Copperband with swim bladder

Maddie W · Jun 29, 2026

Hi everyone!

I’m really hoping someone on here can help me out. I’m assuming my Copperband is dealing with swim bladder? Can someone help me confirm this? I’ll be honest, I haven’t dealt with many fish issues in the 3 years I’ve been in the hobby. Also, how do I begin to help this poor fish? I’ve had it for a couple months now with no issues. Thursday evening is when I first started noticing it would be upside down at times but seemed to correct itself & continuing swimming around until it would flip upside down again. Anytime it got near the pumps it would send the fish doing 360s until it could right itself for a bit. My tangs started to bully it so I ended up moving it to the sump. It still seemed to have an appetite despite not really being able to catch any food. Each day it has gotten worse with spending more time upside down & trying to not be just floating on its side at the surface. I will attach some videos taken over the past couple days. I’ve tried researching how to help this fish but I feel like I’m not getting clear answers. Can someone please tell me where to go from here? I will try to answer any questions the best I can. I’m started to feel a little frazzled here.

the first video is from Friday night, the second video is from Sunday & third video is from this morning. Thank you fellow reefers!

vetteguy53081 · Jun 29, 2026

Maddie W said:
Hi everyone!

I’m really hoping someone on here can help me out. I’m assuming my Copperband is dealing with swim bladder? Can someone help me confirm this? I’ll be honest, I haven’t dealt with many fish issues in the 3 years I’ve been in the hobby. Also, how do I begin to help this poor fish? I’ve had it for a couple months now with no issues. Thursday evening is when I first started noticing it would be upside down at times but seemed to correct itself & continuing swimming around until it would flip upside down again. Anytime it got near the pumps it would send the fish doing 360s until it could right itself for a bit. My tangs started to bully it so I ended up moving it to the sump. It still seemed to have an appetite despite not really being able to catch any food. Each day it has gotten worse with spending more time upside down & trying to not be just floating on its side at the surface. I will attach some videos taken over the past couple days. I’ve tried researching how to help this fish but I feel like I’m not getting clear answers. Can someone please tell me where to go from here? I will try to answer any questions the best I can. I’m started to feel a little frazzled here. the first video is from Friday night, the second video is from Sunday & third video is from this morning. Thank you fellow reefers!

Fish is thin and appears to be moribund and actively dying, sorry to say
Brighter white lighting may help with possible causes

Jay Hemdal · Jun 29, 2026

Maddie W said:
Hi everyone!

I’m really hoping someone on here can help me out. I’m assuming my Copperband is dealing with swim bladder? Can someone help me confirm this? I’ll be honest, I haven’t dealt with many fish issues in the 3 years I’ve been in the hobby. Also, how do I begin to help this poor fish? I’ve had it for a couple months now with no issues. Thursday evening is when I first started noticing it would be upside down at times but seemed to correct itself & continuing swimming around until it would flip upside down again. Anytime it got near the pumps it would send the fish doing 360s until it could right itself for a bit. My tangs started to bully it so I ended up moving it to the sump. It still seemed to have an appetite despite not really being able to catch any food. Each day it has gotten worse with spending more time upside down & trying to not be just floating on its side at the surface. I will attach some videos taken over the past couple days. I’ve tried researching how to help this fish but I feel like I’m not getting clear answers. Can someone please tell me where to go from here? I will try to answer any questions the best I can. I’m started to feel a little frazzled here. the first video is from Friday night, the second video is from Sunday & third video is from this morning. Thank you fellow reefers!

Welcome to be Reef2Reef!

I wish I had better news for you, but that twirling is only seen in moribund fish that are actively dying, or those that have some neurological disease. Being able to resolve either of those issues is generally impossible.

strich · Jun 29, 2026

I'd never heard of the term 'moribund fish', but having looked that up...dang that's sad. I guess it's just another term of unknown terminal illness?

christinna77 · Jun 30, 2026

strich said:
I'd never heard of the term 'moribund fish', but having looked that up...dang that's sad. I guess it's just another term of unknown terminal illness?

Moribund just means the fish is actively dying/near death. It doesn't have to be from an illness.

Jay Hemdal · Jun 30, 2026

strich said:
I'd never heard of the term 'moribund fish', but having looked that up...dang that's sad. I guess it's just another term of unknown terminal illness?

Fish can become moribund from any fatal disease or condition. It’s a term I use, but I know it isn’t well known. I could say “dying” but that implies that the condition could be reversed, where a moribund fish cannot be saved.

How to tell if a fish is moribund? I look for a series of severe symptoms: inability to eat, little reaction to obstacles, inability to swim in a coordinated fashion, often rapid breathing.