# Blue ram swim bladder trouble?



## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

My female blue ram seems to be having a lot of trouble holding position just now, head down and swimming pretty hard without making a lot of progress. Other than that her behavior is normal, poking about in the plants looking for food as usual. I'm wondering if she accidentally swallowed some air while eating flake food from the water surface or if I'm dealing with a swim bladder problem, since before I fed the tank she was swimming fine, and it was only after they'd been fed that I noticed the problem.

The twist - I've been treating with Tetra Parasite Guard for the last week, for parasites on my panda cories. Last treatment was on Sunday; I'm planning a water change and a third round tomorrow to make sure the bugs are wiped out. (Symptoms cleared up after the first treatment last week, but I don't trust them to be entirely gone just yet.) Nobody's shown any signs of distress during treatment until now.

Tank stats:
55 gallon planted community
DIY CO2
5mL/day Excel
Last test results:
No ammonia or nitrite, ~7ppm nitrate
KH 2, GH 5, ph 7
Temperature: 80F
Regular water changes 30% twice a week, with Prime
Other inhabitants: dwarf gourami x2, cories x5, otos x2, neons x40, ancistrus x1, nerite snail x1, male blue ram x1
Feeding: Tetra flake food, blanched cucumber
Tank's been set up since March. Filtration: Rena XP3, cleaned two or three weeks ago, I can't remember for sure.

Female ram was purchased July 28. The cories were purchased July 16. If I had to guess, I'd finger the cories as the source of the parasite problem, I have less confidence in the LFS I bought them from than the LFS that sold me the ram, and nobody but the panda cories showed any signs of parasites, but they had it bad. I ended up losing one of them, but I was on death watch for him (I had him isolated in a breeder box) and the body was removed promptly. The female ram actually bred with the male July 31st but ate the eggs right away - they chose a spot in one of the dwarf gourami's territory and he wasn't giving up any space to the rams. I think the male ram has a grudge against him now. 

TL;DR, right?  Hey, I'm just trying to follow the sticky's instructions...


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

well the odd behaviour could just be because she's still adjusting to the new environment; it could also be a reaction to the medication. HOWEVER, I see this in goldfish all the time, when they eat too much floating food, and end up having great trouble with buoyancy. I would try more sinking cichlid pellets and bloodworms/brine shrimp, and see what happens.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

So she gets kind of stuck at the top after eating? And then later she's able to swim better/normally around all levels of the tank?

If so that does sound like a swim bladder problem. Swim bladder issues are caused by a number of things, not all of them treatable but the first thing I would do is fast the entire tank for 2 days and simultaneously treat with Epsom salt at the rate of 1 tablespoon per five gallons. Dissolve it first and add it gradually over several hours time. Swim bladder problems can be cause by a blockage in their digestive tract so what we're trying to do here is clear her out. 
Another cause of swim bladder problems is an internal bacterial infection. For this you can try treating with Maracyn and Maracyn-two. You can treat the ram in a hospital tank--it's cheaper on the meds and there's no reason to subject all the fish to an antibiotic. If you want you can remove her and do the Epsom salt/fast and antibiotic treatment at once and spare your other fish and plants any of the treatment.

If nothing else I would fast the fish and then look to feeding it less. One small feeding a day is plenty--for all your fish. And that feeding should be no more food than the fish can consume in less than a minute. And it's always a good idea to fast the tank for a day every week or two.

Robin

What sort of parasite did the fish have? What were the symptoms?


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## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

Thanks for the answers, folks - note to self: remember to make sure to subscribe to own thread! :roll:

The next day she was swimming around fine, and I've been watching carefully but the behavior hasn't repeated itself (yet). I've actually switched to NLS in that tank now since I finished the flakes, hopefully since the pellets sink, there won't be any more fish swallowing air by accident! And I'll add a fast day into their routine, too.

I'm not actually sure what kind of parasite it was, internet searches weren't useful at all. It wasn't ich; the parasites seemed to attach at the edges of fins and form a "fringe" like those buckskin "Wild West" outfits. The meds did work, as far as I can tell - there weren't any more visible parasites after the first treatment, but I continued per the instructions on the medication to make sure.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

probably anchor worms, or gill flukes, or something of that sort


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## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

That's what I figured. Thank goodness for medication that addresses a wide range of parasites!


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