swim bladder disease may be caused by many different factors including virus, bacteria or diet:
a virus can attack the epithelium of the swim bladder causing inflammation which makes the tissue too thick for gases to diffuse into the blood system. when this happens the fish exhibits lack of buoyancy because gases have nowhere to go. unfortunately, if this is your problem, it's untreateble.
bacterial infections can cause the same kind of thickening of the swim bladder epithelium as viruses.
anatomy ... globoid-shaped fish like ornamental goldfish are predisposed to problems with the swim bladder because of their anatomy which result in mis-placement of the bladder in the body cavity. this can lead to food impactions, which in turn clog up the pneumocystic duct.
feeding dry foods which tend to take on water like a sponge and expand in the fish can result in food impactions. due to the swelling/expansion of food in the gut.
so how are you going to treat swim bladder disorders? there are two means: prevention and treatment.
1. first and foremost, maintain good water quality. this will enhance your fish's ability to naturally resist viral or bacterial infection.
2. Pre-soak flake or pelleted food. this will allow expansion to occur prior to the fish eating it, and will lessen the chance of impaction.
3. try feeding your fish a couple of peas. peas high fibre content can encourage destruction of any impaction which might be present.
4. fast your fish for a couple of days. withhold all food for three or four days, and sometimes this alone will break up the impaction and return things to normal.
5. a product called Paragon II by Aquatronics® supposedly aids in treatment of swim bladder disease, but i have no personal experience with this.
6. add one teaspoon of salt per gallon of water.
7. treat with Mardel's Maracyn-two or other broad-spectrum antiobiotic.
8. last resort - aspiration of the swim bladder. essentially you stick a needle in the swim bladder and suck out some of the air.
