"Dinky" wrote in message
link.net...


"NetMax" wrote in message
...
|
| Fish regulate air in and out of an organ called a swim bladder.
This
| organ sits in the mid-point of their body's weight, slightly higher
up
| towards their dorsal fin. This organ usually works to keep their
total
| weight to be the same as the water (ie: tetras), so if they stop
all
| motion with their fins, they will just hang in the water, not
sinking or
| floating to the top. With catfish, it keeps them heavier. With
| Hatchetfish, it keeps them lighter. Whenever fish eat, the swim
bladder
| has to adjust according to what was swallowed. Some fish have more
| trouble with this than others. If the swim bladder is set to low
in
| their body, then any swallowed air will cause them to flip around
and
| swim upside down for a while (ie: goldfish). Tiger barbs tend to
drop
| their nose lower than their tails after a meal.
|
| In the case of your Lampeye, the swimbladder's ability to regulate
itself
| is gone, and the fish doesn't have enough air inside, so the fish
drops
| to the bottom. It doesn't understand this, so it swims to the top,
| before sinking again. How long it will live, whether it's
contagious
| etc, depends on the cause of the illness. Mechanical injury might
repair
| itself, organ failure or internal bacterial infection will probably
not.
|
| In nature, he would be eaten at the first sign of distress. In an
| aquarium, it all depends on who he has for company. You can
quarantine
| him and if curious, add a bit of Epson salt into the water. A
possible
| course of action is antibiotics, but that's not practical or
economical
| for single small fish. Maybe it is just getting old.
|
| NetMax
|
|

Damn, you're good. g



Thanks very much for the advice. It *is* an older fish. I had 3 original
lamp eye tetras who had about 5 babies in early 1999. I was down to 3 of
the babies when one of them died a few months ago. So now it's the last
two, 5-year-olds. He's still hanging in there and no other fish pester him
so I think I'll just keep a close eye on it for now.

I had heard of the swim bladder and could assume what it might do, but never
had a full explanation... and didn't know if it was something that could be
fixed or not until your message so thanks again very much!

Lydia