I have a red cap oranda that has been suffering with swim bladder since october, I have given peas, they are a temporary fix, I was doing peas for him every other day, then my tank water would smell awful like poop. Now he seems to be losing his scales here and there, there is no redness of any kind under the scales hes losing, he meets me every morning and afternoon to eat, I even feel bad because if he sees me in the distance he will come to the front of the tank but still doing his flips and trying to straighten himself up which he does quite well.
At times we often wonder if his time is going to be up, but hes a fighter, and it bothers me to see him this way, I am tempted to remove him to a 2 1/2 gallon bowl to see if it helps, but then on the other hand I don't want to stress him out even more by moving him away from his friends..don't know what to do, someone suggested to euthanize him, I can't and won't do that. :angry: but then he seems to be suffering dunno what to do for him anymore, he does have good days still, at times hes chronically floating and other times he looks normal, maybe someone can shed some light on the subject

for us to help you can you answer the the questions in the white box in the disease section. hopefully a mod will move this there.

Hi kit,

Does he poop normally? Can you describe them for me?

Does he look bloated? Is your tank salted at all?

he doesn't look bloated captk, his poops are always floaty tho, and kinda clear too, its strange, when I was giving him the peas, they would be green, yesterday afternoon I notice a couple of scales looked like they were falling off, we thought he was going to die during the night last night, but he greeted me this morning and ate, he looked pretty good, until he ate, he seems to eat then likes to go to the surface as tho gulping air or drinking, this afternoon when I came home he was floating to the top by his belly. we feel bad for him I was doing peas every other day for him and I give him Bio Blend Herbivore food as suggested by my petshop, it has spirulina in it, its basically veggies, the normal food is Bio Blend for goldfish. There very small moist pellet that slowly sink, my other fish are doing great with it! I tend to spoil them. No I do not salt the tank, did at first then stopped.
my water params are excellent
ph 7.8 out of the tap and in the tank
ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 10
Ten gallon tank running with an Acua Clear Filter and a bubbler
every week I remove 3 gallons of water and clean the stones
hes currently in the tank with 3 other fish, I am going to upgrade to a 30 gal within a year and move 3 to the thirty and keep one in the ten, there only 1 1/2" at this point, there pretty small want to watch them grow
I use Stress Coat water conditioner and haven't had any problems
All fish in the tank are quite healthy and active, except for Cappy he had his nose on top of the heater last night, we thought he was going to die like that, it was as tho he was hiding cause you can't really see him there.
thanks for your help captk

could you look under the gill flap and describe the colour of the gills? do you see any white cysts at all too?

as for the swimbladder dont feed him for two days and see if this gets rid of any excess gas and then feed the peas only or 3 days. this will tell us that the reason for the floating is the gas build up and if it doesnt help then it could be a more serious problem.

can you isolate him in a tub and have just enough water to cover him, as sometimes taking the pressure off the swimbladder may help too.

hi sandy,
thanks, his gills look real good, he greeted me this morning all happy and everything, actually snapping at the water he ate, then of course decided to gulp air again at the top of the tank, now hes floating again
would removing him from the tank add more stress to him tho? am a little afraid but will if I have to, when you say to just cover him in water, does that mean to just put him in enough water where he can swim around? am worried, hes like night and day, looks real good one minute playing, then begins his floating ritual
thanks for your help

If gulping air when feeding is an issue then try soaking the food in water first and if necessary, squeeze out any air bubbles in the food with your fingers so that it sinks. Not feeding him for a day or two is a good idea too just to purge his GI track. If his poop ever comes out thin, white and stingy then it could be bacterial infection.

Do you mean that you wash the stones or syphon the stones? Washing the stones gets rid of beneficial bacteria that get rid of the harmful bacteria. Do you have an air pump with air stones in your tank? The gulping could be lack of oxygen from overstocking.

I siphon the stones once a week and have a bubbler, hes the only one gulping air tho, the others are constantly moving about
I am feeding them Bio Blend, small, very small, moist sinking pellets. His poop does float a lot, and its clear to almost looking like it has a bubble in it
if its bacterial, is there anything you can do for them?
the food is made by Marine Land
thanks for your help

also, he doesn't gulp air during feeding, its after hes all done, he decides to gulp at the service, its strange

Hmm, I'm a bit worried that it could be systemic infections. That can lead to scarring of the air exchange capillaries in contact with the air bladder. Gulping air could be a sign that he is trying to clear that area out or compensate for swim bladder issues. Can you get hold of some medicated food like medigold or metromed? Feed him one course (~10 days) of medicated food might be a good safety net.

thank you captk I will certainly give it a try, I feel terrible , last night he would open his mouth wide at times, looking almost like he was burping, then we would see an air bubble come out. I got this guy from Pet Smart, not sure if I am going to get fish from them again, they don't seem to know too much..
thanks for helping me out

Don't worry Gabriella, it is not your fault. It is sometimes very distressing when you see the fish stock in some of those chain petshop/megamart's. They are poorly handled and kept. Some staff have little training. They are run under business lines that are more concerned with profits and losses.

Good luck and please keep us posted of any developments.