11]

In the last 2 months I have lost 2 fish to what I believe was swimbladder. They rested in plants, rested on the gravel, only going to the top for short periods of time. They only did this for a day before dying, so I suggest medicating asap. Goodluck

 

[rdd1952]

I was under the impression that swim bladder problems caused fish to look like they were struggling to get to the surface of the water, but when I tried to remove the fish yesterday with a net (I thought he had died), he swam directly to the top and stayed there for a bit. It didn't look like he had any trouble in doing it.

Actually, swim bladder can affect fish both ways. Some have trouble getting off the bottom to try to surface and others can't stay on the bottom and float to the surface. Have you tried feeding him a cooked, shelled pea? Swim bladder and constipation have very similar symptoms and most times it is actually constipation. I'm not very familiar at all with ABFs so I don't know how they act normally. If you can find a way to isolate him, either in a hospital tank or in a breeders net of box, you can do that and then feed him the pea. That way, you will know if he eats it or not. As I understand it, true swim bladder is very hard to cure so i would give the pea trick a try.