Fish and Swim Bladder Treatment

A swim bladder is a sac located inside a fish's body that helps to regulate the buoyancy of the fish. It involves a lot of gas exchange and is near the stomach and intestinal tract, which makes it vulnerable to infection. Many fish eventually end up with a swim bladder disease in their lifetime. There are several possible causes, and each comes with its own treatment for the problem.

  1. Symptoms

    • The symptoms of a swim bladder disease include the inability for the fish to either float to the surface or get down below the surface of the water. It may also cause the fish to swim inverted in extreme cases. The disease may be accompanied with other symptoms depending on the cause, such as bloating with constipation, or physical damage with trauma.

    Constipation Treatment

    • Many aquarium fish end up becoming constipated for a number of reasons. If this occurs, the best treatment is to introduce more fiber into the diet. Many fish owners will feed a green pea to the fish in place of a meal to get fiber into it.

    Diet

    • Overfeeding may cause a swim bladder problem as well, which can lead to constipation or simply fill the stomach too much for the swim bladder to work properly. To treat this cause, change your feeding schedule to multiple small meals daily rather than one large meal, and give the fish a full day's food break weekly. You can also soak dry food before feeding it to keep it from expanding in the fish's stomach once ingested.

    Trauma

    • If trauma is the cause of the swim bladder issue, there is no real treatment available other than possibly surgery, which is not a popular choice. The fish will need the water level to be lowered for ease of reaching the surface, and you should keep the water very clean to avoid any new issues. The fish should live a successful life without treating the swim bladder problem.

    Antibiotics

    • In rare cases, bacteria may be present in the fish, causing inflammation of the swim bladder which keeps it from working properly. If all other causes are ruled out first, you can try giving the fish antibiotics to deal with a possible bacterial infection.

    Prevention/Solution

    • In any case, properly feeding your fish and keeping its water very clean will help avoid swim bladder infections altogether. A pea can replace a meal weekly in order to help avoid constipation if it is a known problem as well. These can be preventative measures or treatments for your ailing pet.