Theres a buldge in my angel fish

Question
Hello,
  I recently noticed that my freshwater angelfish had a little bump in its stomach. I then noticed that this bump had gotton bigger and is now the size of a quarter and is bulging out of each side of my fish. I keep a normally clean 55 gal tank and have had this fish for about three yrs. I also have other fish in the tank and they are doing fine. I thought that this fish was going to die as it can swim straight and moves up and nown fine from the bottom. But it seems like its off balance and has swam sideways and makes circles upside down in the tank. Its behavior hasnt changed its still the most agressive that i have and eats normally flake food as it always have. What do you think is wrong and it there a way to save it?
Thanks for your help
Jamie

Answer
Hi Jamie,
Sounds like a swim bladder problem caused by either constipation putting pressure on the swim bladder or a tumor.

The swim bladder is a special organ that helps control a fish's equilibrium.

Hopefully it is not anything serious. First I'd recommend you treat the angel by fasting him for a day from his regular food. Then after that offer him a shelled and mashed pea. The other fish are going to battle for it most likely so you may have to distract them with fish food on one side of the tank while you attempt to feed the angel on the other side. This can help move any blockages in their digestive track that may be interfering with the swim bladder's normal function.

Sometimes putting a grain or two of epsom salt inside the pea helps too. You can always treat the main aquarium with epsom salt but I'm not certain that will be needed.

Tumors and cysts are devastating to find in your fish, Because you cannot do anything about it and there are -very- few fish veterinarians available to help diagnose and treat lumps in fish.
If it might should be a tumor, the fish will very likely continue on with its normal behavior until the tumor severely affects internal organs and the poor thing loses its life.

But for now, try to make the living conditions as ideal for the angel as possible. Keep the pollution level low by doing twice a week 30% water changes. Review over the fish's general diet. Perhaps he needs more fiber in the form of regular pea feeding, some romaine lettuce, zucchini or algae wafers added to the tank a couple times a week along with regular meaty type frozen foods for supplement and a staple of high quality flakes/pellets. But beware, pellets can be the cause of swim bladder issues in many fish. They will swell too much with water after the fish eats them and cause these sort of problems. The solution is to soak pellets in a cup of tank water a few minutes before feeding.

This article helps explain swim bladder and its other possible causes in good detail.

http://flippersandfins.net/SwimbladderDisease.htm

I hope all goes well!
Karen~