kilin parrot buoyancy issues

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Charney

Charney

The Fish Doctor
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Nov 15, 2005
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I have had a killin parrot for a while now. When I got him he was relatively small and had no swim bladder issues. Now as he has been getting larger he has buoyancy issues. He cannot swim normally, and spends more time upside down then right side up. He still eats with vigor. Anyone else have this issues? i do not beleive he has any type of infection because he is systemically well and has had this problem for a while now. He has never responded to treatment in the past. Its a shame he is a great looking fish. Just wondering if anyone else has seen this.
 
i have not, and you should try to treat it because it is abnormal.
if he's not responding to some treatments, just try others.
 
i had one a while back with the same issue, no matter what i did or tried it never got better. eventually after months of the fish constantly upside down i ended up putting it down.
 
ive had a kilin for well over a year now, about 4-5" and extremely fat. he has no issues what so ever aside from being nasty as can be, and thinking he's a full-sized flowerhorn :)

so i would definatly look into it being swim bladder or some other disease. its most certainly not normal
 
I can't say I am an expert in any way however I think it would be unwise to just randomly treat your fish without knowing exactly what is wrong with it. If it is having trouble swimming or staying upright it does sound like a swim bladder problem. Where I see trouble with this is that it is a parrot cichlid which by all fish standards is a genetically deformed fish. Because this fish is genetically deformed it may have been born with a smaller or deformed swim bladder. If this is the case it may not have become apparent until the fish had grown larger and possibly the swim bladder did not. If this is the case then randomly treating your fish may end up killing it or making things worse. I can't say for sure because I have not seen the fish in person. Like you say he is a voracious eater and still mean as hell. I have seen many blood parrots with this condition, due to being a deformity. I can only assume it is the same with a killin parrot. I think the best thing you could do would be to create a thread in the fish disease or fish problems section and include a detailed video of the fishes behavior. Thats my advice anyway. Good luck and I hope your fish gets better.:)
 
dude, in all respect, the OP states in his original post that the fish swam normal when he first got it, and now it has no balance. This would lead one to believe it's not because blood parrots are "deformed". I think the "purists" have hyped that deformity thing up a lot more than it really is. Any fish that swims normal and then can right itself, IMO, has something wrong with it, and more than likely a swim bladder issue. I understand what your trying to get at, but by the information given, the fish is sick, and has nothing to do with being "deformed" IMO.
 
On the contrary, the OP states that the fish is systematically healthy. BP and other parrot fish ARE deformed, thus the mouth that can't close and a bent spine. No offense what so ever but saying that a blood parrot is not deformed is like saying Christopher Reeves was not handicapped. They are specifically bred to look that way by exploiting those deformed characteristics through line breeding. If you breed a parrot with a "normal" fish many of the offspring will indeed have similar deformities as the mother. I.e. bent spines or non-closing mouths, or bent tails. If you breed 2 "normal" fish the likelyhood of deformities is very slim. Any instance where "inbreeding" occurs there will be deformities due to an offbalance of genes. Take for instance humans. If BillyBob married his sister and had little Cletus, odds are he would be mentally challanged. Now getting back to the main point here, all I am trying to say is that mistreating a fish can result in greater problems. I am no fish expert and I do not fully understand the circumstances with this particular fish, however I feel that it is wrong to just simply start treating it for illness and if that fails to try a new treatment. More information is definitely needed and an expert or someone with previous fish ailment experience is required. Thus the reason I suggest you post a video of the fish. Also I would suggest testing your water, if it is indeed an illness your water could be the culpret. I would gather as much information as possible before you randomly start treating your fish. I would also like to ask exactly how long you have had the fish and how long it was before it started acting funny. This might clear up some confusion and make my post irrelivant. I am under the assumption that a while could be a matter of months. If you have only had it for a couple of weeks then yes I would have to say it is an illness. Also is the fish completely upside down? Is it always that way or is it normal sometimes? I have a parrot that is very spooky and spends 99% of the time completely verticle. Like I said more info is needed.
 
spending time verticle by choice is different than not being able to right itself. In my experience with this same issue, the fish died because it was not treated. It was normal just like yours and then had these issues and slowely died. I have had many parrots throughout the years, and that was the only one that had this issue.
 
ammonia, nitrite zero; nitrate negligible
I am trying to remember when I got the fish. My best guess is that maybe I have had him for a year and a half. He is about six to seven inches in length. I bought him at around three inches. He started having buoyancy issues when he was around five inches (mid summer?). He had several successful spawns with my red parrot for several months after being off balance. Over time it has progressed. At the start he was off balance, now he spends most of the time upside down when resting. His swimming is kind of loopy. When feeding he swims fine. Systemically he is well. Coloration is awesome. Do not remember when I treated him. I had him in a hospital tank for some time. Do not remember what I used, but when he did not respond I put him back in my main tank. I have attributed his issues so far to deformity. I have been in the hobby for a while and am normal very quick to pick up on focal and systemic signs of infections. Honestly, this does not fit. If there was an infection he would not still be this healthy after so much time has passed.
 
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