Ram swimming oddly

Hello there!

One of my balloon rams has taken to swimming rather strangely. He's sort of tilted. His head and front half of his body will be aimed up and the bottom half and tail of his body is sort of dragging around lower than the rest of the body. Does this make sense? He does not ever swim regularly. In fact, he usually doesn't swim at all, he mainly just sits on the gravel but still at the same odd angle.

I have two other rams in the tank as well and they swim normally, but are not nearly as colorful as this one and not as big either. At first I was thinking it might be some kind of swim bladder problem, but when I watch him it doesn't look like that at all. It really almost looks like he's paralyzed and can't move the other portion of his body.

Anyone have ideas? Should I do something to help this guy or just let him keep on? He's been like this for at least three months and is the largest of my rams at 1 1/2 inches long.

Thanks, and here's a pic:

 

Are the fishes scales sticking out like a pine cone, or is it just me?

 

That is a marbled ram. Hmm.. Perhaps you would want to check the pH, nitrate, etc first..

 

Well his scales aren't sticking out at all; I think it might look that way courtesy of my flash. And I've never heard of them being called marbled rams before, just balloon rams. They're a hybrid of german blues and bolivian rams. My pH is 7.3 and nitrate should be quite low as I did a good sized water change and gravel vac yesterday although I don't have exact numbers.

Here's a pic that shows what he's doing a bit better.

 

Hm.. the pH and nitrates looks ok.. Sorry I couldn't find anything wrong with your ram :cry:

 

My only guesses are dropsy, constipation, and swim bladder. But swim bladder is the only one that would account for the swimming odd, but the way you describe it, it really doesn't sound too much like swim bladder.

I would start off feeding him a couple peas (nuke them in microwave for a few seconds and remove the shell) just in case it is constipation. I'm leary about suggesting medications if I'm not sure what I'm dealing with.

-Chelle

 

Thanks, I will try to give the peas. But their mouths are much to small to eat them so would it be possible to sort of mash them and still have them be edible? Lol, my microwave just died last night too! I'll have to go next door, they should get a good laugh out of that at least!

 

You can boil them on the stove. The microwave is just a little quicker. And yes, you can mash them a little. That's what I do when I feed them to my fry.

-Chelle

 

Thank you! I'll try this and see if that helps

 

kinda late. but its swim bladder because my male platy has that it is not to harmful to the fish though. be careful with small mouths and peas they can choak to death if stuck in their mouths

 

What can I do for the poor guy if it is a swim bladder problem? Anything to help him stay level?