Sick goldfish

Honey-ec

Hi All, my sister is off work today with no access to a pc, so I said I'd post this for her.

Her son has 3 goldfish that normally "live" in his dad's house. However, he and his dad are gone away for a fortnight, so she's minding them while they're away. She's only had them since Sunday and she said today one of them seems very unwell.

He keeps floating on his side and nearly upside down at the surface of the water (and yes, he is definitely still alive!). She said the best way to describe it is as if his belly is full of air and it's dragging him to the surface and pulling him upside down like a flotation device.

Does anyone have any experience of this, or have any advice? She said it's really distressing to watch.

flynnc

it sounds like bacterial swinbladder infections cause fish to lose control of their buoyancy.
they will either float to the surface(usually upside down)unable to swin down or sink to the bottom unable to swin up or a mild infection will cause the fish to swin awkwardly from side to side.
just go to your pet shop and get a swinbladder treatment
hope this is some help

Honey-ec

Thanks Flynnc, that sounds exactly like what's wrong with him - I called over at lunchtime and had a look. Off down to Whackers with her to get a treatment for him. Hopefully this will sort him out.

Thanks again.

Nymph

My goldfish had a similar problem a few months ago. I was actually reccomended to put a small amount of untreated salt into the water. And feed it defrosted peas (skin off, cut in small pieces). It never ate the peas until a few days later when it began to recover. I also kept the water pretty warm. Type swimbladder into a search engine and it should give you better details. If he's not already better!

NarkyBoots

Hey there,

What works a treat is if you cook about 3 frozen peas. Drop them into the water and they will go straight to the bottom - your fish will nibble them and then the biggest and longest stringy poooo will appear in a while along with air (due to the fibre in the pea!) and all will be well.

In future - soak your fish food in a bit of water before feeding (like in a glass of water) and then pour it in. If the flakes are floating on the surface the fish can take in too much air while feeding.

This cured our goldfish and she lived for another 6 years.

ValerieR

Hi,
It does indeed sound like a swim-bladder issue. I don't know much about goldfish myself, not keeping them, but I have heard good things about a small bit of salt in their water.
I hope your fish is now feeling better.
ValerieR
www.irishfishkeepers.com

Jimkel

Dont use fricken table salt whatever you do! use aquarium salt you can buy in a pet store.Sorry to tell you this but Most likely poor water quality/poor husbandry is the underlying cause, so even if you threat the fish the problems will reoccure untill you get to the root cause. Raise the temperature, do a partial water change and threat the tank with ani internal bacteria OR anti swimbladder. Remove any chemical filtration and DONT feed for a few days, then try the peas, 1 pea at a time if it doesnt eat it take it out and try again later. A pea rotting in the tank will only cause more trouble.