FISH STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

RE: FISH STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

Arlo Guthrie — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 15:47:40 GMT

and here is another reply from over there, this time from one of our exotics gurus:

This suggests a shift caudal in the centre of gravity with an overall reduction in buoyancy.

This can be due to a caudal coelomic increase in weight (neoplasia [usually ovarian/renal], cyst, ascites, mycobacterial granulomas, stone FB, dramatic increase in water pressure or reduction in solutes) and/or concurrent reduction in swim bladder filling (above causes compressing caudal swim bladder preventing gas fill, bacterial/fungal swim bladder infection, mass or disruption to swim bladder filling mechanism).

You can offer a pea to feed (rumoured to help equalise swim bladder pressure when filling is off and large item is swallowed, does occasionally help!) but be prepared to follow up with imaging-rads to assess swim bladder, ultrasound for soft tissues to try and determine cause. Most owners are reluctant to GA for imaging and aspirates and a treatment trial of antibiotic baths to cover bacterial causes may be the only option accepted.

RE: FISH STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

Caro Laithwaite VN — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 19:50:36 GMT

Problems with my fish l head to the local aquarium shop l use Maidenhead aquatics. Other weekend after an exchange of pvt messages l nipped in grabbed their book on fish parasites and did a skin scape confirmed what they said gill fluke. I only lost 1 fish and excellent help and advice and returned the book they lent me

RE: FISH STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

Alison Clare Hickman — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 17:53:33 GMT

Here's one vet surgeon response...

I do hope I'm wrong, but I think you may be struggling with this one. Fish have never been mentioned in any of the exotics lectures I've been to, and the aquaculture people only seem interested in large scale commercial fish production, so are unable to diagnose without a post-mortem

...

oh dear...

RE: FISH STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

Alison Clare Hickman — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 17:23:54 GMT

Agree with PSA David. Have posted your question on vetsurgeon.org to see if any other suggestions arise and will repost answers here FYI- however as David points out - the patient needs to see a specialist vet asap...

Ali h

RE: FISH STRUGGLING TO STAY AFLOAT

PSA-David — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 15:50:39 GMT

sound like a swim bladder. if you require an expert i would suggest talking to the owner of vetark products.

fish that sink to the bottom of the tank often suffer from disorders in the swim bladder, where digestive gases are exchanged. Swim bladder malfunctions affect buoyancy. ... If buoyancy issues continue for a period of time, the fish is unable to feed or reach surface water