Fish with swim bladder

rising_from_the_ashes

I think one of my fish has swim bladder problems, noticed last night that it was swimming "wonky" and this morning it's floating to the top a lot & is also going upside down/sideways etc.

Should I leave it and see if it gets better or put it out of it's misery?

(I hate the thought of doing that but if there's no hope of recovery I don't want it to suffer for days and days).


Thanks

picklepick

What sort of fish is it?

rising_from_the_ashes

It's a coldwater fish - not a "proper" goldfish but has a big fan tail and looks a lot like a black moor but multi-coloured (can't for the life of me remember what they are).

picklepick

Ah right ok, I know what you mean.
They often have swim bladder problems because of the shape of their bodies.

You can try feeding a cooked a pea. I used to pop mine in an egg cup with a little water and pop in microwave for a few secs. Take off the outer skin, cut into little pieces and feed to the fish. It will definitely help. If it doesnt eat the pieces straight away, take them out and try again a bit later on.

You may be overfeeding it. How much do you usually give?

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks pink, there's 2 of them (the ill one is the smaller and the big one eats like a pig). They usually get a good pinch morning & night and it's gone within a couple of minutes.

Will def try the pea!

Apart from the pea, do you think it's worth "starving" them for a day and seeing if that helps?

I'd like to give it a couple of days if it's not unduly suffering as it does have the odd "proper" swim.

thesim

I used to work in a garden centre, and found over-feeding a huge contributor to swimbladder. We used to feed the fish every few days and generally they were fine. When they were fed everyday there was no end to problems!

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks thesim, I've had fish for years and have always fed them every day (just shows - you learn something every day)! I'll reduce it down to once a day and then every couple of days etc (don't just want to suddenly starve them)!

Haven't been fed tonight (apart from a couple of peas) and will not feed tomorrow am in the hope it may help the wee one - fingers crossed.

kizkiz

A bacterial infection is a common cause of this, and medication can usually help.
Unfortunately, these fish are horribly inbred, and are really susceptible to genetic problems that can cause swimbladder issues.
At the end of the day, as long as the fish can still feed, then it can live for a long time

ailuro2

Google epsom salts bath for swimbladder, you can give him a soak in a solution with epsom salts to reduce the bloating.

don't feed them anything at all for at least three days once you've done the cooked shelled pea or cucumber trick.

you can get food clips that sucker on to the side of the tank since he probably won't be able to swim well enough to keep himself at the bottom to eat cucumber from the bottom of the tank.

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks everyone, he (or she as I've really no idea) seems to be swimming a bit better today!

Fingers crossed, I'll try another couple of peas tonight - think the other one may be about to pack his bags & leave home as no food on the go!!!!

Froglet

I assume you have good water quality,keeping on top of regular water changes and filter maintenance ? How large is the tank? All these things can cause problems,especially as others have pointed out,if you overfeed.