Have you noticed your fancy fish floating sideways, sinking to the bottom, or struggling to stay balanced even though it was swimming fine yesterday? This could be worrying because it indicates swimbladder disease in your pet fish. 

This is a common, but often misunderstood, condition in fancy fish, like Orandas, Lionheads, Celestials, and Bubble Eyes. It is not a specific disease in itself, like white spot disease (ich) or fin rot, but rather it is a general term used when a fish cannot control its balance in the water. 

It is common in goldfish and bettas, but it can affect virtually any fish species. But the good news is that the disease is often treatable, and your fish can experience a complete recovery. 

So, let’s understand more about Swimbladder disease in fancy fish and how to treat your fish. 

What is Swimbladder Disease? 

Swimbladder diseases refer to a condition that affects the fish’s swimbladder because of which they’ll experience difficulty in controlling their ability to float or sink in water. 

This condition is seen more often in fancy fish because of how they are bred. Fancy fish are selectively bred for appearance. They are ornamental varieties of common fish, most famously goldfish, which have:

• Rounded or shortened bodies 
• Long or flowing fins 
• Compressed internal organs 

Examples include fancy goldfish (oranda, ranchu), bettas, guppies, and mollies. Because of their body structure, fancy fish are more prone to issues like swimbladder disease. 

What is Swimbladder?

A swimbladder is a specialised organ that contains oxygen and gases to maintain neutral buoyancy at the fish’s desired depth. You can think of the swim bladder as a fish’s built-in buoyancy control system, similar to a diver’s buoyancy compensation device. 

The fish uses it to rise up, dive down, or stay where it is. The fish can regulate the amount of air in the swimbladder to maintain buoyancy. 

Symptoms of Swimbladder Disease in a Fish

Without swimbladder issues, your fish is neutrally buoyant, meaning it can swim up and down the water column with ease. However, swimbladder issues can cause your fancy fish to be positively buoyant or negatively buoyant. 

1. Positively Buoyant 

When you fish is positively buoyant, then you will see that it will spend too much time at the top of the water column, and cannot move towards the bottom of the tank. They can also float with abnormal posture, like being inverted. 

2. Negatively Buoyant 

If your fish is negatively buoyant, then it will spend most of its time at the bottom of the tank with facing difficulties in going to the surface or higher portion of the water column. Negatively buoyant fishes can also swim with abnormal posture, like being inverted or tilting downwards. 

Some other symptoms that your fish has swimbladder issues are: 

• The fish swims with its rear end higher than its head, or it is completely vertically. 
• Your fish sits with its nose on the bottom of the tank, and its rear is pointing up. 
• The fancy fish lists to one side or lies on its side and cannot right itself or swim about. 

If these signs happen suddenly, like your fish was swimming perfectly before, then it is more likely to indicate a swimbladder problem rather than a natural swimming pattern or body-shape limitation.

What to Do If My Fish Has Swimbladder Disease?

If your fish has swimbladder disease, then here’s how you should proceed to treat it: 

1. Check the water conditions 

First of all, test the water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, and also for GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness), and pH (a measure of acidity). Poor quality water is often the reason behind buoyancy problems. 

• If the ammonia or nitrite shows a reading other than 0, then do a partial water change and track down what increased the value of ammonia and nitrite. 
• If nitrate readings are higher than 40ppm, then also do a partial water change to dilute it. Try to keep nitrate levels below 20ppm. You should change water (partially) several times over the course of a few days to bring down the nitrate levels. Use a nitrate water change calculator to note down the levels. 
• Check the water temperature and try to keep it between 20-24 degrees Celsius. Use a water heater if the water is too cold. 

2. Check its diet 

Diet can also affect your goldfish’s buoyancy. For instance, a lack of fibre can cause constipation, and a blockage in the intestine can result in the build-up of gas as the food starts to decompose. The accumulation of gas in the gut can cause your fish to easily flip over. 

Some fancy goldfish may react poorly to certain foods, such as flakes. Feeding food that is not well tolerated can irritate the gut, leading to inflammation and excess gas. Avoid floating foods, as surface feeding increases air intake and raises the risk of swimbladder problems.

If diet is the problem, then here is how you can deal with it: 

Stop feeding your fish for at least 2 days. Then, start feeding your fish slowly. Start with defrosted, shelled, and chopped peas, because they act as a laxative for fish. You can also give daphnia or bloodworm as live food. 

Each fish is different, so you need to find a diet that matches your fish. You can try Intan’s Ornamental Slow Sinking Wafers, which have thymol, suitable for boosting digestion and health, for your fancy gold fish. 

3. Check for other signs or symptoms 

Here are the signs that you should also look for to see if the swimbladder disease is caused by infection or a parasite, because common illnesses in fish need prompt treatment rather than dietary changes or water treatment: 

1. Red streaks or visible veins in fins/tails 
2. Red patches on the body (other than normal colouration)
3. The scales stick out like a pinecone when you look at your fish from the top.
4. The eyes are protruding more than usual. 
5. The fish is keeping its fins clamped against the body. 
6. Tries to scratch itself on ornaments or gravel 
7. It flings itself sideways at the gravel and tries to scratch its sides or gills on the gravel. 
8. The fish is standing on its head, vertical in the water. 
9. It breathes heavily while sitting still. 
10. The fish’s poo is white, translucent, and stringy (usually, the fish’s poo is food coloured, and you shouldn’t see excessive amounts of it if the diet is balanced) 
11. The fish’s poo has bubbles (both coloured and non-coloured poo can have bubbles) 

Your fish has a bacterial infection if all the signs are visible or all till 1 to 5, 9, 10, 11. 

Your fish has a parasite problem if all signs or signs from 5 to 11 are visible. 

The Bottom Line

If your fish has buoyancy problems, then it is better to get started with water treatment to improve water quality and change its diet. However, if the swimbladder issue still persists, then it is better to pay a visit to an experienced fish keeper because the bacterial infection and parasites need to be dealt with urgency. 

You can try Intan by Growel Feeds, which is India’s first professional formulated fish feed. You can find fish food by food species because every fish has unique nutritional needs that support healthy digestion, proper buoyancy, and overall well-being. You don’t need to browse through the catalogue, answer three questions, and we will suggest the best feed for your fish!

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. Does my goldfish have a swimbladder issue? If your goldfish appears to struggle while swimming, it does not always mean it has a swimbladder problem. Many fancy goldfish naturally swim more slowly or awkwardly because of their round, compact body shape. This body design is not built for cutting through water efficiently, so that mild clumsiness can be normal. A swimbladder issue should be suspected only when you notice sudden or abnormal changes, such as persistent floating, sinking, or loss of balance that was not present before.
2. How do veterinarians diagnose swimbladder disease? The veterinarian would perform an X-ray to get a clear image of the swimbladder’s positioning and size. The X-ray can also help in showing if there is any fluid in the swim bladder or abnormal gas accumulation within the swim bladder, which may indicate infection, inflammation, or physical compression from surrounding organs.
3. Should I give medications to my fish with swimbladder disease? No, it is not recommended to immediately give medications to your fancy fish with swimbladder disease because many factors could cause the issue. Adding medication to the water is more likely to compound the problem. So, it is best to treat the water, change the diet, and visit an experienced fishkeeper if the condition worsens or doesn’t improve.