Swim bladder issue post shipping. Can U do anything?

[Slocke]

#fishmedic @Jay Hemdal
Should have posted earlier but I thought this fish was long past hope. However it is still going and so here goes.
On Tuesday I received a blue spot tamarin wrasse. It arrived upside down and looking mostly dead.

Still hoping it would recover I did a quick acclimation and put it in my sump. I didn't see it after adding and hoped it had buried itself. On Thursday morning i found this:

Again I thought it was dead so I moved it to the hospital tank where it sparked back to life. Thus has started the pattern of it appearing dead(or very close). Sparking to life for a few minutes and repeat every few hours.
Just now it was doing this:

- YouTube

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I believe it has severe swim bladder issues. Is there anything I can do or is it most ethical to stop the suffering?
Its eyes still appear alert and it kind of seems to try and eat but lacks the ability to get to the food. I have syringe fed it a corn syrup and frozen copepod mix.

 

[vetteguy53081]

#fishmedic @Jay Hemdal
Should have posted earlier but I thought this fish was long past hope. However it is still going and so here goes.
On Tuesday I received a blue spot tamarin wrasse. It arrived upside down and looking mostly dead.

Still hoping it would recover I did a quick acclimation and put it in my sump. I didn't see it after adding and hoped it had buried itself. On Thursday morning i found this:

Again I thought it was dead so I moved it to the hospital tank where it sparked back to life. Thus has started the pattern of it appearing dead(or very close). Sparking to life for a few minutes and repeat every few hours.
Just now it was doing this:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

I believe it has severe swim bladder issues. Is there anything I can do or is it most ethical to stop the suffering?
Its eyes still appear alert and it kind of seems tio try and eat but lacks the ability to get to the food. I have syringe fed it a corn syrup and frozen copepod mix.

This is very unfortunate to see and the fish appears to be moribund and swim bladder generally disqualifies fish from reaching the bottom of the system. This may be from crash injury based on scar on mouth or even a condition referred to as Unknown Neurological Wrasse disease (UNWD) which affects the ability for the fish to properly swim or swim in a tail down motion and will even make an attempt to eat feed but also there is no notable damage on the mouth or nose of fish and is often regarded as a crash injury which I mentioned but is actually UNWD.
There is not much of anything I can suggest to give it other than added oxygen to change this

 

[MnFish1]

#fishmedic @Jay Hemdal
Should have posted earlier but I thought this fish was long past hope. However it is still going and so here goes.
On Tuesday I received a blue spot tamarin wrasse. It arrived upside down and looking mostly dead.

Still hoping it would recover I did a quick acclimation and put it in my sump. I didn't see it after adding and hoped it had buried itself. On Thursday morning i found this:

Again I thought it was dead so I moved it to the hospital tank where it sparked back to life. Thus has started the pattern of it appearing dead(or very close). Sparking to life for a few minutes and repeat every few hours.
Just now it was doing this:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

I believe it has severe swim bladder issues. Is there anything I can do or is it most ethical to stop the suffering?
Its eyes still appear alert and it kind of seems tio try and eat but lacks the ability to get to the food. I have syringe fed it a corn syrup and frozen copepod mix.

I would watch it - and not do anything. Swim bladder usually causes 'floating' or abnormal position due to gas. However it can also cause these types of symptoms. Is the fish eating? Was it treated with anything? Good luck - but I agree with @vetteguy53081 the likelihood of survival is poor - I would not 'give up'

 

[Slocke]

This is very unfortunate to see and the fish appears to be moribund and swim bladder generally disqualifies fish from reaching the bottom of the system. This may be from crash injury based on scar on mouth or even a condition referred to as Unknown Neurological Wrasse disease (UNWD) which affects the ability for the fish to properly swim or swim in a tail down motion and will even make an attempt to eat feed but also there is no notable damage on the mouth or nose of fish and is often regarded as a crash injury which I mentioned but is actually UNWD.
There is not much of anything I can suggest to give it other than added oxygen to change this

Thank you for the great info as always.

I would watch it - and not do anything. Swim bladder usually causes 'floating' or abnormal position due to gas. However it can also cause these types of symptoms. Is the fish eating? Was it treated with anything? Good luck - but I agree with @vetteguy53081 the likelihood of survival is poor - I would not 'give up'

Thanks

The fish has been like this since arriving Tuesday. I've syringe fed it corn syrup and frozen copepods twice.

I believe it is swim bladder due to it being upside down and floating to the surface. I've seen UNWD and it is similar as it goes for food and its eyes show normal activity.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you for the great info as always.

Thanks

The fish has been like this since arriving Tuesday. I've syringe fed it corn syrup and frozen copepods twice.

I believe it is swim bladder due to it being upside down and floating to the surface. I've seen UNWD and it is similar as it goes for food and its eyes show normal activity.

