swim bladder issue?

[ecoli73]

From my other thread...

Three days ago I noticed my dominant male eye biter is sitting on the sand...I think in a fight with my red empress(now boss) he injured either his tail or his air bladder. He still eats and still on full color but move with his tail dragging on the sand

The only amusing thing is in this pose, other cichlids would come up to him and do the mating dance and he would consent...Other fish are not bothering him, he does not have any external wounds that I can see.

Questions:

1) Is there anything I can do?
2) How long do you think it will take to recover or it will never recover?
3) Are there any disease actually mimic this that I have missed?
4) At which point should I euthanize?

 

[Robulus153]

I would move him to a low lit hospital tank if your able too. I had an acei and a placidochromis jalo reef lay low on the sand but they had wounded each other badly. I lost both of them as they no longer were able to stay up right. At that point i would say they are done for. I would also remove incase it does contract a disease and spread it to the neighbors. I use a 5 gallon bucket with an air pump.