# Blackmoor problems; Swim bladder?



## NatalieD (Apr 20, 2009)

Hi all, 

I'm new to these forums as i am a fairly new fish owner, I have one Blackmoor Goldfish that i've had for about 3/4 months now. He is about 2 inches long and is in a 60 litre (about 13 gallon) tank all by himself (with the intention that he will grow into it!) Over the last week ive noticed him having trouble with his buoyancy, he has started to taking mouthfuls of air from the top of the tank, diving back down and then blowing out the bubbles. He does this a lot and it has resulted in what i think to be swimbladder. I feed him 2 sinking pellets three times a day and have done since i got him. He has practically doubled in size since i bought him so i figured that this is about the right ammount to be feeding him. 

I thought that one reason for him gulping air may be to do with a lack of oxygen in the water, however, seeing as he is a tiny fish in a relatively large tank, there are two bubblers and 4 live plants in the tank i fail to see how the water is not oxygenated enough! I also know that fancy goldfish like blackmoors are genetially prone to having swimbladder problems but would this explain why he keeps gulping air?

I've fed him peas and it seemed to clear him out. I did find his poop had air bubbles in it (so he is clearly swallowing some of the air he is gulping) and once he had passed the air his buoyancy troubles seemed to go away. However he keeps returning to the top of the tank to gulp on air! I really don't understand why he's behaving like this! Everytime i look over he's doing it.  Could the swimbladder problems be related to a bacterial / viral infection? If so how do I sort this out? If this is not swim bladder related what else would make him gulp for air all the time? I do a 20% water change every week and do a gravel vac at the same time to try and keep his tank nice and clean.

Any ideas / suggestions?

Thanks


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