Fish Swim Bladder Problems - How To Give Your Fish A Salt Bath
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- How to give your fish a salt bath to help with swim bladder problems:
Until I changed her feeding regimen, my silver molly liked to eat anything and everything, including algae wafers meant for my pleco.
Whether they expanded in her stomach or she ate too much, this lead to constipation and swim bladder problems. A salt bath/dip and diet of peas usually did the trick, and she was good as new.
This is the first time I gave her a salt bath - she would have a few more before I changed her feeding regimen.
Link to my other video about swim bladder problems, food expansion, and constipation: • Fish Swim Bladder Prob...
Links to the products referenced in this video, below:
***dmichaelsfishden is an Amazon affiliate
amzn.to/2i5Cijv - Westlab 2.2lb Bag Epsom Salt
I hope this helps! Shoot over a comment and let me know. If you like what I'm doing on the channel, subscribe for future videos!!
--d
Thanks helped save my angle fish 1 year old... also used furan-2 swear by it but use gloves and extra water changes.. had no problem mixing mag and salt as salt has mag in it
Oh and also small bath of all cure tonic bath and Praziquantel helped obviously not all at once
Tropical Aquariums N.z so glad it was helpful! This has saved several of my guys as well. 👍. Now these days, regardless of how my fish are doing, everyone gets peas once a week or two Smart with the furan and tonic treatment 👍. Since feeding peas more often and switching from less processed food I haven't had this issue in awhile - so now I hope I didn't just jinx myself 😳.
@@dmichaelsfishden does the water have to be warm
am i able to do this on a blue dwarf gourami? he’s been chillin on the bottom of the tank for about a week.
my mistake the gourami is actually a three spot gourami
7 years later and this video is still helping people. 2 Corys that are currently having problems. After the initial bath, one Cory was back to normal, the other seemed a little less bloated. So far so good!
Hi what temperature water did you use? And do you need to add conditioner to the water before the Epsom salt?
Best to use some tank water, same chemistry and temp. So, Before doing this, hopefully did any water changes at least some hours before. With dechlor.
-Don't leave the water in buckets too long, or temp will change and shock your sick fish.
You SAVED MY FISH! I DID THIS ONCE A WEEK FOR TWO WEEKS! LIFE SAVER! THANK YOU! MY FISH WAS SIDE WAYS, UPSIDE DOWN AND NEAR DEATH! I REFUSED TO GIVE UP AND I SEARCHED HIGH AND LOW...TO FIND YOU!!!! THANK YOU FOR CARING ENOUGH TO SHARE! FISH WHISPERER 🐟
@V- FIT what did you do in the end?
My fish is laying down, thinking of trying this
@V- FIT Thanks for letting me know, I added in a swim bladder treatment today, I'm afraid to move him and make him stressed even though the salt bath might help. Very sad to hear that you lost them.
L it àap
@@ketok1065 Did the treatment work? Which was it?
@@mercedesjaay Unfortunately not, bless him 😢😭 my fish wasn’t swollen, he just couldn’t swim straight, nothing helped. It’s very sad. Still, could be worth a try. I did buy another treatment - king British but, my fish died. Could be worth a try. Good luck, hope yours gets better.
I can't thank you enough for this video! My beloved betta has a bloated stomach and a curved back and I'm desperately trying everything I can to get him back to full health. I'll definitely be doing this tonight!
so do it work?
@@lydia-0112 it depends what you mean by does it work. Salt definitely does have an impact on sick fish.
Thank you so much for this video! My betta was swimming on its side and floating to the surface of the water for a while. I tried the thawed pea method I saw online… didn’t work :(
I gave it two salt baths and did a partial water change. And within a few days my betta was back to normal.
Thanks again!
Thank you so much for posting the video, and even more for responding to everyone's questions. I have a very sick glofish. About a year ago, he expressed severe signs of swim bladder and I nursed him back to health by separating him from the others in the tank and not feeding him for a few days. Last month, he had the same thing and I separated him again. Now, he is worse than ever. I have separated him again and I just tried one of your salt baths. I think my guy has swim bladder disease---and some fin issues. I have the strips and test my water regularly and it almost always tests close to perfect. We currently clean out the tank (1/3 of a tank water change---scraping sides, changing filter, etc) approximately every 2-3 weeks. When anyone seems sickly I do water changes more frequently. Anyways, my blue glofish at this point is barely moving at all and is laying on the bottom of his separation tank. When he does move is frantically spins and moves like crazy. During the salt bath he almost seemed to swim more normally, but not back in the separation thing he is on the bottom again. I really think I might lose him. His fins also seem damaged---maybe from the other fish picking on him. Do you have any other tips for me? I am going to try every other day water changes, not feeding him for two days and then trying peas, and daily salt baths. Anything else you recommend or anything you would do differently? I really fear I could lose him at any time and hate the thought of him suffering. He was full grown when we bought him and he is almost two years old.
