OneMom

Hi Again:

We've been treating Angel for finrot and it seems to have really improved. However, in the last three days she is having trouble staying afloat. If she stops swimming, her body begins to sink to the bottom. Even when she goes up to one of the tall plants that she likes to sleep on, she can't really stay upright. She drifts over onto her side & lays there on the leaf. It's hard to explain...it's almost like she has a large weight attached to her. When she sees us she still swims over to us, but we can see that she is struggling to keep from drifting down to the bottom. We haven't let her see us checking on her much, the struggle to swim to us & stay upright tires her out to the point that she finally drifts to the bottom and lays there for a while. My kids have started crying after watching this.

She's still eating. Yesterday I only gave her a pea treat, just in case it's constipation. We also started dosing her with Maracyn yesterday, hoping it will help. I just have a feeling that she needs some other type of medication. We've never seen this type of symptom from her. I have to say, this seems really serious.

Phloxface

This is exactly what happened to my Phlox and he died a few days later.* * Keep up with the pea treats and no other food. Treat with both Maracyn and Maracyn-Two just to cover all bases as they both attack different types of bacteria.
Unfortunately I don't know exactly what is wrong except that whatever it is, is damaging her swim bladder. She may soon be too weak to dart to the surface for air. If you can, buy one of those breeding nets that hang inside the tank and put her in there. This will keep her near the surface so she doesn't use up all her strength swimming up. Until then remove any ornament or anything she could get tangled in while struggling to get to the surface. Lower the water level or put her in a smaller hospital tank. This is very important as my Phlox actually DROWNED in front of my eyes because he became too weak to get to the surface. I don't know whether the antibiotics would have helped him because he drowned before they had a chance to help him. I am going through the same thing now with my other fish Lava who is floating instead of sinking and cannot swim to the bottom. It's easier for him because he is always at the surface and can get air.
I'm so sorry you are going through this. I know exactly how helpless you feel. I am still heartbroken over losing Phlox.

Timesdragonfly

Phoxface gave some very good advice. I would just add, that I would feed pea for another meal just to make sure. constipating can effect the swim bladder. I'm very sorry that you are going through this. keep us posted.

COBettaCouple

How do the scales on her sides look?

OneMom

The scales on her side look normal. However, my husband think her gills look somewhat swollen. It's hard for me to tell...I guess I haven't examined their size that closely previous to this problem.

COBettaCouple

It does sound like constipation, hopefully it will soon clear up with the 1/2 minced pea per feeding.