Fish laying on its side

[gr1340]

In my small tank I have a fish that has been laying in its side for months, almost a year. It still feeds but swims on its side and spends a lot of its time like you see in the picture.
I tried various medicines for swim bladder infections but nothing has worked. Has anybody got any other ideas or is it likely to be something that cannot be cured?

[otolith]

Fancy goldfish like that often have buoyancy problems like this related to the way that their internal anatomy is distorted by the shape they have been bred to be. It may be constipated, which can precipitate the problem - try feeding it some tinned peas.

[Lotobear]

...perhaps it identifies as a plaice and is waiting for evolution to do it's thing?

[gr1340]

I did try some constipation relief for a week in a separate tank but it didn’t seem to help.
I feel sorry for it, I was very close to putting it down but decided to see how it went and that was months ago. As soon as food comes out it’s there so the only thing it’s missing out on is swimming around aimlessly like the others do.

[otolith]

I had a large one for years in a koi pond that was never a great swimmer. The pond had a gravity feed bottom drain into the filter system, and I was forever extracting the thing from the primary settling tank and chucking it back in the pond.

[ClassicMercs]

I had similar - swam upside down and on its side for years. Very sociable fish - always happy to see you and interact. Its the nature of the beast with these fish.
Sadly had to say goodbye just before Xmas. Got to the point where it was struggling to even move and not able to eat. Knew it was time.