Hi Joy - my pleasure and sorry for the late reply here. I'm so sorry to hear about your glofish. What size is the tank? The salt baths are effective as a way to reduce swelling and bloating due to constipation, allowing the fish to finally eat peas to clean him out. If it is really swim bladder disease that is a tougher one, caused by an internal bacterial infection (in many cases). Based on my experience, hopefully this might be helpful, as this is what I would do - this sounds like perhaps a type of internal infection and can probably only be helped with medication, especially if the situation is getting worse. If it was me, I would use Seachem Kanaplex, which is a broad spectrum antibiotic that can be absorbed internally by the fish. It can be effective against swim bladder and internal infections. Since we aren't quite sure what is going on, it is the only good medication on the market I know of that is absorbed internally by the fish. I would do a 50% water change prior to, then follow a full course of treatment - 3 doses over a 6 day period. Then perform another 50% water change. If he is eating, you can also feed medicated food, and I use Seachem Metroplex for this - the metronidazole can be effective. Seachem has the "recipe" on their website if you look up Metroplex - you use metroplex, the food, and their Focus product as a binding agent, all in a little aquarium water in a cup. Unfortunately, this sounds like some type of bacterial infection. At this point, I wouldn't proceed with the salt baths as this can stress him out a little more - they are effective with bloat, but they won't help with a bacterial infection. Do any of your other fish have any symptoms? Hope that helps? Really sorry to hear about him - let me know if I can help further
Just wanted to say thanks, my fish had his Epsom salts baths, and is now back in his tank and doing well. Going to do like you suggested and feed smaller amounts twice a day
My pleasure, Jackie! Glad the video was helpful! Sending good thoughts to your fish!
This was very informative! I have 2 black moors and one of them keeps floating on the surface upside down. It scared us because we thought he was dying and once we found out fish suffered from swim bladder issues, that made sense. Especially since we've noticed he's extremely bloated. We're going to try this treatment and that of feeding them peas so fingers crossed this will work! Thank you for posting this! We watched other videos where owners extract the air from their fish with a needle and that, is NOT an option for us especially since we're not vets and hate needles! Can't imagine sticking our fish...ouch! But anyway, going to try this!
Yzavela - thank you for the kind words and glad the video was helpful! Yep, I'm with you...I can stick any needles in my fish either...I just won't do that and I'm not a vet, so that is also out for me. What I hear about that type of treatment though, is it is really just a "band-aid." They have to constantly extract air with needles every few months....that is real swim bladder disease and that is a tough one to cure. I'm hoping your black moors only have a constipation issue...in that case, the epsom salt and peas should hopefully do the trick!
@@dmichaelsfishden believe it or not...my Moors didn't like the peas. Then again, I don't think they saw them. When that lid opens to their tank and they hear my voice, all they want are their flakes. Tried the first treatment last night and at first it scared us because he was completely belly-up but today, he seems to be a little better. And yes, I think his or her issue is constipation. When the little fish swam in the epsom water, he or she pooped and now swims better. Thanks for this video and your reply!
Thanks for this. I have an Apistogtamma Cacatoides who was bloated for weeks. I fasted him for days and the swelling never went down. Afraid of him developing swim bladder disease or dropsy, I searched YT and found this video. Followed every step that you explained clearly. All I did differently was use an air stone from a battery-operated air pump. Anyway, my boy is doing much better now. He still has a swollen belly but it has gone down considerably and he’s been pooping nonstop for a week straight.
I used the pea method for my Danio and it seems to have helped. I have never heard of this issue and had no idea what was wrong!!! It seemed to help immediately! I’m so glad because he was having a horrible time!! 😌
Hi Lynda - I'm glad it was helpful!
Excellent directions Thank you for being precise. I bought 3 glo tetras when I got my tank and lost once right off the bat. My yellow is 2 years old now. I hate losing anything that is alive. She or he freaks out with any changes and I feared this dip. I wound up cupping nd placing her/him in my hand to calm the erratic behavior. The tetra calmed down, 2nd bath tetra wasn't so erratic. Went crazy again back in tank. I hope and pray to see my tetra in the morning.
Dale - my pleasure and thank you for the kind words. I hate losing anything alive myself....I totally get it. Hope your tetra pulls through. Is she bloated? Constipated? Though Epsom Salt has a calming effect for humans, it can be stressful for fish - but the alternative is even worse. This is why it's important to do the 2nd bath with less salt to help the fish re-acclimate. Keep me posted on how she is doing - Sending good thoughts your way!
had a sick Guppy , hiding away and floating at a strange angle , had never heard of this but thought i would give it a try . followed your instructions and WOW what a difference , little guy is back to normal almost immediately and 24 hours later back to his old self , Thanks guy
💪 💪 Glad it helped and great to hear!!! My pleasure! 👍
Thank you so much. I just did this for George Weasley, my Golden Panda Molly. I hope it helps him. I'll keep watching him, and I'll do the food regiment you suggested too.
I forgot to follow up... it took two days, but George was great and swimming fine, and has been for a month now. I can't thank you enough 😊
I woke up to my tiger barb swimming sideways/upside down on Friday. I found this video and immediately ran out to get epsom salt. I did the salt bath exactly as you suggested, although I thought he was going to die during it because he was intermittently floating at the top. I didn’t feed them that night and fed them peas the next morning. He progressively got better over the next couple of days and today (Monday) he’s swimming perfectly normal! Thanks for the informative video!
Hi, may I know the regime you did? First day salt bath without food
Second day give pea.
Third day salt bath and pea? Or?
Yuan Xin Koh the third day I went back to normal feeding, but a little less than usual so that the effected fish didn’t overeat. I never repeated the salt bath.
