Swimbladder

About the Swimbladder
The swimbladder is a internal organ which allows the fish to control its buoyancy, meaning it allows the fish to remain level in the water and to rise and sink in the water column.

Problems
Swim bladder infections (usually bacterial) have the possibility of not allowing the fish to inflate or deflate their swim bladder. This has the effect of causing the fish to always sink or float respectively.

Goldfish
Fancy Goldfish have a large range of problems with their swim bladder due to some of their distorted shapes.


 * Starchy foods cause bacteria strains to develop which generate excess gas,
 * Female goldfish with distorted shapes may develop a mass of eggs which, as they mature, push against the swimbladder and reduce buoyancy.
 * Top feeding goldfish can gulp down air which leads to excess gas internally for a short time and floating fish.
 * See swimbladder article on KoiVet.com (Archived link Jan 2008)
 * Gab buoyancy page with images of goldfish and x-rays
 * Randi's Story - A goldfish's progress to solve its swimbladder problems