Can blunt trauma cause swim bladder?

Question

A toddler got into my fish tank with the net, and my fish has been floating upside-down ever since (three full days now). At first, I thought it was dying from being scared or hit with the net. Now I'm thinking it has swim bladder. The question is: Was that caused by the incident with the net, or is it just a coincidence? Would this have happened regardless?

It's one of the less expensive fancy goldfish.

I read a post on another forum that cited an aquarium owner's manual, saying swim bladder can be caused by rough handling. If that's the case, I wonder if it's curable like other forms of swim bladder disorder.

Now its fins are falling apart!

It's been a bowl by itself for over a day now, so it couldn't be the minnow biting it. I thought I noticed damage to the fins when I first found it floating, but I couldn't say for sure. Now that damage has gotten much worse--there are clearly sections of the tail fin missing, and it's frayed.

Is this the symptom of some disease? Can fish ever recover from such damage?

Answer 1

As you have guess, I think it's swim bladder problem too.

But I never encounter any situation where rough handling lead to to swim bladder problem. I would think it was probably a coincidence. I believe it would have happen even if the toddler didn't mess up the tank.

What I believe he did was probably to stir up the gravel in your tank, thereby loosening all the waste trap in the gravel, that (the additional bio-waste) probably mess up your water really fast and over-loaded your filter, the bad water could give rise to the swim bladder problem.

If you have thick gravel, there is the possibility that there might be low level of hydrogen sulfide due to anaerobic metabolism, this will also cause serious problem if it's present and release to the tank water due to a disturbance of the gravel.

If your gravel is mess up these are the possibilities. As for treating swim bladder problem you could refer to this .... http://www.arofanatics.com/members/dragonfly_sg/swimbladderproblem/

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Answer 2

YES. Injury can indeed cause swim bladder problems, usually permanent ones.
Unlikely that bad water could have caused it. Tho SBD can be caused by a bacterial infection, it is very rare.

I'd go with the presumption that your toddler also overfed the fish.

MY recommendations for treating SBD are to fast the fish for SEVEN DAYS prior to trying a pea. It takes freshwater fish about 3 months to die of starvation (most "vacation feeding" products are completely unnecessary), so don't worry that you'll harm your fish.

Then thaw, shell and break up a frozen pea and feed it.
Give the fish a day or so to see if it helps. If he is accepting the peas, feed a pea every other day til he gets better.
If he's eating normally and not rejecting food and you get to 14 days, I would at that point presume the cause is injury and he is unlikely to recover.
In this case, I would keep his feeding very light (no more than once a day), to prevent any further SBD problems, lower his water level some and give him plants near the surface to rest on. He'll be floating the rest of his life. Just do what you can to make it easier for him. From what I understand, permanent SBD is not painful.

Good luck! Let's hope it is the feeding issue!


EDIT---- on the frayed fins.

Probably a result of either being netted too roughly, or darting around the tank dodging the net. Not too suprising. Frayed fins can heal easily. Just keep his water pristine, add a bit of aquarium salt, and Melafix according to the directions. Melafix is kinda like bactine and aloe for wounds for fish. It speeds healing and growth, and helps prevent infection. It does NOT treat infection. Keep an eye on the frayed fins and watch for browning, greying, or any sort of film. If that happens treat with an antibacterial. The fins won't "mend", but new growth will replace the rips. Actual broken spines in the fin may not grow back. New growth will be white or clear.

Answer 3

I agree with Kylie Ann .. i always recommend the frozen pea theory to people with fish with swim bladder .. i work in a pet shop and we have to catch fish and the way i have seen some of my colleagues catch fish i dont think the swim bladder would be caused by the trauma of the net or else all of our fish would be flat on their backs! lol

Have you increased feeding? your fish is a type of Oranda and because of the fancy tails they've been bred with a smaller body than regular goldfish and so their intestines have been grouped closer together causing digestion to be a problem with oranda's.. ideally only feed this fish once a day and only a tiny pinch as the body wont be able to digest much more.. if it isn't ur feeding pattern which has caused this then could it be possible that the toddler fed it abit more than usual?

Another way to overcome the problem is to put Aquarium Salt into the water this will directly target the swim bladder problem.. you can pick the aquarium salt up from most pet shops just follow the directions on the packaging

Hope your fish gets better = )

Answer 4

This is a tricky question. It could be from swim bladder problem when feeding instead the blunt trama because it will instanly kill the fish.

So try starve him for 3-4 days to see if its swim bladder problems.

Either that he had way to much stress and has some swimming issues

BTW, what kind of fish is it?

Hope this helps
WT

Answer 5

Ditto to Kylie Anne. It's quite possible, but also quite rare. Swim bladder problems caused by trauma may heal, but there would be nhothign you could do to help with that healing. Try the method Kylie suggested give it at least 2 weeks before giving up on the fish.

MM

Answer 6

it can, but it's rare. is it possible the 2yr old could have also gotten into the food?

try fastign it for a day, then feeding it the inside of a pea (defrost a frozen pea, remove the skin, feed bite sized pieces ofthe inside to the fish). then fast for another day or so afterward.

if that doesn't work it's highly possible it's from trauma. in that case he might recover on his own over time, but even if he doens't he's not in any condition to be put put of his misery or anything. just a little embarrassed! lol