Often in transport, fish will be subject to inhaling air and get air in their bladder and are subject to changes in parameters but this fish seems to be past that possibility. I say likely not swim bladder as a fish with swim bladder issue will bob back and forth in the water, often darting up and down or laboring or swimming just to stay in place. Often in these cases I say Hope for the best but expect the worse.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

#fishmedic @Jay Hemdal
Should have posted earlier but I thought this fish was long past hope. However it is still going and so here goes.
On Tuesday I received a blue spot tamarin wrasse. It arrived upside down and looking mostly dead.

Still hoping it would recover I did a quick acclimation and put it in my sump. I didn't see it after adding and hoped it had buried itself. On Thursday morning i found this:

Again I thought it was dead so I moved it to the hospital tank where it sparked back to life. Thus has started the pattern of it appearing dead(or very close). Sparking to life for a few minutes and repeat every few hours.
Just now it was doing this:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

I believe it has severe swim bladder issues. Is there anything I can do or is it most ethical to stop the suffering?
Its eyes still appear alert and it kind of seems to try and eat but lacks the ability to get to the food. I have syringe fed it a corn syrup and frozen copepod mix.

The fish looks moribund to me. True swim bladder issue cause the fish to either float or sink when it stops swimming - does this fish do that? Normally, a fish will be slightly negatively buoyant.

Jay

Edit: I just saw where you said it was eying food. Did it actually take any? That is a key symptom of UNWD

 

[Slocke]

The fish looks moribund to me. True swim bladder issue cause the fish to either float or sink when it stops swimming - does this fish do that? Normally, a fish will be slightly negatively buoyant.
Jay

It floats.

 

[Slocke]

The fish looks moribund to me. True swim bladder issue cause the fish to either float or sink when it stops swimming - does this fish do that? Normally, a fish will be slightly negatively buoyant.

Jay

Edit: I just saw where you said it was eying food. Did it actually take any? That is a key symptom of UNWD

Thank you btw!

I guess the reason I wrote this thread now is that I thought it was moribund on Tuesday but it just keeps going so I was wondering if I was wrong.

Also it has had the sense to swim into and under things to stop it from floating to the top when possible.

 

[Tamberav]

I was able to treat my China wrasse that was buoyant with a diabetic needle and iodine. I had to scrape a scale off as the needle won’t piece scales and insert the needle and pull back to remove some gas.

There is a video on this. It isn’t for the faint of heart.

EMERGENCY FISH OPERATION: Venting A Swim Bladder

Editor’s Note: In the saltwater aquarium hobby, there are many challenges ranging from day to day tasks of maintaining a stable ecosystem to the more difficult issues that can arise due to disease or other problems in the reef. However, some of...

www.reef2reef.com

I also had a leopard wrasse with this issue where I did nothing and the fish did recover however it was a milder case than your video and the leopard was eating on its own.

 

[Slocke]

I was able to treat my China wrasse that was buoyant with a diabetic needle and iodine. I had to scrape a scale off as the needle won’t piece scales and insert the needle and pull back to remove some gas.

There is a video on this. It isn’t for the faint of heart.

EMERGENCY FISH OPERATION: Venting A Swim Bladder

Editor’s Note: In the saltwater aquarium hobby, there are many challenges ranging from day to day tasks of maintaining a stable ecosystem to the more difficult issues that can arise due to disease or other problems in the reef. However, some of...

www.reef2reef.com

I also had a leopard wrasse with this issue where I did nothing and the fish did recover however it was a milder case than your video and the leopard was eating on its own.

Thank you! I'll see if I have the guts and its good to know you had success on its cousin species.

 

[Slocke]

Update: The fish is still alive and looking alert so I've contacted a friend of a friend who is a fish vet. Or more accurately a vet who has worked on fish a couple of times. I've asked them if they can do what you recommend Tamberav

 

[Slocke]

@Tamberav i know that it’s chances are still tiny but it’s no longer floating and still breathing. I ended up doing the operation with my sister:

It’s now in a tank with an antibiotic. The one big issue is we forgot to rinse the antiseptic off. I did a quick 30% water change therefor.

Anyway if this fish survives I will be so shocked and happy. Thank you so much for the advice!

 

[Tamberav]

@Tamberav i know that it’s chances are still tiny but it’s no longer floating and still breathing. I ended up doing the operation with my sister:

It’s now in a tank with an antibiotic. The one big issue is we forgot to rinse the antiseptic off. I did a quick 30% water change therefor.

Anyway if this fish survives I will be so shocked and happy. Thank you so much for the advice!

Good luck, you did a great job, my dang fish thrashed as I poked it. What a great sister to help ya.

These fish are difficult even when healthy but hoping the fish will now be able to eat since it is no longer a bobber. Ofc sometimes they are picky and challenging with food too!

Whatever happens, you did all you could for it.

 

[Slocke]

It didn’t make it.
It managed to make a mucus cocoon but was too weak. I think it may have survived had i done the operation earlier but I wanted to try and let it recover by itself.

Obviously sad but got my money back from the vender who were great and I’m glad I know how to do the operation.