Hi, how often should I do a slat bath for my betta? Also, how long can they survive with swim bladder? My betta is going on day 4 now...
Thank you! Worked well for my otherwise healthy mbuna cichlid who was having trouble swimming straight. After a 10min epsom salt bath (1 tbsp/gal) and a follow up rinse (1/4 tbsp/gal) he returned to the tank swimming much better.
Joseph - very glad to hear! Hope your Mbuna is still doing well. You can always go back to the treatment if that happens again 👍
Are you guys using tank water mixed with the epsom salt?
Yay! Thank you dmichaels fish den! Did this! Followed step by step and saved our little goldfish "Goliath". Thank you so much! We're doing the goldfish happy dance!
Patricia - I'm so very glad this was helpful!!! I'm wondering if the goldfish happy dance is similar to the molly happy dance I've done with this technique :) Glad you checked out the video!
Hi my names Tonya I have a blue dwarf gourami & she’s been laying on the bottom of my tank when she swims it’s face pointing up I called my local fish store pet quarters where I bought 2 of them a male & female he’s fine so are my neons, white catfish & sucker fish plus my 2 snails he suggested the Epson salt bath but I wasn’t sure on the quantity so Thankyou so much today she will have a bath like your video showed me how to do I’m praying that this will help her. Thanks 🙏 mate xx 🇦🇺
Hi Tonya - Sending good thoughts! Hope it is helpful for her!
Thanks so much! My fave female betta was doing spirals in the water trying to keep herself upright. Really thought i was going to lose her and 24hrs after salt bath and she is almost back to normal. Just a slightly off balance but defo on the mend. Thanks again
Dave - my pleasure! May take a few additional baths, but just monitor her and let me know if I can be of further help!
Came back to say this cured my 3 spot gourami after did 2x in a 3 day period he’s swimming great again! Thanks!
Works miracles, caught my African blue cichlid early on and treated immediately with this advice, for starters treatment worked immediately...we will see tm...
great video with nice on screen instructions. BEST EPSOM SALT BATH VIDEO ON TH-cam.
Thanks, Nugglashine! Very glad it was helpful and appreciate the kind words! This has worked for me for years - grateful I can share it!
Plz tell us. ..how frequently ve can use epsom salf if fish is not relieve in one time treatment?
My blue dwarf gourami is dealing with this right now... thanks for posting this vid. I'm going to try it today, but I'm definitely scared because over the last week he has been losing his color and I'm worried it's a bacterial issue that I cant fix. However I just noticed him swimming on his side yesterday. Hope this helps my little guy, thanks again!
My pleasure, Taylor! I hope your gourami gets better. In cases where we aren't sure or where there could be multiple things going on, you could try a broad spectrum antibiotic like Seachem's Polyguard - designed to try to get parasitic, bacterial, and fungal issues.
Hey, tanks! :) Your video was helpful. One of my baby corydoras was stuck bloated and swimming upside down. It seemed hopeless. After about 6 min in the concentrated solution, the fish righted itself and swam to the bottom. Still a little wonky so keeping an eye on it, but I am sure this helped give it a fighting chance. I didn't need a whole gallon for a tiny baby fish, so I did some quick conversions and came up with 2 mL in 2 cups of water (sorry for mixing metrics). The API test kit tubes have 5 mL marked off, so I just eyed it. The transition solution is 0.5 mL per 2 cups.
Thank you for your video . You just saved my fish life .
I'll be trying this method on my fantail goldfish---thanks for the well-explained method, and the advice concerning food types,
My pleasure, Gloria. I really hope it is helpful to you - if I can help further, please let me know
Just did this with our Ranchu and it seems to of worked. He was floating upside down and struggling to get food. After the bath he's much much better. Not struggling to get to the bottom, and definitely not upside down. Couldn't believe the results
I feed my guppies, mollies and swordtails algae wafers 3 or 4 times a week to help their digestion, they actually eat a lot of algae in the wild.
Hi Cae - if it is working, keep doing it! 👍 And you are absolutely right, they do get a lot of algae in the wild. In my experience the wafer expansion gave a lot of my livebearers constipation issues - if you aren't seeing that, keep on keepin' on! If you do start seeing that, you can try doing what I did, which is switching to Repahsy food. Repashy Soilent Green and Super Green have a lot of great Spirulina algae in it, and you can mix the Soilent Green or Super Green with some Repashy Community Plus, at a 50/50 ratio. They will love it 😀 Thanks for watching!
Thanks for this! I've been looking for some useful info on salt baths since my molly just got ill and this has helped me so much!😆
Thanks, Pastel! Glad it was helpful 😀 Just remember, you may need to do a few baths, 3 - 4 days in a row. Keep an eye on the swelling and as soon as you see improvement, you are probably ok. Then try to see if your molly will eat some peas. 😀
You honestly deserve so many more subscribers and alot more credit your helping everyone thats awsome keep it up.
Proplayergamer1 - Thank you so much for those very kind words. As long as I'm helping a few folks and sharing my experience, that's what I'm hear for 😀Really appreciate such a great comment, and thank you for checking out the video!
