Our Diagnosis
It sounds like your fish has a swimbladder infection
How to be sure
Swimbladder infections make it tough for your fish to swim properly and keep balance in the water. This may make them look like they’re swimming a bit lopsided, sinking down to the bottom or floating to the top of your aquarium. It’s also likely that they have a swollen and uncomfortable abdomen and so are not eating their food.
Step 1 – Treat your fish
- Remove the carbon filter out of your filtration – but don’t forget to return it 7 days after the last dose.
- Use Swimbladder treatment treatment, you can check the correct dosage for your aquarium size here.
- Also dose with Aqualibrium First Aid Salt – it helps boost your fish’s ability to fight the illness.
- Give your fish some time-out to recover – avoid excessive cleaning, re-decorating or adding new fishy friends.
- To re-treat, or treat another problem, follow the on pack guidelines for using more treatment.
Watch Out! – Treatments can sometimes reduce oxygen levels in the water. If you see fish gasping at the surface, you can increase oxygen by adding an air pump.
Step 2 – Treat your aquarium
- When fish are sick, always test your aquarium water for excessive ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or pH imbalance.
- Treat any unhealthy results to rebalance your water quality and give your fish the best chance of getting fighting fit again.
- Check all your equipment is working properly – especially filters and heaters (check your aquarium temperature with your thermometer). Carry out any maintenance needed, or replace faulty or broken parts.
