Elephant Nose Fish In Trouble..L

Question
Hello everyone, i have an emergency i wanted to address, need help right away.

Ive had my elephant nose fish for about a year now and hes been doing very well, just of late (past 2 days) he wouldnt eat as aggressively as he used to and is swimming a bit erratically, i suspect swim bladder or constipation, ive read peas are a great way to address both, but will a carnivore eat peas? If not what should i do?

Water info:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20
PH: 7.2
Temps Stable between 78-80F

He just began swimming UPSIDE down and cant swim steady at all.

Answer
Chris,     Yes they will eat peas even though they are carnivores. You may have to break the shell and take it out later. Unfortunately that is more of a way to keep it from happening. Because they hang mostly at the bottom even though your water quality is good you still need to clean the rocks with a syphon. Sounds like you probably do. It is definitely a swim bladder infection it affects their lateral line (like our equilibrium). The line running down the center of your fish the bladder towards the middle. We are going hit this hard and quick these guys are delicate when sick and give in easy though when well very hardy. You are going to need tetracycline for this toe of bacterial infection. Go to your pet shop and get enough to treat your tank for 7 days. It is usually one packet for 10 gallons and there are so many in a box. When you medicate take your carbon out of your filter but, do not turn your filter off. After your dome treating do a 40 to 50% water change and hopefully that will take care of him and anyone else in the tank that may get it. After this is all over then the peas are great so is lightly blanched greens like collard or mustard. You can out abit on the bottom or in a vegetable clip with a suction cup attached. Once a week. Now Chris , You didn't say what your feeding him even packaged blood worms sometimes can contain parasites. The erratic swimming is symptomatic of both. If you notice that the cycline isn't making a difference get coppersafe it is cheap and can be used with the cycline and will kill all parasites,but lets not over medicate him. Keep me up to date ....Good Luck, Tina