Help!! My 7 inch silver dollar is upside down!

Question
Is there anything I can do? Today i noticed my Silver dollar was swimming around in circles, and then started to float to the top. He seems desperate to swim back down, but he cant seem to control his balance anymore. I have had him for 3 years now and he is  a good size. Has he just grown old or is there something I can do to prevent him suffocating himself?

Answer
Dear Jen,
Sounds like your Silver Dollar has Swim bladder problems. The swim bladder is the organ responsible for controlling a fishes equilibrium. When something goes wrong with the swim bladder, the poor fish looses his balance completely and swims and behaves similarly to what you described. The most common cause of swim bladder problems is related to food. Maybe too much dry food was fed at a time or not enough variety in the fish's diet causes an impaction in the poor fish's digestive system and this can greatly interfere with the swim bladder's normal function.

The best treatment to this is to fast (not feed) your Silver dollar for at least 1 full day. Then you can try giving a thawed and deshelled green pea to your silver dollar. It may be hard for him to accept it but with careful persistance and patience, even difficult fish can eventually accept the pea and this helps clear any blockages in their systems.

Usually fasting and pea feeding is generally all that is needed for Swim bladder patients. You might try feeding the pea on the end of a blunt toothpick.

I really hope this helps!

Best wishes and feel free to let me know how he is doing,
Karen~