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I've had trouble with my oranda, Yoshi, who has had Swimbladder Disorder since I got him. I could have returned him but didn't. I didn't know that the keeper didn't feed him but every other day. This is why I didn't see it.

Mine floats right after feeding for many hours or the better part of the day. I've tried every food I could think of, from frozen, to soaked dried food, high-priced and "highly digestible" pellets, but it always resulted in the same floating. I've tried deshelled peas and even they didn't help much.

I've tried de-worming meds and anti-bacterial feeds to make sure it wasn't parasites or a swim bladder infection. No long term changes.

However, I bought some Seaweed Selects (100% Marine Macroalgae) this summer and hang a sheet approximately 1 inch wide by 4 inches long and I cut slits all the way up to the veggie clip that holds it so the two fish can get the strips into their mouths and yank on them. They chew on these things for an hour or two until gone.

What I noticed is that within an hour or two of eating this stuff, the floater stops floating. So, I would feed them soaked pellets or frozen food earlier in the day, then follow up when I got home with the macroalgae sheets and it stops an hour or two later.

Not comfortable with how he has to float for even this many hours, I am now experimenting with pellets in the AM, followed by the macroalgae sheet an hour later. It appears to be working. He was beginning to float and now, two hours later, he is barely having bouyancy problems.

I'm leary to give too much of this until I learn more about whether there is potential for other health problem with daily use of this stuff. It is, afterall, Marine Macroalgae. I'm hoping it doesn't have iodine. In either event, Seaweed Selects comes in "Cichlid Salad", "Pleco Passion", and "Green Marine Algae". In all cases, the ingredient is 100% Marine Macroalgae. Go figure.

I was hoping others who have floaters or fish who can't get off the bottom would try this in their goldie tanks and see if they get the same results. I don't get these kind of results even with fresh veggies in the tank for them to nibble on. There's something about this algae.

I was gold this was fine for freshwater fish, but you don't want to feed it exclusively. They need other nutrients.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 05-Dec-2004 11:36

Oh - yeah, if you can't find it, you can buy any of those three from Drs. Foster & Smith. Here's the Cichlid Salad:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11462&Ntt=cichlid%20salad&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

Note the straight lines cutting across the sheets. I cut perpendicular to these, then I fold on those lines so that the goldies can rip off smaller pieces. Even if they rip it completely off and end up with a long strand, my goldies just devour what is floating. In fact, I have cut tiny pieces like 1/8 inch square and left them floating. They eat it like flake.



Last edited by Cory_Di at 05-Dec-2004 11:41

I don't know but it talks good of a person when at least tries to make a pet more confortable with a hard-to-solve problems. The little effort every day gives you back satisfaction when you see the results.

After then years, this last I went back to the sport of fishing... After having a beautiful 3 year Goldfish and some other with it, cleaning fishes at the lake -taking all the scales and organs out to eat the fish later- was not easy as before, even though I did that dozens of times.

Then, after becoming and aquarist and going back to fishing, you clearly see what a fish feels, the desperation when you have it in your hands and in the opposite way how free they feel when you release them back after a minute in your hands.

That's when I learned how much we have to care, at least for those we can care, a fish or any animal.

I really respect people like you, trying to give him good health and proper care for your animals... Those animals before, now your real friends.

Last edited by Sharpix at 10-Dec-2004 02:09

Wow - I couldn't have said it any better. I use to fish and have a hard time doing so now. I don't eat the fish I catch, so I thought catch & release was good. The problem is that I for the sake of my sporting fun, I'm damaging the fish in many ways and some may not recover, not to mention the stress factor the fish goes through.

I wouldn't have objections if I were to eat what I catch, but I just can't bring myself to do it anymore.

Incidentally, I will report for anyone following this thread, that Yoshi has been symptom free for 5 days now that I follow each meal with a small amount of algae. I can tell that the algae packs alot of moisture when it hits the water so it is probably helping in that respect. It is so wonderful to see him swimming about without bobbing at the surface for hours, or even days. What a simple solution

Congratulations Di...We'll have to keep it in mind, if someone else has the same problem...let's hope not though...Yippee Yoshi!!! Heidi

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"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

I tried scaling back on the amount of algae I gave after his meal this morning and he was starting to have bouyancy problems. I put more algae in, a good hour later, he was good. I can still always see a very slight hint of swimbladder disorder, but he does not lurk frustrated at the surface. He swims in such a way that a trained eye would need to notice the problem. That is so much better.