So, what is swim bladder disease???

[Magnum Man]

I’ve never knowingly had it in my tanks… is it a virus, bacteria, or ??? is it contagious, from fish to fish, or is it something in your tank… is it treatable, or does it kill, before a medication treats it… does it seem that different kinds of fish are more susceptible??? inquiring minds want to know

 

[GaryE]

In general, it is a myth.

The problem isn't a myth, but it isn't a disease. It's a symptom of other diseases and problems, sort like how a human sore leg could be arthritis, an injury, inflammation, etc. There is no sore knee disease.

The swim bladders could technically be diseased, but they are air bags situated on both sides of the fish. They fill with gas to balance the fish, and the gas comes from the intestine. So a virus, an infection of the intestine or stomach, a tumour, a blockage - all can throw the balance off as all can block the bowel.

The swim bladder can be struck by another fish, or ruptured when a fish is roughly netted. It can be an accidental injury.

There is no disease though. It doesn't mean a company isn't out there hoping to sell a treatment for it though.

 

[fishorama]

Yep, as Gary said, symptom (sign) of "something", not an actual disease. Because of that, it's hard to treat for. I go with my usual, lots of water changes, & crossing my fingers, lol.

Some fish that breathe or "gulp" air at the surface can be more prone to it than others. Weather loaches, some corys, gouramis & bettas are more apt to have that problem, but other fish can have it too.

 

[Colin_T]

There are plenty of companies that sell swim bladder medications and they don't do anything to help. There is no cure for true swim bladder problems and fish affected by a damaged or malfunctioning swim bladder should be euthanised if there's no improvement after a week because they burn themselves out trying to swim with the rest of the fish.

Swim bladder problems do occur but are rare. The two signs of swim bladder issues are:
1) fish floats up when it stops swimming.
2) fish sinks when it stops swimming.

1) If fish float to the surface when they stop swimming, they can have a swim bladder problem or more commonly, they have air trapped in their intestine. The air causes them to float up. They get air in their intestine when they eat dry food or take food from the surface, they suck in a small amount of air with the food. To test this you simply stop feeding dry food for a week and feed the fish live or frozen foods instead. If the problem rectifies itself when dry food is removed from the fish's diet, then air in the intestine is the issue. If the problem continues after a week on live and frozen foods, then the fish has a swim bladder problem.

2) If a fish sinks when it stops swimming it probably has a swim bladder issue. However, some fish are stupid and eat sand/ gravel. They don't spit it out but swallow it instead. Axolotls and some aquatic frogs do this too. The gravel can become lodged in the digestive tract (intestine) and the fish sinks when it stops swimming. Swallowing gravel is very uncommon but does sometimes happen. Some fish do poop the gravel out and sand can normally be pooped out, but most fish that swallow gravel are going to die. Normally though, if a fish sinks when it stops swimming, it has a swim bladder problem.

A couple of other points. Most bottom dwelling fishes either don't have a swim bladder and naturally sink to the bottom when they stop swimming, or they have a small or non functional swim bladder and also sink when they stop swimming.

Corydoras regularly take air from the surface to help them gain some buoyancy in the water because they naturally sink when they stop swimming. They can also absorb oxygen from the air they swallow via their intestinal wall. You sometimes see them fart as a result, yes, they fart bubbles out of their butt.

Most loaches don't have swim bladders or have tiny ones that don't do much.

Swim bladder issues are not contagious and can happen to any fish at any time. There's no signs of an issue before it happens and a fish can be fine one day and have an issue the next.

Swim bladder problems are more common in fishes that are inbred or have deformed bodies (balloon fish and fantail goldfish). The fish with deformed bodies regularly have air trapped in their intestine due to having a shorter body and their internal organs are squished up preventing air and food to travel easily along the digestive tract. The inbreeding and shorter body also puts more pressure on the internal organs and swim bladder problems are more likely to occur when the organs are not able to work as normal.

 

[Colin_T]

These links have videos of fish with swim bladder problems and the fish sinks when it stops swimming.

Post #5

Vertical fish

I have a diamon headed tetra that for the last couple of days seems unable to swim on the horizontal. He is expending an enormous amount of energy trying to keep himself at a mid tank level in a vertical position. Any suggestions? We move house tomorrow and it's going to be stressful on the...

www.fishforums.net

Post #1

Neon tetra swimming weird

This is my neon tetra and literally today at 22:20 I came in and noticed he was swimming weird, he wasn’t doing this earlier or anytime before so I don’t think it’s swim bladder unless it can develop that fast. Someone help! Don’t know what’s wrong and I don’t want him to die

www.fishforums.net