Thank you. I used this method for two days in a row and succeeded in saving my Serpae Tetra who was breathing rapidly and was boated but bearly visible. This seemed to have worked for him.
this video has saved like 5 fish of mine thank you
Thank you so much for explaining the difference between the salts and what they are used for👌 really helpful thank you
My pleasure! Very glad the video was helpful!
Hello , I am about to try your method for saving my Mollie. Thank you very much for this clear and calm video. Your girl is pretty and so is your tank. March 2021.
To clarify - brackish water would generally contain sodium chloride, not magnesium sulfate. And the seizing that you’re referring to which can possibly happen when giving a fish a salt bath is also generally triggered by the presence of large concentrations of sodium chloride in the water, rather than Epsom salt.
Nevermind I seen your comment. I just dosed the tank with melafix. I absolutely hate when my poor little fish get sick. Let’s hope this will help him. He’s swelled with fluid. I can see the fluid. If I had the right stuff I would extract it. That’s how bad he is.
spook show - unfortunately, when we get to that fluid, this indicates a bacterial infection, which could be dropsy....unfortunately, if you extract the fluid, it would build again...this is a tough one, man...so sorry to hear about it. I've heard Kanaplex by Seachem is fairly effective with Dropsy, but I've never tried it myself, as I haven't had a fish with dropsy for years....in one of my other comments, what we can do to help this is moving forward....feed every other day, and a little less. Feed peas once a week, even if the fish are just fine - it will help clean them out....spinach leaves are great too, on a clip. I also really don't ever use wafters anymore, because of the amount they expand in the fish's stomach...now I use Repashy much more often and haven't had the same swelling problems - it goes "down" and comes out much easier in the fish....Hope that helped a little man, so sorry to hear about your guy
So with the water used in the buckets do you use either tank water or new dechlorinated water guessing both are fine? If using tap water shall I bring it up to the temp of the aquarium so it doesn’t shock the fish?
I just did this to my cory catfish. It may not help, but I just put 5 in the tank from PetSmart about 3 hours ago, and one of them hasn't been right from the get go. Swim to the surface and then float back down to the bottom vertically tail first. This may not help at all, but at this point I don't think he's going to make it unless I try something. Hopefully I'll get lucky. Either way, I really appreciate your video, it is easy to follow. Thanks again, and wish us luck.
Justin - thanks for the kind words on the video. Sometimes we do just have to try to do what we can. Occasionally, we may get fish that just aren't healthy and right from the start, and sometimes there isn't anything we can do - But personally, like you, I always feel better when I try at least something. And sometimes....you may be surprised, it just might do the trick. Good luck! And don't fault yourself if he doesn't make it - again, sometimes we get fish that just aren't right from the start....it has happened to a lot of us in the hobby. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video! How often would you recommend doing the salt baths?
thank you so much for this vid, helped me a lot. please do more like this in the future there very easy to understand unlike others are very detailed and it gets confusing very fast, thank you. hopefully i wont have any swim bladder problems from now on :) x
Hi, can you tell me what type of water you are using for the bath? Are you using tank water or treated water? I cant find an answer anywhere online. I'm thinking I'll use tank water for the bath because it seems be less of a parameter shock. Thanks for any advice
Thank you for tutorial. What temp did you have the epsome salt bath at? My beta has swimBladder issues since I fed him mosquito larva I found in my outdoor mystery snail pond. I’m hoping it’s not parasites but it’s been two weeks and he’s not getting much better. 😢
how is your fish now? My fish stays at the bottom of the tank and can't swim. I saw some ants near the tank and thought nothing of it. He must have eaten some and he's bloated.
I have a roughly 6-8 inch comet goldfish with dropsy in a 10k+ gallon pond. None of the other 40 or so fish in there have any problems but this one has dropsy. It has bloated slowly over several months, i originally thought it was eggs until the scales started to pinecone. I do not believe the problem is anything other than bad genetics because it's a comet based on none of the other fish being affected for several months. But I want to relieve the bloating with salt. Once I remove him from the pond and put him in a quarantine tank what kind and how much salt should I use to suck the water out that is swelling him?
My beautiful pearl gourami started exhibiting symptoms like your Molly. Going to try this. This pearl likes to eat... A lot. Hopefully it takes to peas.
MP - it's a great sign your pearl (I love pearl gouramis - been wanting one) is still eating. If this is bloating/constipation, the combination of the epsom salt and peas should clean your fish out well. If your gourami doesn't take to peas right away, try adding some Garlic Guard from Seachem, with a little tank water. The gourami will be attracted to the garlic and will really go after the peas. Good luck! Let me know if I can be of any further assistance!
@@dmichaelsfishden Looks like I didn't need to do epsom. Just an over eating gourami. Looks like its swimming fine now and its belly shrunk, But will still feed peas... just to be sure. Thanks, subbed.
@@MP112791 glad to hear the good news! Fish can certainly over eat. Sometimes a good rule of thumb to measure - their stomachs (in most regular aquarium fish) are about as big as their eyes - but they will gladly eat more than that...Definitely feed some peas, just to be sure...great idea. Thanks for sub! Proud to have you on board!
Thanks so much for the video. But i don't know what water to mix with epsom salt? Water from the tank or clean water?
