Purple Tang swimming head up

[quesomuchacho]

Hello there,

Can anybody help me figure out what’s wrong with my purple tang? It’s been as social and hungry as always. It just swims with its head up at about 60 degrees. Itms been doing so for at least a week or two. I’ve seen it turn nose down to dive or pick at something. The faster it swims the more it levels out, but it usually cruises around head up. It occasionally likes to swim/play in the power head. - I don’t see anything on the fish. It does have a brown spot above each eye, but they’ve been there as long as I can remember - I’ve had it about a year.

Photo and vid for reference.

Thanks!

Queso

 

[fishguy242]

#fishmedic

 

[MnFish1]

It seems like a swim bladder issue - which can be due to infection, internal injury or other internal disease. Many people watch it - some treat in a separate tank -with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Some fish get this if there are chemical abnormalities in the water - are your parameters ok? Salinity? How long have you had the fish - any other symptoms?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

I agree, that is an under inflated swim bladder. If it has been like this for more than a short period, it is likely permanent. Fish can live like this, but they use more energy to stay up in the water column and then, if another fish pucks a fight with them, they can’t flee or fight back as well.

 

[quesomuchacho]

It seems like a swim bladder issue - which can be due to infection, internal injury or other internal disease. Many people watch it - some treat in a separate tank -with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Some fish get this if there are chemical abnormalities in the water - are your parameters ok? Salinity? How long have you had the fish - any other symptoms?

Nothing remarkable with the water p. Salinity = 1.026. Phosphates a little high @.12
Had him for about a year. All other fish and inverts doing well.

 

[quesomuchacho]

I agree, that is an under inflated swim bladder. If it has been like this for more than a short period, it is likely permanent. Fish can live like this, but they use more energy to stay up in the water column and then, if another fish pucks a fight with them, they can’t flee or fight back as well.

Yeah, its been at least a few weeks. My tank is pretty peaceful. Everybody gets a long well minus one territorial yellow damsel.

I see a lot of swim bladder articles googling, but most are referencing goldfish or koi. Are the mechanisms/treatments of swim bladder issues the same in freshwater and saltwater fishes?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah, its been at least a few weeks. My tank is pretty peaceful. Everybody gets a long well minus one territorial yellow damsel.

I see a lot of swim bladder articles googling, but most are referencing goldfish or koi. Are the mechanisms/treatments of swim bladder issues the same in freshwater and saltwater fishes?

Most swim bladder issues are from OVER inflation. In this case it is the rarer under inflation.

Treatment options are limited. Any freshwater tonic or treatment that includes salt, will of course not work in marine fish. Some of these issues are caused by internal bacterial disease - those are tough to treat, but you could try oral antibiotics;

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods Jay Hemdal c. 2020 Oral medications are an excellent way to target internal diseases of fishes. Marine fish absorb aquarium water, so in certain cases, they “drink” enough medication from the water to effect a cure. However, freshwater fish actively export...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[quesomuchacho]

Most swim bladder issues are from OVER inflation. In this case it is the rarer under inflation.

Treatment options are limited. Any freshwater tonic or treatment that includes salt, will of course not work in marine fish. Some of these issues are caused by internal bacterial disease - those are tough to treat, but you could try oral antibiotics;

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods

Proper Dosing of Medicated Foods Jay Hemdal c. 2020 Oral medications are an excellent way to target internal diseases of fishes. Marine fish absorb aquarium water, so in certain cases, they “drink” enough medication from the water to effect a cure. However, freshwater fish actively export...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Man is that a great article. The fish weight table is amazing. I’ve got some rally pro onhand, but unless you think it’ll drink enough of it I’m going to have to order. Would you suggest oxytetracycline in this case? I remember seeing Aeromonas as a potential swim bladder infection cause somewhere.

I assume QT and not try to pretreat the other fishes. If it is bacterial, is it contagious or more opportunistic?