swimbladder Apistogramma cactuoides

[Ernie]

Ok I have this female that slides accross the bottom when swimming . when swimming up she gets there but drops back down to the bottom of the tank. She is not bloated, eats fine. the water is fine. She looks fine

I think she has some kind of buoyancy problem, I would hate to put her down she was one of my first, As you would say she my favorite. Any thing I can buy at petsmart or petco I can try or some kind of home remedy?

 

[gerald]

Sometimes that happens as cichlids get older, like 3-4+ yrs for a cacatuoides. As long as she's still eating and otherwise acting OK, no need to "put her down". She might even still be OK for breeding. Without knowing the cause (age, disease, poor diet?) medicating is pointless. Just keep her well fed and her water clean and see what happens.

 

[CopabX]

Well I just had an agassizi with the same problem die this morning. She was sliding around the bottom, really weak, and kept getting blown around with the air other plecos swimming by. I'm pretty sure she wasn't attacked because it was only her, a tetra, and 2 plecos. She seemed perfectly fine too, no puffed scales or increase breathing but she couldn't eat since she couldn't get off the bottom. I was hoping this thread would have a couple answers...

 

[Sal]

sorry to dig this past thread, Mine apisto female too shows such signs, looks healthy, eats well, only thing is slides at the bottom..Did you guys were able to recover ur fish from this?? Your advice would be of great help...

 

[Mike Wise]

OK, you have an adult apisto. She has a problem with her swim bladder. This can be caused by disease (commonly a sudden drop in temperature) or physical damage (commonly from netting the fish). If from disease, it is not easy to cure because it is an internal infection and it is hard to get antibiotics into the swim bladder. If the swim bladder has been damaged physically, there really is nothing that can be done. Often it is best to put the fish in a hospital tank and keep the water quality as high as possible and hope its immune system cures the fish.

 

[bseitz234]

I have an adult female whose permanent name is now "Scooter", because she has the same issue, and just scoots along the bottom of the tank. She's now living in a 20gal community tank with a school of cory cats and a bunch of otocinclus and pencilfish, and she seems perfectly happy. She's been this way for about 4 weeks, showing no real changes (improvement or deterioration), but if she does get better I'll let you know!

 

[Sal]

Thanks Mate!
As Mike says, I think it can be result of some infection, as the water temp was relatively constant. This juve seems to be a male to me.
As you people suggest, I will keep the water quality very high and feed it varied diet. I shall keep you guys updated.

Thanks a lot, again..!