Does my Clown have Swim Bladder Issues?

Shy519 · May 18, 2019

My male ocellaris has noticeably been laying down in beds of algae (I currently have an algae issue). He will come out and swim about but he uses his pectoral fins more than he used to. He eats and does his little dance with his lady and just seems fine other than not being able to swim well. We have a Saddleback clown in another tank who is believed to also have a swim bladder issue. What causes this? The ocellaris was fine until about two days ago. Is there something that fixes it or prevents it?

Mjrenz · May 18, 2019

I think we need the experts on this one, @ngoodermuth @HotRocks @4FordFamily.
We may want to have this moved to the fish disease and treatment forum also #mods

4FordFamily · May 18, 2019

A fish with a swimbladder issue will struggle to stay in the lower water column. It makes them overly buoyant, typically. A fish with this issue wouldn’t be able to “lay” on anything, as a result. It would keep floating to the top.

Any other symptoms? Perhaps it’s just trying to host the algae, as odd as that may sound? A video of the behavior may help.

Shy519 · May 19, 2019

4FordFamily said:
A fish with a swimbladder issue will struggle to stay in the lower water column. It makes them overly buoyant, typically. A fish with this issue wouldn’t be able to “lay” on anything, as a result. It would keep floating to the top.
Any other symptoms? Perhaps it’s just trying to host the algae, as odd as that may sound? A video of the behavior may help.

Unfortunately there is no anemone in this tank yet. He does a "flying" motion with his fins as if he were a bird and would rather do that than use his tail. He does this and becomes exhausted easily and tends to lay down in algae to rest. Usually when he's resting he falls on his side as if he were dead.