Thank u so much, u helped save my little red eye tetra! I thought my fish was dead but when I went to get him out he started spinning and going back down to the tank so I realized he was sick... I did exactly what u did in this video and it worked. He's still not 100% but He's swimming around vertical and not down in the tank...my question is, how many times should I do this bath? Thank u
Hi, thank you, very helpful. I'm new to fish keeping & this is the first time I've experienced this with a fish. I turned their heater down & she seems better at the mo. I will do the salt bath if not tho.
Thanks for this video. It saves two of my tiger barbs
Firday Fish Facts - I'm so happy to hear that! My pleasure!
Thanks for a well filmed video. Should the water be slightly warmer and does the fish get confused by all the white if the bucket ie what about an ornament or something so it can visually orientate. Just thinking as you said how stressed they are. Thanks for the info and highlighting epsom. Doesn't help if a product is meant to help doesn't like certain meds being toxic for other tank animals
Hi, thank you for this video. How often can you repeat this process?
Great video! I have a question, has your betta ever been out of the tank before?
Thank you this video Saved my betta fish Ernie 😁
My pleasure, Alexandra! So happy to hear Ernie made it through!
Will this work for goldfish as well? Also do you need the recovery tank? Another thing is how many times a week should i do this?
my glofish started floating at the top of the water on its side yesterday. I did a water change last night fed it some peas tonight. I'm gonna do another change tomorrow night and I'll try the salt bath. I hope it feels better.
Certainly worth a try :) Is the glofish bloated? If it is eating peas, this is a good sign, if the poor girl is bloated. The peas will help clean her out, providing fiber :) This could also be something internal. Remember, salt baths can potentially stress the fish, and it really is only a remedy to decrease some bloating, taking stress of the swim bladder, so the fish can eat some peas to finally clean it out. Hope she feels better. Keep me posted :)
if the glofish isnt bloated but is doing the side swimming do u recommend the peas and the salt bath or just a salt bath? we have a sick glofish tetra. but its weird bc we have 3 fish in the tank and its the smallest of the 3 but it's the onky one that this affected thanks!
This epsom salt treatment bath worked wonders for my yellow Molly fish. After owing her for about 6 months she started to do loops, swim upside down etc. I tried to feed her cooked peas. She started to take to the peas after an epsom salt bath. Within 3 days shes about 80% better. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing!! Glad it was helpful and glad you Molly is doing much better! Thank you for watching!
How many times should I do this salt bath until I start to see my molly doing better? Once a day? Or more, or less??
Can I use fresh dechlorinated heated water to match my aquarium water or do I need to take 2 gallons of water out of my 10 gallon aquarium?
How often do you repeat a salt bath?
My fish had swim bladder problems because of bloating and gulpers that like to gorge. Most probably won’t agree with this method but it’s a little old school and works. I pulled Willie out and put him in a glass bowl. Put the bowl in a spot so he couldn’t see me come in the room. Grabbed a metal spoon, snuck up on him and wacked the glass a few times and scared the 💩 right out of him. 😏 He was happy and back to wiggling just fine. Put him back in with his buddies and he relieved himself in peace and not bloated anymore.. Oh this method works superb on skittish fish like a pro.. Js
Thank you! My fish rejects peas even if I fast him. We shall see how the Epsom salt bat goes
My pleasure! Totally empathize - when my guys are bloated, they won't eat peas either....won't eat much of anything since they feel so awful. Hope the bath goes well! Let me know if I can help at all along the way...
Thank you so much. My favorite fish is really doing bad right now and he won’t eat peas. So I’m trying this. Hopefully it works
So blessed to have found you video I'm currently at the store buying Epsom salt. I'm very upset my beautiful betta keeps sinking to the bottom of a tank besides that she's in perfect health I'm going to vacation and I showed someone how to feed her yesterday and I think I may have over fed her. Do you recommend a gallon yes or yes per tank(Epson salt one and diluted one).
I'm so worried that I don't even want to go on vacation anymore :-(
Andrea - I'm so very sorry I never saw this comment come up - I was check old videos and saw this. Thank you for the kind words and I do hope everything worked out ok. In the future, yes, you can use a gallon to a gallon in a half. If I can help further you can always email me at dmichaelsfishden@gmail.com. Very sorry I didn't see this comment. Hope everything worked out ok!
This was good to watch and great info! Thanks!
Are you supposed to use aquarium water or tap water? If you're using tap water, should the water be treated with water conditioner before adding salt?
Great video very helpful thanks mark.
My pleasure, Mark! Glad the video was helpful!
Thanks for the video, very informative. Should you use water from the tank for the bath or condition some tap water as you would for a water change and use that?
Max - so sorry for the late reply here. My pleasure on the video! You can use either - water from the tank or tap water with conditioner in it - either one is good 👍
Did your fish recovered from this treatment? I have mollies and they have the same bladder problem.
Thank you sir for this my wife and i was fighting for our fish misty's life she seems fine after bath..still 50% not sure about her life but she looks way better now bcs of ur advice thank you sir you saving many innocent life..🙏
Great tutorial! Helped my baby goldfish spot. 🐠❤❤❤🎉💯
Glad it was helpful Jennifer and very happy to hear it helped spot! Thanks for checking the video out!
No problem! It was bad the first time then he (or she) got saved because of you, my boyfriend & I ❤🎉! THEN it started again & all I had was lavender epson salt but decided to keep an eye on Spot & not use lavender because it has scent which is from an oil. She or he is good AGAIN! THE LIFE OF A GOLDFISH 😀 🐠
Oh I also drop half a skinless pea in there once in a while cuz I heard greens are good for thier health.
