I think my corydoras have swim bladder disease.

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank? 20gallon
How long has the tank been running? 2 months
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What is the water temperature? 77
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
Betta
4 three striped cory
1 gold zebra loach
5 neon tetras
Maintenance
How often do you change the water? Trying to do once a week (usually once 3-4 week)
How much of the water do you change? 50
What do you use to treat your water? Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
Vacuum
*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? No fishin
What do you use to test the water? Api master test kit
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
pH: 7.6

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? Betta and neon - every other day, corydoras - every third day
How much do you feed your fish? Betta neon - until they don't seem to be interested, corydoras - one wafer
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Hikari
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods?
Frozen bloodworms once a month
Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? 2 weeks
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? Today
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? Maybe have swim bladder
Have you started any treatment for the illness? No, started researching
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? Maybe

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now) One of the new corydora I got is floating. He's alive and good but he keeps floating. I think thats swim bladder disease. The tail is up but the barbells are down on the gravel.

My questions
Does it look like it have swim bladder disease?
If so, should I quarantine it?
What should I do?

Thanks!

Can i put it in the breeder box in the same tank? Or is quarantine tank recommended?

 

That looks like swim bladder to me, one of my old Cory catfish had it

 

He looks okay to me. Cories are funny little guys. Kind of just do what they want. If he's floating at the surface, that's one thing. If he's just being a weirdo on the ground, then that's probably typical cory behavior. Keep an eye on him, though.

 

In my last post ( or my last last post) I made a thread that my corydoras might have swim bladder issue. The people in my other post said that it might be okay, because they can be goofy. However, this has continued for days and I now I think it's swim bladder. Since my last post was about asking if he has it or not. I just want to get ahead, just in case if he has swim bladder. This post is different and I want to ask a few questions:

Do swim bladder disease infect to other fish?
Should I quarantine?
Any tips/advice for fixing it?
Should I let him be?

 

My question with regards to the other thread is whether this is happening while it is swimming, or only while resting? And if it is head-up while resting, is it having any problems staying head-down while foraging for food?

Some corys while resting will elevate themselves and balance up on the tips of their pelvic fins, often causing them to assume a nose-up posture. They will also rest against things (the glass, a plant or decoration, etc) with their head more elevated.

I haven't ever had a cory with a swim bladder issue, but I have had a platy with it. She could not orient horizontally unless she was swimming forward; when she stopped swimming she went tail-up, to the point of being completely vertical at times. She also could not rest on the bottom, she had to station herself under something just to be able to stay down.

It didn't spread to any other fish, but unfortunately I wasn't able to do anything that really helped her long-term. It would come and go with her for a few months, and then over time it became a constant issue. She eventually stopped eating and that was it.

 

Issues with the swim bladder can occur for a multitude of reasons- constipation, parasites, egg binding, other organ issues, birth defect- there is no way to tell what causes it. For treatment you can move it to a hospital tank and raise the temp lightly to 78 and fast for 3 days only feeding skinned boiled peas. This helps if the issue is digestive. It can also help to add a small amount of aquarium salt to the water- you will have to look up the amount because I haven't had to do that. If he is having stringy white poop you may have to treat for parasites. If it isn't either of those then there may not be anything you can do to for him.

 

Issues with the swim bladder can occur for a multitude of reasons- constipation, parasites, egg binding, other organ issues, birth defect- there is no way to tell what causes it. For treatment you can move it to a hospital tank and raise the temp lightly to 78 and fast for 3 days only feeding skinned boiled peas. This helps if the issue is digestive. It can also help to add a small amount of aquarium salt to the water- you will have to look up the amount because I haven't had to do that. If he is having stringy white poop you may have to treat for parasites. If it isn't either of those then there may not be anything you can do to for him.

Epsom salt. Regular aquarium salt won't help for something internal, it's only going to help for external infection/parasites. Epsom (magnesium sulfate) is a natural laxative; better if you can get them to eat it (by mixing with food), but if not it may still help if added to the water.

 

In fact there isn't a "swimbladder disease". There are several possible causes of swimbladder issues.
Also almost any unbalance of fish is given the "swimbladder-sign". There are several other issues causing an unbalance though.

Conclusion : There isn't way to tell what treatment will help. Also, IF i remember correctly, the fish in question showed reddish spots. That could point towards a bacterial issue.

I'd seperate and do frequent waterchanges first and see what happens.
Stick to one thread

 

My question with regards to the other thread is whether this is happening while it is swimming, or only while resting? And if it is head-up while resting, is it having any problems staying head-down while foraging for food?

Some corys while resting will elevate themselves and balance up on the tips of their pelvic fins, often causing them to assume a nose-up posture. They will also rest against things (the glass, a plant or decoration, etc) with their head more elevated.

I haven't ever had a cory with a swim bladder issue, but I have had a platy with it. She could not orient horizontally unless she was swimming forward; when she stopped swimming she went tail-up, to the point of being completely vertical at times. She also could not rest on the bottom, she had to station herself under something just to be able to stay down.

It didn't spread to any other fish, but unfortunately I wasn't able to do anything that really helped her long-term. It would come and go with her for a few months, and then over time it became a constant issue. She eventually stopped eating and that was it.

He can't really rest. When he stops swimming, he floats. I put him in the breeder box for now.

One of my corydoras has swim bladder disease. I read that if I feed then peas, it'll speed up the cure. I was wondering if this is the right way to feed it.

1. Take out the frozen pea
2. Put it on a plate
3. Put some water on the plate
4. Microwave for 15 to 20 second
5. Take out the shell
6. Wait until it cools down
7. Cut it into pieces, so it's easy for them to eat.

Some questions:
Does the water I put on the plate need to be dechlorined?
Can I feed it to my other fish? (betta, neon tetras, corydoras)

 

I would use tank water. Any fish can eat it although some may not. It is just a way to cure constipation. If the fish is constipated this can help, but usually you remove the fish to a quarantine tank and fast it at the same time.

 

I just use tap water. I thaw frozen foods in tap, I blanch foods in tap, and I've poured small amounts of chlorinated tap into tanks before. It won't hurt anything.

It won't hurt your other fish - I've never had too much luck in getting most fish to eat many peas, but some people swear by it.

I usually treat constipation with fasting (the entire tank, I don't usually isolate for this particular issue) and sometimes I'll use Repashy Soilent Green for all of it's veggie content. They seem to eat that better than just blanched vegetables, IME. I'll do epsom salt baths for the affected fish if the situation doesn't improve, but that's a last resort, and most of the fish that get to that point don't make it, IME.

SBD can be caused constipation, but I don't find cories to be too prone to it, so while I would definitely give it a try, I wouldn't get my hopes up, unfortunately.

 

I would use tank water. Any fish can eat it although some may not. It is just a way to cure constipation. If the fish is constipated this can help, but usually you remove the fish to a quarantine tank and fast it at the same time.

I'm putting him in the breeder box inside the main tank. Should I still move him to the quarantine tank? Also, i didnt feed him for 2 or 3 days.

 

You can put the frozen pea direct into the microwave for 10 seconds, then squeeze it out of the shell.
I am not a big fan of peas, can you try some frozen daphnia? It works more as a laxative.

 

I don't have daphnia. I only have peas, pellets, and bloodworms.

 

My fish love frozen Daphnia, and more fish will eat it than peas. I have also heard some fish do not digest peas very well too. I would try to get some in the future.