EN
Carp swim bladder disease is more numerous in the last several years than ever before. Carp of all ages are affected and usually in large numbers each time. The disease causes heavy economic losses every year not only in Poland (7, 3, 4), but also in fish farm ponds of Germany, the Soviet Union, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia (1, 6, 11, 10). Numerous publications concerning swim bladder disease are often contradictory and do not give the final solution of etiology and pathogenesis. The majority of students suggest that swim bladder inflammation is infectious disease, however, the etiological agent is unknown yet (2, 1, 5, 7, 3, 6, 4, 11, 10, 9). Some authors state that lack of aminoacids and vitamins in fish feed, as well as alimenary tract disturbances which appear in intensive carp rearing, are the main causes of swim bladder disease (3). Generally, it is thought that in course of this disease the swim bladder is mainly affected and, when enlarged, it exerts pressure on nearby organs, causing secondary lesions (7). The purpose of presented investigations was to compare histopathological changes in swim bladder of carp which developed the disease in ponds with lesions produced by experimental bacterial infection.