Lol...the life of a goldfish, for sure. You were smart and right not to use the lavender salt...chemicals in there wouldn't have been good for Spot. 👍
Excellent! Peas have more fiber in them than any other vegetable, which is why they are recommended. One little piece of advice, if you don't mind....what I've been doing is feeding peas once a week, even if my fish are fine. It just gives that extra fiber and roughage to keep them cleaned out - 👍 Now that you've got Spot all cured, it's a nice preventative thing to feed peas once a week
can i use dr teals epsom salt? thats all i have and my gourami is doing bad
pls reply asap
Ingenious way of utilizing a half-cut coconut shell.
Did u just scrub it w/ (just?) water 1st before immersing it in there?
Thanks!! I can't take too much credit though - I actually found it in the reptile section of a pet store (it was supposed to be for lizards). I figured....why not try it in an aquarium? The fish LOVE it as a hiding place. I did scrub it down with sponge in tank water prior to putting it in the tank to get any loose "skin" off. It sinks right away - like driftwood, over time it breaks up a little, but slowly. Also a great smooth surface for any little beneficial microbes to grow on :) Find it in the reptile section in your closest pet store!
I just lost a neon tetra to a swim bladder problem and now another fish has the same issue... I'm hoping this video will end up helping them
Hi Kevin - I hope it is helpful to you! Best of luck with your tetras!
What if my dwarf gourami is lying on it's side and sinking constantly? He's been like this for a month and I hand feed him
Yes the peas and salt help somewhat .. but she is still haveing the same issue and her belly looks very full .I'd it a swim bladder infection will the daphnia help ? or is something else I need ?
Thanks this helped me my tetra fish had the same issue but it was the worst stage it was upside down and floating but it was still moving i tried feeding it pees but its like trying to put ropes through an eye of a needle unfortunately it did not survive when i came back from the store with the salt it had already died but at least next time i know what to do
Oh and quick question is there any other way to feed tetras (tiny fish) peas ?? 😅
Andre - I'm sorry to hear that - but I'm glad the video was helpful. I hope it can help you next time. I thin a lot of us have lost fish in the past due to swim bladder issues.
Andre - It's tough - your would have to really crush up the peas - one other thing your could do, because you want your fish to get the fiber from the peas...is to try mashing them up with a little flake food - really try to create a mashed up paste...you can add a tiny bit of tank water to it so it is wet enough. Or...as you put the peas in, mash them up with your finger - this should create a "pea powder" that they can handle 👍
thank you for the advice i will definitely try it i had 5 tetra fish i lost 3 this week only so at least now i know what to do
This really really help, will surely try this for my girl!
Very glad I could help! Let me know if I can help further. Good luck with your girl! 😀
hi wow !! your giving me hope I'm sure my blackmoor has swim bladder issues she's swimming upside down .. but she's eating. I feeding her peas I also notice her belly is kinda fat so I will try the salt bath .. I'm trying my hardest to save her .. I'm going to get the apsom salt and try keep your fingers crossed I think she was over eating . I'm also going to fast her I only have two in the tank so I'm going to also give the other one peas but not the salt bath just. I'm so glad I ran into your video.thanks so much
Lisa - my pleasure! So glad it could help! You can also try dipping the peas into the diluted Epsom Salt solution before feeding. Let me know if i can help further - good luck. Good thoughts going your way 😇
Thanks for the video! I’m currently doing your suggested treatment on one of my cichlids. If I still see symptoms tomorrow, can I repeat this procedure?
Going try this on my two angel fish hopefully it works
Let me know! Hope it does work. Helped my fish.
does swim blatter disease also cause the tail to start rotting? because my betta is starting the go on top of the surface on his side, his tail and fins are starting to turn black. would he only have swim blatter? or does he have tail rot too?
Swag - swim bladder disease, and fin rot, can both be caused by bacterial infection, so it could be possible that it could spread to the tail. If this is the case, unfortunately, the baths won't help as we would need to treat this with a broad spectrum antibiotic solution. Here is a video I did on the topic that I hope is helpful: th-cam.com/video/LgQ3mS1jLsE/w-d-xo.html I would use either a combination of Kanaplex (this can be absorbed internally by the fish so it may get to the swim bladder issue) and either Jungle Fungus Clear OR Furan-2. If you don't have access to the Kanaplex, I would try Erythromycin. Let me know if I can help further
@@dmichaelsfishden Thank you! Definitely will screenshot this if this happens again. Sadly, he died this morning. It was to late to save him, but thank you for trying to help!
Swag - sorry you lost him. We've all lost fish - but....now you know what to do should it happen down the line...
Hi I have a molly fish with this same problem I also have another fantail in the same tank could I apply the correct amount of salt straight to the tank then do a water change two days later. ? Thanks.
So, did she end up getting better as a result of the Epson salt treatment? Did you do more baths after this one? My Betta is quite sick right now, he is VERY lethargic [still loves to eat, but I am fasting him now] I have tried so many things. I thought it was just constipation and/or swim bladder.... but today I saw the first signs of 'pinecone-ing' with worsening bloating - so I have come to the last resort of this salt bath. Hopefully, it will help, I hate to see him suffer. I have sadly had to also educate myself on 'Clove oil euthanasia' in case he gets worse. Thank you!
