Orbic Cardinalfish swimming weird, in a 45 degree angle

[IDLoco]

Hi, my Orbic Cardinalfish has started to swim in a weird way,

He´s having trouble staying afloat but looks to be in good spirit (he eats and swims for 3 minutes and rest for 2 minutes in the sand at the back of the tank)
I don´t know what might be happening to him, he´s been in the tank for more than a year already.

What could be happening to him?

 

[fishguy242]

@Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081

 

[dhnguyen]

swim bladder disease?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, my Orbic Cardinalfish has started to swim in a weird way,

He´s having trouble staying afloat but looks to be in good spirit (he eats and swims for 3 minutes and rest for 2 minutes in the sand at the back of the tank)
I don´t know what might be happening to him, he´s been in the tank for more than a year already.

What could be happening to him?

Yes, that fish is negatively buoyant, its swim bladder does not have enough gas in it to keep it floating in the water column. You can see that it sinks when it stops moving its fins. The fact that it is still feeding is a good sign, however, I don't know of any effective treatments. There are two possible causes - viral (no treatment possible) or bacterial (difficult to treat). One idea would be to move the fish to a treatment tank and dose with Erythromycin, also sold as Maracyn 1.

Jay

 

[IDLoco]

Ohh,
I will see if I can get Maracyn over here in Costa Rica.

I hope he holds until I can get it. getting Erythromycin for people might be hard, since they require a Dr recommendation to be purchased here.

Thanks Jay.