my fish kumar has the same odd gas pocket beneath his skin on the right side of his abdomen, near his anal fin. it's making a bit of a bulge. once we aspirated it with a small hypodermic syringe and he sunk a good bit; he was able to go to the bottom and scrounge around for food, but was still upside down.

now, however, the gas pocket has returned/enlarged...it seems to grow on its own slowly. so kumar is back at the top. if the gas pocket is allowed to remain as is, it can get quite large and swell a lot, and it looks very uncomfortable for him. we aspirate occasionall to relieve any pressure.

he is also developing a sort of red patch on his wen near his right eye...it looks swollen and painful, with a white thready slimy thing (not a worm, it can be gently scraped off) hanging from it at times. today i swabbed it with a bit of peroxide to clean it out...i don't know if it did any good.

kumar is in the same old tank by himself. still 6 gallons, unfortunately to keep up with the small size of the tank we do 50% water changes every day and vaccuum the gravel thoroughly. the filter can keep up with waste production for a couple of days but we prefer to not let things accmulate and reach dangerous levels.

did water test this evening, everything looks good (lowest poss. reading on the tests, though i haven't got a nitrAte test).

i don't know what to do anymore

There is some information on blisters and swimbladder disease on National Fish Pharmacy, here is the link:

http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_diseases/..._disorders.html

i don't see anything on there that closely describes his conditions

i'm starting to get worried, the other eye is starting to look reddish like his right side!

there's one that kiiindasorta matches. does malachite green kill your cycle?

m.green won't kill the cycle but keep an eye on parameters anyhow. Malachite green is senstive to light and looses it's effectiveness so keep tank lights off and if possible partly cover the tank during daytime.

any ideas about the air pocket? i've never heard of this disorder in a fish before, even after searching the boards and the internet extensively.

would it be a good idea to start him on medigold again to fight whatever's happening with the eyes?