Clown struggling to float and constantly swimming upwards

[Mr. Stooge]

Hey guys was wondering if anyone can help me figure out what's wrong with one of my clowns. It just started today, when i got home from work and went to feed the tank my clown did not eat. Instead it was doing it's best just to keep from sinking. Sometimes i see it curl up towards one side kind of like it's cramping up or seizing but not twitching. All other fish in the tank, a Scopas Tang and another clown, are doing very well and eating.

All parameters are good except i noticed my salinity dipped to 1.024 from 1.026, i will slowly bring this back up to 1.026 where i like to keep it. the tank is new to me but was running when i bought it. I set it up at home immediately and completed a 2 month cycle then waited until parameters were stable for 2 weeks before adding my fish to this tank. The clown that's struggling previously lived in my 65g tank and I've owned him for 1.5 yrs before moving him over to this tank back on the March 11th. The other 2 i recently purchased. Here's a video of him struggling to swim around.




Could this be a swim bladder issue or something else?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hey guys was wondering if anyone can help me figure out what's wrong with one of my clowns. It just started today, when i got home from work and went to feed the tank my clown did not eat. Instead it was doing it's best just to keep from sinking. Sometimes i see it curl up towards one side kind of like it's cramping up or seizing but not twitching. All other fish in the tank which is a Scopas Tang and another clown are doing very well and eating.

All parameters are good except i noticed my salinity dipped to 1.024 from 1.026, i will slowly bring this back up to 1.026 where i like to keep it. the tank is new to me but was running when i bought it. I set it up at home immediately and completed a 2 month cycle then waited until parameters were stable for 2 weeks before adding my fish to this tank. The clown that's struggling previously lived in my 65g tank and I've owned him for 1.5 yrs before moving him over to this tank back on the March 11th. The other 2 i recently purchased. Here's a video of him struggling to swim around.


Could this be a swim bladder issue or something else?

Struggling to maintain a normal swimming position is relevant to swim bladder infection or similar iternal issue/symptom.
If severe buoyancy problems exist, the fish may not be able to feed normally or even reach the surface of the water. This disorder is sometimes caused by compression of the swim bladder, which may involve a distended stomach from rapidly eating, overeating, constipation, or gulping air, which is thought to occur with floating foods. Eating freeze-dried or dry flake food that expands when it becomes wet can also lead to an enlarged stomach or intestinal tract.
Other causes are :

• Trauma/Injury
• Bacterial infection
• Parasitic infection
• Stress/rapidly changing water parameters
• Poor water quality

Water change(s) may help and antibiotic should also help. Kanamyacin or neomyacyn should help great and best done in a quarantine tank

 

[MnFish1]

Normally a swim bladder thing would be the clown 'floating up'. But - yes it could be the reverse. I do not see a video. I would be concerned that the fish you bought - transferred something to your fish. Did you quarantine the new arrivals.? Do you have the current parameters - ammonia, etc etc etc. Any other toxic exposures (which would be unlikely - since the other fish are ok)/

 

[Mr. Stooge]

Struggling to maintain a normal swimming position is relevant to swim bladder infection or similar iternal issue/symptom.
If severe buoyancy problems exist, the fish may not be able to feed normally or even reach the surface of the water. This disorder is sometimes caused by compression of the swim bladder, which may involve a distended stomach from rapidly eating, overeating, constipation, or gulping air, which is thought to occur with floating foods. Eating freeze-dried or dry flake food that expands when it becomes wet can also lead to an enlarged stomach or intestinal tract.
Other causes are :

• Trauma/Injury
• Bacterial infection
• Parasitic infection
• Stress/rapidly changing water parameters
• Poor water quality

Water change(s) may help and antibiotic should also help. Kanamyacin or neomyacyn should help great and best done in a quarantine tank

The video isn't uploading so here's a link to it

 

[Mr. Stooge]

Normally a swim bladder thing would be the clown 'floating up'. But - yes it could be the reverse. I do not see a video. I would be concerned that the fish you bought - transferred something to your fish. Did you quarantine the new arrivals.? Do you have the current parameters - ammonia, etc etc etc. Any other toxic exposures (which would be unlikely - since the other fish are ok)/

I posted a link with the video on a previous comment. for some reason it wasn't attaching and kept giving me an error. i don't have an immediate test on hand as i normally go to my LFS once a week to test my water parameters. And i do not have a quarantine tank so i do not have the ability to do that.

 

[Mr. Stooge]

My clown has passed away it was so fast. This morning before work he was completely fine.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

My clown has passed away it was so fast. This morning before work he was completely fine.

Sorry to hear, I just woke up and saw the video. The way it darted to the surface seems to indicate some other issue than just swim bladder, like it was frantic or something. Was it breathing fast? The other fish are still ok?

Jay

 

[Mr. Stooge]

Sorry to hear, I just woke up and saw the video. The way it darted to the surface seems to indicate some other issue than just swim bladder, like it was frantic or something. Was it breathing fast? The other fish are still ok?

Jay

Hey yeah it was breathing fast and yes as of this morning the other 2 fish in the tank are still fine. I also looked him over when i pulled him out of the tank and i couldn't see anything abnormal on the outside