Epsom Salt For Swim Bladder/blockage/constipation

[garmon 1]

ok so one of my calico ranchus has been a little floaty. ive never had an ounce of problems with him or any of his tank mates.

btw

ammo. 0

nitrite 0

nitrate .10

ph 7.2

75 gal w 6 fish. 2 110 aquaclear filters, has been set up since jan.

any way ive fasted given peas.. fasted given salad supreme.. fasted more. he was doing acrobatics, he never completely flipped. then he just sunk like a rock one day and looks bloated.. so ive been fasting him and started metromed today since the fasting isnt working and im afraid of dropsy since he sunk .. he is 50% better after one dose of the food.. hes still having buoyancy problems but hes not wearing gravity boots anymore. so do i wait a few days and see how the metromed works. or should i give him an epsom bath.. i was reading that a 15 minute bath will help with bloating and blockages. he hasnt pineconed. he feels like hes got edema though. i handled him to look deeper into his mouth to see if i could see any thing( i *had* a moss ball and within a day they had eaten it in half. they tore it to shreads and there were puffs all over.it was a mess clogging up the filter thing) i was afraid he had a chunk of the moss ball stuck deep in there.. he very well could i just couldnt see anything. his poop is small and has some bubbles and just isnt much at all.

should i epsom to give him relief or wait so i dont stress him. he still has a voracious appetite. i feel like i should give him an epsom bath since im feeding him the metromed pellets and i dont want to cause him more discomfort by feeding him(although he does look better) what do you all think.. btw my hospital tank is broken.. i set it up and it was a fishkeepers worst nightmare. i heard a trickle in the den, i was like someone had better have left the water running! but no a huge puddle of water and a crack going from a chip in the corner all the way across. so im treating him in his tank and buckets. ive been putting him in a bucket to feed him and give him relief from the pressure.

edited to say the bucket water is the same temp and ph.

Edited June 5, 2010 by garmon

[garmon 1]

ok so i decided to try some epsom.. i have to say im pleased .. i did 15 min last night.. and hes in there now and there is a bunch of poop in the bucket.. maybe it is helping . or maybe its the metromed. either way hes looking better. and the poop looks better then before .. still smalish but not so green and bubbly

[garmon 1]

more poo today. it is still a little abnormal but the blockage is breaking up..i think i may have dodged a bullet. by they way he feels and his scales looked im sure i would have had full blown dropsy. epsom salt is a laxitive in humans does it work the same way in fish?

[Cynders 0]

It probably does work as a laxitive for them too if he pooped a lot. I'm glad it's getting better for him! That's great!

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fish-1472/Fancy-Gold-swimming-upside.htm That's an old post sayign that constipation could have caused it. So it must have just been constipation.

http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/fish-constipation-food.aspx This link also says that epsom salt will help with constipation.

[caitie 36]

Yes epsom is a laxative for fish fish too, sometimes you can feed a grain of epsom in a piece of pea and that will work if the constipation too.

I'm really glad your fish is doing better.

[garmon 1]

ill try that i really dont like takeing him in and out so much.. thanks