I tried the pea treat method a few days ago... he very happily gobbled-up the pea bits... but there has been no improvement... he's actually worse. There are so many things it could be - might even just be old age or something he already had when I purchased him. Sad though, next month would mark one year of my having him. Thanks again.
Great video Michael!!Thanks a lot.Wish I had watched this video long time back.I could have saved many of my fish.But it better late than never.btw how long should we continue this treatment?Does this work for every fish or there are exceptions?
Same situation with my angel fish, I have mine in a hospital tank, with Epson salt 1 -3 teaspoon in a 8 fallen tank, heat is high, shallow water just enough for the angel to swim comfortable, tried the peas, she didn’t like it. So I’ve tried to feed her manually, she won’t take it, I’ll leave it until tomorrow and probably repeat treatment. It’s been 9hrs and it’s still hanging in there. Any other advice would be great, thanks for your video.
Trying this with my female betta thanks for the video
My female guppy is swimming nose up. I haven't seen any other ideas of what might be wrong with her. I guess I'll have to try to salt bath and peas. Thanks. New sub btw.
I'm sorry to hear about your guppy! Yes, try an epsom salt bath to reduce bloating. You can do it once a day for up to seven days. We want to try the baths until your guppy starts eating peas. It's the peas that will clean him/her out 👍
And thank you for the sub! Proud to have you on board!
@@dmichaelsfishden I might just try the pea first then.
Did the pea work? If not, you try the baths, then the peas again when a little swelling is down 👍
@@dmichaelsfishden no. Unfortunately she disappeared among the plants and decorations in my tank. I found her belly up this morning.
Thanks so much for the advice, great tips and appreciated your quick response.
It's my pleasure, Aaron 👍
Can you use aquarium water or just straight plan water mixed with the salt?
Toby - you can use either. Just make sure if you are using plain tap water, use some dechlorinator like seachem Prime or Hikari Ultimate 👍Then just mix it with the Espsom salt. Of couse, aquarium water works great too - just make sure to discard that aquarium water after the bath - we don't want to pour the bath water back in the tank. Hope that helps! Thanks for checking out the video!
@@dmichaelsfishden Thanks. Hopefully the angel will get better.
Good luck, Toby!
Just curiosity, wouldn't pre soaking the flake food before feeding eliminate the problems associated with just pouring in the flake food?
Robert - You are right on. Absolutely :)
Well I'm on it then, less problems the better. Thanks for the knowledge. Your water siphon kit looks like a probe, did you customer build it? I like the idea of spot cleaning aside from making waves with my fine hole fish net. I tried following your salt bath method for a blue gourami last night but probably too far gone and the local store was out of kanaplex. I just don't think garami fish and Matten filters go together since everything is collected and exposed for a later snack. My other 40b has a hos "hob on the side" and never had issues with gourami health. That's what my money is on. Btw, I followed your Epsom ratio but I put a twist to it, I did the stage 1 concentration with the the same vol of water on stand by to add which diluted the sodium concentration to what the second stage calls for. Maybe less steps or convenient idea for someone in the future. Thanks again and great video
Robert - always my pleasure! Yes, I "custom built" that siphon with some parts from the local hardware store....I needed something smaller that could get in tight places for the smaller tanks. I'm sorry to hear about your gourami....unfortunately it may have been a little too advanced...but you are already on track to prevent constipation by soaking your food 👍 A great twist to the Epsom ratio! That sounds fantastic! In the video I wanted to put out some kind of guideline...but plenty of customization you can do!
Great video. Hope your Molly is doing well
+Ernies Tanks glad you enjoyed it! Hope it's helpful down the line. She is right as the wind now, thanks! The bladder issue was a symptom of the overall issue, feeding. Now that she's on her new regimen, problem solved! --d
hi there. 2 of my Cory's have been showing symptoms for over a week now. this morning one took a turn for the worse (on his side on the top). I hospitalised him, and just tried your technique. he coped ok but will see how he goes over night.. problem is I can't diagnose why they've got the problem, in order to prevent it happening again - if, he pulls through that is. will repeat tomorrow if he survives.. thanks
I used tap water with ager, and the buckets still have the water in them now. given the temperatures should all even out over night, should I use the same water tomorrow? I'm thinking maybe using it twice is ok? 3 days I would hesitate.. any thoughts?
dirtybishop - sorry for the late response. I've never had the issue with Cory's and I'm sorry to hear about this. There is a difference between a swim bladder issue and swim bladder disease. The only way to cure the disease is to quarantine, using an antibacterial medication, such as Melafix. You can use the same water if you like - all we want is no chlorine, chloramine, etc.....if the water is treated you can use the same, though I would change it out, just to be safe. Twice a day is fine, once in the morning, once at night. But remember, it is stressful for your fish. This technique is a strategy for getting bloat out. I've used it several times but as soon as my fish showed improvement, I stopped. You can use this technique, in my experience, up to 7 days. But I wouldn't go any longer than that. Also....this is a technique to reduce bloating. If your Corys have an actual swim bladder disease, only anti-bacterial medication will work. Let me know how thing go, and if I can help further 👍
No need to apologise.. any help is appreciated. To be more specific, I'll give you the longer story. I had one cory in the hospital this morning - who I treated with your method last night. This morning when I woke, another was on the top, on his side motionless.. still alive. At that stage I was a little stressed but decided to treat him with the salts also, and then place him into the same hospital. I noticed he has some blood around his side fins so I contacted the local fish store. He suggested it sounds like worms or a parasite which melafix may help with. After this, I noticed a third was showing the earlier symptoms that the previous two had shown, just general poor balance and not being able to sit/float still.
