Someone told me my fish have swim bladder disease. What is it and what should I do?

Many fish found in ornamental ponds have something called a swim bladder. This is a gas-filled sack

and has two main purposes. 1) It helps fish control its buoyancy and remain at a particular depth in

the water without having to actually swim. 2) The swim bladder keeps a fish in an upright position. If you

notice your fish is unable to control its depth, starts swimming sideways, upside down, or its head or tail

is down, it might have swim bladder disease.

There are intestinal parasites that can cause swim bladder disease, but it mainly comes from your fish over

eating, eating too quickly or gulping too much air during feeding time. When a fish gobbles a mouthful of food

pellets, the food expands like a sponge when it hits the water and fills the digestive tract too full and

causes constipation. This becomes more common in the fall when the weather changes and your fishes’ digestive

processes start to slow down. This is a good time to switch the food you are feeding to a lower-protein, high-carb

diet.

Believe it or not, one of the best ways to treat swim bladder disease is frozen peas. If you notice any of the signs

mentioned above, first stop feeding for a couple of days. Then hand-feed your fish some frozen peas. The peas will

blast through the impaction in their digestive system and reduce the pressure on its swim bladder.

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