Swim Bladder repair ?

[pat williamson]

Hi guys I have a fish which after transport had what appeared to be some mucus like stuff and some blood around its belly ( not much but some ). Once in the tank it just sits on the bottom and every now and then will swim a little then sink back down, it would appear to be it has damaged its swim bladder.

Has anybody had success with this ailment self repairing or does anybody have any magic methods for assisting in their repair . I did see a clip of fishermen piercing swim bladders on deep water fish so they could return to the bottom of the ocean so I assume there is some chance of the bladder repairing itself , thanks in advance

Pat.

[Link2Hell]

can you post a pic of the fish and the damaged area . the degassing is to release barometric trauma that inflates the air bladder this is different

[rosco]

I have a male kitumba fronnie that had the same problem. He won the battle but lost the war. He managed to kill his rival but at the cost of his swim bladder. It is a shame because he is a nice fish except that sits on the bottom all day. I don't have the heart to knock him on the head anymore but I plan to move him to another tank one day. This happened well over 12 months ago and it had never gotten better.

Cheers

Rosco

[pat williamson]

Chris there is no obvious external damage the fluid washed away it was around the anal fin possibly from the vent. He looks fine now just cannot hover mid water he tries and sinks to the bottom again. I was getting some hope from the degassing as they must be deflating the swim bladder ?

[pat williamson]

sounds very similar to your fronnie Rosco

[Ducksta]

Hi Pat

I've needled bass caught from deep down in dams. I actually find the deep fishing techniques boring so don't target deep fish in general, but in tournament fishing where I don't dictate the location, I have to and so had to learn.

There is a bit of an art to it, and plenty of people get it wrong. Luckily I had someone who had done the hard yards and accidentally killed fish teach me from the get go.

The problem I can see with attempting to do something to an aquarium fish is that apparently the precise spot to pierce can be different for each species.

Also the gauge of the needle might be a problem with small fish.

As Chris said, needling fish is to relieve pressure to avoid the fishy equivalent of 'the bends', to be safely released.

The fish release fine in general. Although it would be over zealous to claim a 100% survival rate. (Can't believe that even with the best C&R practice)

So I guess it proves that the swim bladder can 'repair' in as much as a small piercing will heal over.

Are you thinking that possibly some kind of pressure build up might have been caused in flight? Or something? Or just asking if the bladder - as an organ - will heal?

[pat williamson]

It was only car transport so I am thinking some sort of trauma to the bladder from stress and or collision with another fish or box maybe. I suppose the end question is if its a bladder tear or deflation for some reason is there know instance of healing and recovery ? , rgds

Pat

[Ducksta]

Well my only experience with possible swim bladder damage would be this one.

http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=54936&st=0

Positive outcome re: recovery but hard to say definitively what was even wrong.