Help for LHs that lies on its side

[kadios]

Hi all!

Although I do not fancy Luohans(LH) much however it's still a living being, and its illness must be treated. Hope someone can offer some help.

I got 2 friends who got a LH each and they told me that their fishes had been lying on 1 side at the bottom of the tank. However, they are still surviving well, as quoted by my friends.

I suscept that it should be some internal infection (like to the swim bladder?). Anyone who keeps LHs encounter such problems before? Pls help to diagnose and recommend the best course of treatment. Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

[DL]

Hi Kadios,
Hope the follwoing helps :
Had a friend whose luohan had this problem. He used a timer to control the lights to on in the morning at about 6.30 am when the surrounding is still very dark. Then one morning, when he woke up, he saw his luohan upside down. Suspecting that it was swim bladder problem, used medication but no help. Brought it to the fish vet at Jalan Kayu. Many luohans in the hospital tanks there lying on their sides. Was told that this is a condition of nerve breakdown of the fish's nerve system, just like a stroke in humans. The suspected cause of the breakdown was due to the sudden turning on of light which caused the luohan to go into shock.

Treatment was to inject the fish with some kind of medicine to stimulate the fish's nerves and hopefully it can recover and swim again. Was told that it very much depends on the fish's will to live. Some of the luohans there still can force themselves to swim up when the food is thrown in but aftet that, it just sinks and lies on its side again.

As for my friend's fish, it did get up and swim after bout 3 days but after he brought it home, it floated to the surface of the water due to air in its stomach. The air can be released by using a syringe to extract the air and once this is done, the fish sinks to the bottom and takes bout 1 day for it to swim again. This process carried on for about a month as the fish keeps floating after about 3 to 4 days. Eventually, the fish was put to sleep.

rgds.