Swim bladder issue, fairy wrasse

bump3rb33tl3 · Jan 8, 2019

This thread is helpful. I took a wrasse from a friend who was at a loss as to what else to do for him. I suspect a swim bladder issue as he is a deep water fish, but he is also not eating. My friend has had him about 2 months so we know he has been eating something, just not enough so he is pretty weak.

I can't feed him a pea because he isnt eating, don't trust myself to puncture him with a needle. The hubby suggested epsom salt, but I believe thats a FW treatment. So for now, Im starting with a FW dip...but I dont expect this guy to make it. Any suggestions?

Humblefish · Jan 8, 2019

bump3rb33tl3 said:
This thread is helpful. I took a wrasse from a friend who was at a loss as to what else to do for him. I suspect a swim bladder issue as he is a deep water fish, but he is also not eating. My friend has had him about 2 months so we know he has been eating something, just not enough so he is pretty weak.

I can't feed him a pea because he isnt eating, don't trust myself to puncture him with a needle. The hubby suggested epsom salt, but I believe thats a FW treatment. So for now, Im starting with a FW dip...but I dont expect this guy to make it. Any suggestions?

Can you see a visible "bubble" near his swim bladder area?

bump3rb33tl3 · Jan 8, 2019

Humblefish said:
Can you see a visible "bubble" near his swim bladder area?

He is pretty skinny...so his whole belly area looks pronounced to me.

I did a short FW dip on him a few hours ago. I didn't want to cause him too much stress. I did notice some "floaters", but couldn't tell you if they came from the gills or not. The dip was about 1 minute long. When I put him back in the tank he seemed almost normal. Was swimming and even though he didn't eat, he did search the food. After about 10 minutes he was back to swimming awkward, lodging himself under ledges. When I last looked he had himself propped in a corner, nose down, breathing normal. I have a video from yesterday when I first brought him over after acclimating him, but sadly don't know how to upload it. Prior to moving to my tank, he had been in QT for 6-7 weeks. We were hoping my tank would offer him more foraging opportunities. He is the only fish in my tank currently. The swimming problems just started in the past 3 days.

....and I just realized I am high-jacking this thread. I'm so sorry!

Humblefish · Jan 8, 2019

Did the "floaters" in the FW dip water look anything like what you see below??

bump3rb33tl3 · Jan 9, 2019

Humblefish said:
Did the "floaters" in the FW dip water look anything like what you see below??

They were pretty small and had some color to them, but I also used a white bowl which probably made it harder to see.

I was gonna do another short dip on him today. Suprisingly (and thankfully) he is still alive, but has the death arch position. I wonder if it is possible to manually feed a wrasse?