My lutino is not doing well. He has a large bloated belly and cant stay under water. He seems to have an air bubble trapped in his belly. He struggles just to stay under water.he is up right not sideways, but will be sideways if he tries to go to the bottom and will wedge himself under a rock to stay down. He is like a buoy.

Is this gas bubble disease? Can I treat it? I need to know asap cause I have to move to a new placetomorrow and dont know if he can make the move and survive!!!

Email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it so I can prepare him.

No, this is not gas bubble disease as this wouldn't actually cause a bloated belly. Which part of the abdomen is actually swollon? Is very difficult to say what could be wrong, there are many reasons that can cause a swollon abdomen, in many cases it's actually a symptom and not an illness or disease, this makes it much more difficult to diagnose.

Possibly a swim bladder disorder if your fish is not able to maintain stability in the water. Other than the stability problems & swelling, how is the fish behaving? is it eating?

He is afloat like he cant go below water level. He struggles to swim down and will float straight to the top as if he had a huge water bubble trapped inside of him. His abdomen is swollen on symmetrical sides, not on the underside but on left and right its protruding and swollen. He stays upright but cant stay fully submerged in the water, his dorsal fin stays out of the water unless he tries to go down under. He wont eat. If you could see what I see you would think it was a trapped air bubble that makes him stay bouyant at al times. The only way he can stay under water at the bottom is if he is being held down by something.

based on your description, your fish is suffering from swim bladder
disorder. i hope i am wrong but that is the exact description. i haven't
had any experience treating such illness thus i can not help you. you can try
green peas to aid on digestion and pooing... it may work like in constipation.

Well, I found a treatment and he was cured in a day. He is back to normal and I am glad. I am sure that the stress from the Red Devil was what started it. I moved the Red Devil from my old tank since he was not coming up or eating, and it is strange because he was hiding from 2 baby severums.. I am not sure what that is about....

I put him in the new tank to liven him up and it caused an insane amount of stress when he was tormenting my oscars. Then I had to move...but I quarantined him and treated him and now he is all good. Thank GOD!!

glad to hear that. What was the treatment called?

it is dissolve-able tablets that are used to treat fungal infections, fin rot, clamped fins, and dropsy

active ingredients are nitrofurazone, furazolidone, and potassium dichromate

I popped a little less than what was the recommended dose, ( 1 tablet per 10 gallons, so for my 55 quarantine tank I needed 5.5 but only added 4) cause I walk to the beat of my own drum...LOL, and went to bed, woke up and he was swimming below water level and even wanted to eat. I fed him VERY lightly, shrimp pellets, since they are good for digestion, and gave him just a few. I then waited two days and introduced him back to the original tank, now he is in tip top shape!!!

I also put bin laden the terrorist (RD) back in his own tank....

lol bin laden thats funny By the way how is the pond coming along?

I fixed it all up, and saved as many fish as I could, some got lost in what I call pond sludge... and almost every crawfish also stayed in the sludge, I think by choice...But I had to move, so...I spent lots of moolah on a new pond for the next person....BOOOOOO

that sux ah well i guess you gotta build one in your new place hehe

i suppose that wouldnt work since i had to move to a TOWNHOME!!! its temporary till we secure a loan for the next house, we are looking to build!!! YAY