# Convict cichlid swim bladder/intestinal blockage



## pup73 (Mar 13, 2008)

hi,

i have a 4+ year old male convict. he's in a 75 gallon tank with one other male of the same age, and 5 smaller younger females.

more than a week ago, i noticed that he started having a problem with bouyancy. he floats with his tail towards the sky. at worst, he is almost vertical. he can still swim upright.

no other signs of disease. scales look ok, fins look ok. i have been treating with flagyl for one week. i just started melafix and pimafix two days ago. bumped up the water temp to about 82. i've been doing 5 gallon water changes daily for the past week. also added some sea salt and some epson salt.

now, i will admit i have NOT isolated him yet. i've been treating the entire tank. i did starve the tank for 2-3 days initially. since then i've been only feeding forzen brine shrimp which has been soaked in flagyl. the sick male has been eating the food. yesterday i noticed a little but of white stringy feces from him.

but his swimming has not improved at all. what else can i do? i do have a hospital tank set up and ready to go. any treatments that i'm missing? i admit i have not tested the water recently, but i am religious with water and filter changes.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

-c


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi,

swim bladder symptoms can be caused by a number of different things--not all of them treatable. You've done a good job trying various solutions that will sometimes solve or help with the symptoms. 
Sometimes swim bladder problems can be caused by an internal bacterial infection so the next thing you could try is either Kanamycn or a combination of Maracyn and Maracyn-two.

Other than that you could check out the article in our library titled: How to keep your Front from Floating.

Robin


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