PlanetCatfish.com

Any tried and tested methods for swim bladder disease control?

For about a week one of my 4 corys has been suffering a bit of buoyancy issues. It's not consistent and he rests ok majority of the time but every now and then I spot him struggling to stay up right and doing a few spins about the tank.

I know this could be Gas or Bacteria related but before I put in medication for bacteria I want to rule out constipation and gas. I have to admit I've never seen any of my cory poo!? I'm sure they do but I don't know if he is ok with that or not...

I read Peas aren't eaten by cories. Anyone found a good cure?

I wouldn't wait. It may not be swim bladder, it may be ich, velvet, or columnaris. It is hard to diagnose a fish disease.
I would do a partial water-change using a gravel-vac siphon immediately; then, I would use Maracyn in combination with Maracyn 2. Be sure to add some extra aeration to help the fish to breathe.
If you can, move the sick fish to a hospital tank for treatment. You will still need to do the water change and medication in the main tank; because, if it is an infection, it may have already spread to the other fish.
Hopefully, this will give you a bit of time to figure out what the problem is.
Use your search engine to look for "fish diseases" to help you to try to diagnose.
Good luck!

Have you tried peas? Mine eat them, and usually squabble over them!

Got a couple that fight the Otos for courgette/zucchini believe it or not!

Gillphill83 wrote:For about a week one of my 4 corys has been suffering a bit of buoyancy issues. It's not consistent and he rests ok majority of the time but every now and then I spot him struggling to stay up right and doing a few spins about the tank.

This does not sound like swim bladder. Swim bladder is consistent.
I suspect ich or columnaris.
IMO, he is struggling to stay upright because he is hypoxic; and, he is spinning about the tank because he is trying to breathe.
If he has been like this for a week, I would do some medication immediately after a partial water change; follow the steps I gave in the prior post.
The sooner you take action, the better the chances for this fish and others in the aquarium.
Again,
Good luck.

What exactly are the problems Corys will get when infected with Columnaris ?? Thought bigger white spots? Breathproblems as well? Earlier heard about tol(dutch)-disease but can't find anything about in on Google. Greetz Aad

I use Bing...lots of resources listed by searching "columnaris".
Here is a link to one with a significant amount of information:

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Columnaris.html

From the above article:

• In gills, Columnaris can cause disintegration of the gill filaments. As the disease progresses the gills can change from their natural color to a light or dark brown. Since it is difficult to absorb enough oxygen from the water using damaged gills, the fish will start breathing rapidly and the fish might also swim up to the surface gasping for air.

Thanks, very interesting information. Columnaris has a lot of different symptoms with different fish (false neons disease aso). Didn't know this one.