Orcas are top predators in the wild, and have developed sophisticated hunting strategies, many of them cooperative. In their wild habitat, a great deal of their time is spent travelling and foraging.

 

In captivity however, orcas are given no opportunity to hunt live prey; they are fed a diet of frozen fish which has a lower water content than fresh fish, leading to chronic dehydration.

A cause for dorsal fin collapse or flaccid fin syndrome is linked to dehydration as collagen (located in the dorsal fin) requires water to maintain its rigid structure, therefore dehydration will weaken the structure causing the dorsal fin to collapse.
Captive orcas are given ice and almost 40 kg of gelatine every day (a substance that is not natural to them) in an attempt to counteract this and keep them hydrated. 

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Their food schedule is normally based as a "prize" whom the orcas gain as a reward for succeeding in their performance. If their performance isn't good enough or the don't obey the trainers they aren't fed as a punishment.

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Not to mention that many orcas are on daily drugs every single day to treat chronic stress. According to  The Dodo, John Hargrove and other SeaWorld former trainers administrated medications to captive orcas in all three SW parks. What The Dodo report said: From antipsychotics (to decrease testosterone) to benzodiazepines (to calm the animals), the orcas needed a wealth of drugs to survive in a tank, and some of the drugs were so powerful they even put humans administering them at risk, the trainers allege. "I can respond with confidence that all of these medications are given as a result of problems associated with captivity," Naomi Rose said. "Wild orcas don't get any medications at all and they seem to do just fine." Tagamet , an antacid used to treat ulcers, was given daily to all the adult orcas, according to Ray, a trainer who worked at SeaWorld Orlando from 1987 to 1990. Ulcers are a problem in many captive marine mammals and are often related to stress and environment. According to Jett, who was a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando for four years in the 1990s, some of the orcas were "nearly always on antibiotics," like Clindamycin, to prevent infections. (tooth infection and tooth problems told in "Oral Degradation" fact). Antibiotics, in turn, can make cetaceans (whales, porpoises and dolphins) prone to fungal infections, so the trainers also injected the fish they ate with an antifungal medicine called Nystatin, trainers said. Orca trainers also use Antipsychotics, Benzodiazepines to keeps the new-born calves calm and contraceptives such as the use of Regu-Mate to stimulate ovulation in female whales and control pregnancy. The chemicals are so strong they can only be administered by male trainers since they can potentially cause a female trainer to become sterile.

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