Freshwater Tropical · Goldfish
Swim Bladder Disorder
Loss of buoyancy control — fish floats, sinks, or swims at odd angles. Common in fancy goldfish and overfed bettas.
Severity: Moderate
Swim bladder disorder is mostly a buoyancy problem with multiple possible causes: constipation (most common in goldfish), bacterial infection of the bladder, or physical deformity (especially in fancy goldfish strains).
Causes
Overfeeding dry foods that expand in the gut; rapid temperature drops; bacterial infection; congenital deformity.
Treatment
**Constipation type**: fast for 3 days, then feed a shelled, cooked pea. **Bacterial type**: 7-day course of an antibiotic in the water (Nitrofuracin Green or similar). Add 1 tsp aquarium salt per gallon and raise temperature to 26 °C.
Recommended medications
Antibiotic
Nitrofuracin Green
Wide-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal. Excellent for new fish, ammonia burn, transport stress, and quarantine.
from $32.00
Recommended equipment
Hardware that prevents, monitors, or treats this condition — listed with the most important first.
Feeding Systems
Automatic Fish Feeder
Overfeeding, starvation, maintenance
from $20–$100
View details →
Monitoring
Water Quality Sensor Hub
Multi-parameter disease prevention
from $200–$5000
View details →
Water Testing
Nitrite / Nitrate Test Kit
Nitrogen cycle imbalance, chronic stress
from $200–$500
View details →Prevention
Pre-soak dry foods, vary the diet with greens, avoid overfeeding.