Some tips from Goldfish addicts

[Ichthius]

Hi Reptile

I feed floating food all the time...

I think if a fish gets gas that causes orientation issues or has problems with floating food I would argue that these are symptoms of SBD.

If the fish can properly regulate it swim bladder it can easily trim itself by expelling a bit of gas from the bladder to account for the fish farts or the floating food.

Again I think the real issue with floating foods is their over feeding that when a fish is stuffed full and they expand in the gut.

To me it makes perfect sense as this has lead people to soaking food (another pet piece but I'll leave that for another time) which lets the pellets expand so they are at full size before the fish eats them. With the pellets already expanded the food won't pack the gut like it can when it swells in place.

 

[reptileguy2727]

Soaking foods removes water-soluble nutrients so if you need to soak their food you really need to just find a better food.

I have heard of the hypothesis of the food expaning in the gut but have never seen any real data to support this. Do you have any? I would like to read through it if you do.

Those are symptoms of SBD, but that is not the only thing that can produce those symptoms. Many symptoms can be caused by multiple problems, this is one of them.

The stomach is highly expandable and fish won't simply eat themselves to illness. I just don't believe that the very little that food expands can cause any issues. As food expands in the tank (when uneaten) it becomes soft and can still be pressed to a smaller size with practically no effort (usually even smaller than the original pellet) so I find it hard to believe that this soft and squishy culprit is expanding in their gut and causing issues. I also think if it did happen they would simply regurgitate some, not simply keep this over-expanded stomach full of food.

 

[danceonwater22]

I agree with all of the above posts - you need to spread out your stoclk
Until you can do that, vacuuming the gravelat least 2x a week, increasing filtration, and adding some live plants will help out. Good luck!