Fish cant swim, anyone know whats wrong?

Question

My sister has two black fish together in a bowl, and one of them appears to be dying. For the last few days its been floating on the surface, but not dead. Its facing up the right way and everynow and then tries to swim down but ends up floating back up again. It doesnt really move a lot and doesnt react if you tap the glass next to it. Its top fin appears to have a bite mark out of it.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

How big are the fish, and the bowl?  It may be overstocked depending on their size.  Make sure you test ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels to check that the nitrogen cycle has finished.  To learn more about the nitrogen cycle check out this website:

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.ht...

I hope that helped, good luck :)

Answer 2

The fish has a swimbladder disorder. Once its this progressed it may or may not recover from it depending on what's caused the problem.

It is primarily caused by either water quality issues (very likely in a bowl), over feeding/constipation, internal parasites, internal bacteria, physical injury or a birth defect.

You can try and first treat with cooked deshelled mashed pea and watch for poopy, keep water quality immaculate (difficult in a bowl, which is why fish should never be kept in a bowl). Do not feed either fish for several days.

If it still has the disorder you can try and isolate it and treat with anti-internal bacteria medication (fyi any "swimbladder medication" is just anti-internal bacteria meds). If still no result and no sign of improvement there may be little hope for the fish.

Answer 3

It may have been bit by the other fish or it could have something wrong with it.  I would call someone who is an expert on fish and describe exactly what you described here and see if they can tell you what is wrong.  

Answer 4

i know this problem coz this is what my fish had its called swim bladder and if you don't treat it soon it will dye you can get quite simple medicen which you can get from pet shops and you put it in the water in some cases it worked like my fish but in some cases it dusent work and its just the fishes time

so try it and c if it works

Ashlie x

Answer 5

its about to dieee or is asleep for days lmao