Swim bladder issue - how long before breaking out the syringe?

[Sierra_Bravo]

I bought a group of bimac anthias, two of which were exhibiting possible issues with their swim bladders - swimming nearly head down, extra effort to move towards the bottom. Despite this I decided to take a shot and purchase them at a discount since they weere feeding well and could get themselves to a horizontal position when they were eating.

I've had them for a week and they continue to eat well and interact with the rest of the group, but they still are in a head down position when not in motion. They are being treated with Prazi currently. I do not see any really noticeable bloating or swelling; if there is it's minimal.

I've read what I could (which is surprisingly little except for goldfish) and watched the video on venting a swim bladder. My question is how long would you recommend seeing if this rights itself on its own before trying to vent them?

 

[Old Fritz]

Do you have pictures or a video? that would help a lot. The problem is finding out what the primary cause is, it could be bacterial, parasitic, trauma, or food related. Prazi will treat for parasites so after a round of that if you don't see any improvement I would swap to bacterial treatment. If that doesn't work its either trauma, which can go away with time, or it could be food related in which the pea method may work. If the fish is still eating you shouldn't have to worry much. At my store we have a clownfish we decided not to sell because he grew on us. He has a swim bladder issue and constantly sits at the bottom of the tank unless someone drops in food. Right now he is way too small to do anything except feed him (his issue was caused by trauma, a kid reached into a tank and that will be that). Once he is bigger I don't know if we would risk using the syringe method, because there is always a chance something could go wrong. However if you are super worried then I wouldn't do it until you treat for parasites and bacteria.

The reason you see mostly videos for goldfish is because they are super prone to getting swim bladder disease, I personally think its because these guys like to gulp at the surface since most people feed them flakes (one of the reasons I hate flakes but this is anecdotal). But anyways I would try to let the meds do their job before trying to use a syringe.