Angel Fish not well

Question
Hi Lynda

My three year old angel fish started swimming upside down on saturday. He is now lying on the bottom of the tank unable to reach the top of a 60 litre Bio-orb without sinking back down to the bottom. He looks healthy (no apparent sign of disease)He lives on his own in the tank and the water is clean, any ideas how i can assist in his recovery, I have not assisted in his end suffering as its my daughters fishy freind and she is quite upset at seeing her fish unhappy, she is 8.

Answer
Hello,
Most of the time this is Swim Bladder Disorder.  Swim Bladder is often caused by overeating, and poor diet.  This leads to constipation, and then to Swim Bladder Disease.  If left untreated, it may lead to Dropsy which is very difficult to cure.
Try feeding her  cooked frozen peas cut into little pieces.  Feed her nothing else for two days.  She must waste. If she refuses to eat, or if the symptoms continue for more than 12 hours, treat her with Kanamycin, or Tetracycline.  She must clean out her system.  Most fish love peas, and should be fed peas once a week.  On the day they eat the peas, they should have nothing else to eat for the that day.  Vary her diet.  Good quality flakes, pellets that you will previously soak, daphnia, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, plankton flakes are all good food for fish.  The more you vary, the healthier she will be.  Fish that are well fed, kept in clean water rarely get sick.  Always be careful not to overfeed.  It is better to feed them 2-3 small meals a day, than one big meal.  They have tiny tummys so we must be careful when feeding them.
I hope your little pet pulls through.
Lynda

Hi Noel,
You are very welcome.  I just want to mention  at this stage you will need to get him on antibiotics as quickly as possible.  Fish lying at the bottom of the tank, need an antibiotic to help them.  It is now too late for the pea, and I doubt if he will eat it.  Since Swim Bladder progresses quickly to Dropsy, I would treat him as quickly as possible.  Dropsy is very difficult to treat.  Experts cannot agree on a cure, or the cause.  Before it gets any worse, treat him...
Lynda