So, I have treated them all with melafix, and salt baths. I plan to give two more salt baths in the next two days and see how they go. As per the LFS guy's agreeance, I decided to put them all back in the larger tank - he said the melafix won't harm my betta or Rasboras at all.. anyway - at least if they pass, they'll be in their original home. Not sure what else I can do.. but thanks for your original video, it gave me the confidence to apply the treatment and almost instantly it helped with their balance issues - although certainly not as yet cured.
My pleasure, dirtybishop - hope things are still going ok. I'm not huge on medications, but the two I do like are Pimafix and Melafix, mostly because they are natural. Certainly won't harm your betta or Rasboras at all. Melafix is more of a bacterial agent, while Pimafix is great for fungal infections (white cottony growth on your fish). For reference, I've also used Melafix in the past to help my fish re-grow fins (if they were damaged on something in the tank). While the technique in the video is great for reducing bloat, the ONLY success I've had with serious internal bacterial or parasitic infections is if the fish are still eating, I'll medicate the food. But I've had to catch those early.....How are your Corys doing now? Any change?
dmichaels fish den well, the little guy who had blood on his side, has passed. I can't believe I cried for a fish - because I tried so hard to save him.. another is still not well at all, goes from floating in a weird position, to acting like nothing is wrong with him. he ate a little last night and was quite active at feeding time, but before that he almost looked dead. (I have just woken and checked the tank - he is in a normal position and seems OK).. the other two seem quite fine. the first one that was very sick seems to have recovered to about 80-90% health now. if these three survive it's possible I may have saved 2 of the 3 who showed symptoms, and the fourth probably would have developed sickness also.. will see :) thanks
Is it just normal epsom salt i would put in my bath or some special one?😅
So I went fishing and I got pumken seed when i go home my sister saved it but now it's not staying right up i heard pea helps should try both methods?? Dont wanna kill it now especially when I learned they "can" live up to 12 years
Hi! Should I use tank water for the bath or just conditioned water?
Hi Savanna! Good question. You can use either one, although, I prefer tank water :) Only because the water parameters will be exactly the same, so it will cause less stress to the fish. An example - if you have an older tank (like yours truly does), sometimes your nitrates can get higher in that tank (google Old Tank Syndrome). Your water out of the tap will have slightly lower nitrates, and this is a little off to the fish. However, if it's hard to use tank water, conditioned water is just fine - it's a good question between two options that are great and good at the same time :) Good luck! If I can help further please let me know!
This is very helpful! Can I use Epsom salt that is for foot soak that has cooling peppermint??
Geneshasym - thank you for the kind words! Glad the video was helpful! This is a very, very good question, and I have to admit you have me here. I don't know if the peppermint scent will be detrimental to your fish. In this case, I want to err on the side of caution and advise that I would just use regular Epsom salt. I would use any that has any scents or added ingredients in it as I'm not sure if that will harm the fish. I hope that is at least a little helpful!
Oh man I doubt you’re going to respond but I have a Corydora and her gill has red can I use this to heal her
do you have to dechlorinate the water before putting the epsom salts in?
Hi Lauren - Great question. In my opinion, yes, if using tap water with chlorine or chloramine in it. If you are using well water, it really isn’t needed. I know the fish isn’t in the bucket for a long period of time but chlorine and chloramine can be very toxic to fish - what I don’t know is how long a fish can tolerate it or if that short period of time can cause damage, so to be safe, I always add a little dechlorinator in the bucket. 😀. A few drops do the trick - I just like to be on the safe side when dealing with chlorine or chloramine. Hope that helps!
@@dmichaelsfishden Thank you for your tips :)
Hopefully you read this my dalmatian Mollie is acting strange shes not floating on top shes always at the bottom of the tank but I saw she was constipated last night she is super stressed out when I got her out of the tank she was frozen stiff like she was dead but she was still breathing idk if I should give her a Epsom salt bath I dont wanna accidentally kill her with stress
I’m so sorry to hear about your Mollie. Are her scales sticking out, like a pine cone? It sounds like she may have an internal bacterial infection. If you don’t want to stress her you might try a medication like Kanaplex which is absorbed through the body by the fish
So my blue rainbow fish also has a bladder infection and when she sits idle, will start to flip upside down. I have had this happen in the past with a different breed of fish. But i will try epsion salt first. But the only thing different with my fish is it has stopped eating. And not only her but the 2 other blue rainbow fish stopped eatimg as well and are just swimming right next to the sick one under the filter. Its like they know shes sick and are supporting her. All the other breeds of fish in my tank are still eating and acting normal. Its just the one sick blue rainbow and the two other blue rainbows supporting her. Its interesting to watch and hope this EPSION salt bath works. But do u think its still a bladder issue or a bladder infection if she stopped eating?