Swim bladder problems are not
as common in Koi as in fancy goldfish.
I lost a fish with a bladder infection that was
not apparent until I did the post mortem. the swim bladder was half the size of
the fish's abdomen and as thick as a marigold washing-up glove. It must have
taken a long while to develop. The fish was an eight year old 8Kg mirror carp.
It's belly was as tight as a drum and it showed itself in last years hot
summer. The fish could not leave the surface.
My fish mean a lot to me
and putting the fish to sleep took a lot of doing.
The point I'm
getting to is swim bladder problems are many fold and swim bladder treatments
for a problem that could have upwards of 20 causes seems to me a waste of time.
Most swim bladder problems show them self in the spring or the onset of
cold weather.
Warm salty water at 20°C may help.
One reason
could be constipation. Alternatively the fish may have ovarian tumour or
infected impacted egg mass. This would look like your fattest fish but in fact
would have no reserve fat and is organically emaciated, with next to no liver
mass etc. The walls of the uterus could have tumours.
It could also be
due to cystic kidneys. These are large yellow through to orange fluid filled
sacks that arise from the caudal pole of the kidney.
The list goes on.
So swim bladder problems in fish keeping terms looks like a single
symptom but with many causes.