


Fish suddenly developed severe buoyancy problems and is now barely responsive — what happened?
Hi everyone, I’m trying to figure out what happened to my fish and whether there was anything I could have done differently.
Yesterday, my fish suddenly started having severe buoyancy problems. It kept floating uncontrollably to the surface and couldn’t seem to stay submerged. The filter current would push it around, and it would repeatedly get stuck against the filter/decorations and then get pushed back down before floating up again.
Its belly also looked somewhat swollen. I didn’t notice obvious pinecone-like scales.
Because I was worried it was constantly getting injured by the filter, I temporarily moved it into a small, clean bowl with treated/dechlorinated water overnight. There was no filter or aeration in the bowl. I didn’t feed it.
About 9 hours later, it was still floating at the surface, barely moving, and sometimes had its mouth slightly above the water. I eventually moved it back into the aquarium, but it became even less responsive. I moved it back to the bowl, and now it barely moves or responds when gently touched.
it is originally in 20 gallon tank, and I haven’t cleaned it in 3-4 weeks so I don’t know how good water quality is
I’m really worried and want to understand what happened.