Help! Quick!

[raisingtwo2006]

hey all, got up this morning and my copperband is not swimming anymore.. He was eating brine shrimp yesterday and everything was fine.. He's the only one that is having problems..

He picks at rocks all day, can't get him to eat anything other than the live brine though.. Now, he's in his own tank so I can try to save him.. He's swimming with his nose up and he keeps bobbing out of the water..

HELP ME!
I don't have any more live brine.. Should I run get some??

 

[xyzpdq0121]

Ya sounds all most like swim blatter problem to me too... Epsom salts is the quick cure but I will have to look up how much. Do you have a hospital tank you can use?

 

[raisingtwo2006]

yeah.. it's only a 10 gal though
I have epson salt!!

 

[raisingtwo2006]

now he's laying on the bottom of the tank.. completely flat


Still breathing heavy...

 

[xyzpdq0121]

You can try about 1/8th a tsp to 5 gal of saltwater in a hospital tank. If that does not work, you can try some medications but swim bladder problems can be cause by a whole host of things so fighting what ails him could be a trial and error type of thing.

Also Raising and lowering the water level in a hospital tank could help with the pressure exerted upon the fish. Move him to a hopital tank and lower the level 1/4 of volume per hour for 2 hours and then raise it the same way. Try this for a day recycling the water for the changes.

 

[jade76]

best of wishes...I hope he pulls thru...please keep us posted.

 

[cameron]

Hope you get him fixed up... cooling the water slightly and slowly in the QT tank can help as well. Cooler water is higher in oxygen and slows the metabolism so they likely need less as well.