Swim Bladder- fish not eating.

Question

One of my neon tetras has swim bladder, I treated it twice with parasite medication (48 apart).

This all started maybe last friday the first? And he has not been eating since and has mostly been laying on the bottom of the gravel (no he is not dead.) He was swimming in between laying but as of friday (8/8) he has just been strictly at the bottom of the tank.

I had a 5 gallon with 3 tetras but they were hurting him for being sick so I got him his own 2 gallon tank.

>>>>>I heard shelled peas? but what exactly are those and boiled and mashed? anything i can put in the water since he doesn't want to get up to eat?<<<<<

Epsom salt??? how much will i need in a 2 gallon tank. (I found out .05 of a teaspoon but how many mL's is that to make it easier?

pH is 7.8 (its always slightly high i have ph down)

ammonia is less than .25 ppm

nitrIte is at 0ppm

nitrAte is at 5.0ppm (or a little less)

Answer 1

a swim bladder is an organ in a bony fish (osteichthese) that fills up with air or water so the fish can float up or down.  

Answer 2

Is he constipated? If not, I don&#039;t think a pea would help much (it acts as a laxative). It&#039;s best to use a thawed frozen pea, when it comes down to it (frozen is best because it contains less sodium than canned peas). You don&#039;t need to mash it or anything besides shell it (that means removing the shell/exterior of the pea) - just cut it into very tiny pieces (one or two is good). Epsom salt won&#039;t do anything for Swim Bladder Disorder, unless it&#039;s being caused by constipation (it helps to loosen the blockage). When you say &quot;swim bladder,&quot; do you mean he&#039;s having buoyancy problems? If not, then that may not be SBD.

It&#039;s possible that the SBD is being caused by some type of internal infection, likely parasitic of bacterial. Was the medication you used for external or internal? You should try an internal medication along with anti-parasite food. If that doesn&#039;t work, you may need an antibiotic along with anti-bacterial food. In my experience, though, the problem is usually parasitic. Look for Jungle Parasite Clear and Gel Tek Ultra PX anti-parasite food. The food is somewhat hard to find, but it works great -and- fast. If you have trouble finding it, check out http://www.drsfostersmith.com