How to Fix Swimbladder Disease in Goldfish - wikiHow

Your goldfish is swimming sideways or upside-down, it may have swimbladder disorder. This can often be easily fixed.


1 Buy a package of frozen peas, or search in your freezer for the bag you bought two years ago. They are rock hard by now, so defrost them.
2 Take one or two peas and make sure they are nice and defrosted. Take the skin off.
3 Put the pea(s) in the goldfish's tank.
4 Keep trying. If the fish doesn't eat the pea immediately, remove it and try again later. The fish will eat the pea eventually, as all goldfish are perpetually hungry, and require a certain amount of greens in their diet for optimum nutrition. Until the fish eats the pea, withhold all other foods.
5 Alternatively, try feeding live, frozen, or freeze-dried daphnia to the goldfish.
6 The fish should be swimming upright in no time.

Tips Many goldfish diseases and illnesses are exacerbated by poor water conditions.
A fresh, clean environment is conducive to happy healthy fish.
Only one or two peas are needed.
If you are feeding out flakes or pellets on a regular basis, soak them for 5-15 minutes in a cup of tank water. Often there are numerous air pockets created in the food during production. This excess air can become trapped in the digestive system.
Peas work great but they may need cooked a bit not to mush but enough to soften them so the fish can get them down.
A goldfish with theses symptoms could also be reacting to being picked on by other goldfish in the same tank. You can also try putting the sick fish in a "hospital" tank to see if they recover.

Warnings The methods here are effective when there is waste matter trapped in the fish's digestive tract, causing a constipation that presses against the swim bladder, making it unable to inflate and deflate as normal.
Swimbladder disorder can be a side effect of bacterial infection, and the methods above will not resolve the problem if this is the case.
If your fish does not respond in 3 - 5 days, try medicating your fish with an appropriate medication obtained from a knowledgeable aquarium shop.

Another reason fish develop "swimbladder disease" is due to internal bacterial infections that prevent the fish's air bladder from filling or emptying properly. While peas are great for curing gas build-up in their digestive system, they are not able to cure this problem. Generally, the best medications for this are gram negative antibiotics such as Minocycline. Be careful when using these medications as the beneficial nitrifying bacteria in your filter are also gram negative, thus causing problems with elevated levels of ammonia or nitrite in the water.

Gotta love fish science.

I have found that nearly every time someone I know has a fish with swim bladder disease it is due to the use of floating food. When they make the switch to sinking food it clears the swim bladder disease up every time.

I am just tagging this on also:

What is 'swim bladder disease' and how do I treat it? Fish Health Care (Fishkeeping)

aww, dan will be ever so grateful xxxx

thanks for this, i'd never heard of the pea thing before

__________________
"If the wolf is to survive, the wolf haters must be outnumbered. They must be outshouted, out financed, and out voted. Their narrow and biased attitude must be outweighed by an attitude based on an understanding of natural processes."
L David Mech

We have doomed the Wolf not for what it is, but for what we have deliberately and mistakenly perceived it to be..the mythologized epitome of a savage, ruthless killer..which is, in reality no more than a reflexed images of ourself." -Farley Mowat

Because the pea is so big (but not too big) it pushes the gas out as it travels through the DT. Pretty clever, and simple! The highly renowed fish expert guy in America (forgotten his name) uses this to a 70% success rate. The other 30% is probably in need of anitbiotics, due to the swim bladder being bacterial related and NOT gas/food blockage.

It's not actually related to the physical size of the pea, it's simply the fact that peas are softer, more easily digestable and thus easier to egest than the bulk of dry foods.

It's also worth mentioning that swimbladder problems can arise as a result of tumors, either malignant or benign. As the tumor grows, it can press against the swimbladder and upset the equilibriiium (or in plain english, the balance of gas) inside the organ.

It IS the physical size AND the fact it is easily digestable.

And yes, there are other factors as you point out that can cause swim bladder, the ones I posted are just the more common ones. Hence why I posted the link, with more info and discussions about other causes!

With respect, I have to disagree with your claim about the size of the peas having an effect. There isn't currently any scientific evidence to back it up. A small fish certainly wouldn't be able to swallow a whole pea, it would have to be cut into much smaller pieces and each piece fed individually; thus casting reasonable doubt over the theory.

I am also aware that the thread in question was relating to swimbladder conditions brought about by constipation, however it would be better if the article also encompassed causes including tumors and damage to organs. Assuming a bacterial infection has been ruled out, it can't be said whether or not the condition is due to either constipation or tumors/organ damage unless the affected fish is cut open and examined. It could cause more suffering for the fish if its life is prolonged if the problem was in fact being caused by something more sinister than simple constipation or bloat.

Constipation is usually caused by a rectal blockage. Digestion is the process by which food is broken down mechanically and chemically from large, insoluble molecules into smaller, soluble molecules which can be absorbed into the bloodstream. Feeding a fish large food items will take longer to digest, potentially exacerbating the problem by causing further blockage. The texture of the foodstuffs offered is what plays the physical role in clearing the digestive tract. Epsom salts (Magnesium sulfate) are often used on fish to clear constipation, yet the salt crystals are hardly large.

A fishkeeper would be rather disappointed if they tried to feed a small goldfish whole peas and discovered that the fish wasn't physically capable of swallowing them, don't you think? Why do you think soft, high-fibre foods and plenty of water are recommended for treating constipation in humans? The size of the food has nothing to do with it.