ornate's in trouble!!

[marvinbaker]

woke up this morning to find my ornate rather bouyant! he's about 14" and his mid section to tail seem to want to float, he's fighting it but i'm really worried. anyone got any good ideas? had him since he was 2" long and i'd hate to lose him but it looks really bad.

 

[Crazy Taco]

sometimes they just do that for a while keep an eye on him. and feed him a lot. if he eats hes still okay.

 

[X24]

sounds like a swim bladder issue.......lots of poly's seem to get that since they breathe with their swim bladder. Most of the time it seems to go away, but just keep an eye on him to be sure. its good that he seems to be fighting it, if he was just giving in, then it wouldn't look quite as good.

 

[beblondie]

Odds are and brace yourself for this its trapped gas from decomposing food
basicly it needs to um well for lack of a better term fart.
now how the hell do you make a bichir fart?you could try gently massaging the are gently pushing back towards the anal area the key here is GENTLY-Anne

 

[X24]

that woulda been my second guess

 

[EelOwner]

me too

 

[wangster11235]

i dont know if this will work with polys, but for fronts when they get air stuck in them you just add espom salt to the tank

 

[X24]

if he'll take it, feed the guy some pea meat (like pinch off a little of the outside of a pea, and squeeze out the inside) that always seems to clear fish, and i'm sure the gas should come out too.

 

[marvinbaker]

2 and a half days on and he's still fighting. massaged him twice but he's still got the same problem. fingers crossed he'll keep fighting it.

 

[12 Volt Man]

if he'll take it, feed the guy some pea meat (like pinch off a little of the outside of a pea, and squeeze out the inside) that always seems to clear fish, and i'm sure the gas should come out too.

would "bean meat" work better?

part of the problem might be that it will probably hard to get a bichir to eat that on its own.

perhaps 'force' feeding?

they say that frozen brine shrimp helps clear the digestive tract (from all the exoskeletons), this might help.

good luck!