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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