Fish Spitting Out Food And Floating Head Down

[Villy Valley]

Small goldfish (fancy) body size no more than a cm. Only had him 2 weeks. He is in with the other fish who are well established. Checked water last night and all is well. Other fish are find and dandy with no symptoms. Yesterday I noticed at feeding time that he took in food and then spat it out and probably ended up eating nothing. I watched him again in the evening and he did the same. I decided to do a part water change 25% and treat the whole tank with salts - which the other fish have had from time to time and are quite happy about it! This morning my little fish is floating with the water head down just bobbing along with the water current. He occasionally move his fins and I can see his gills moving. What can I do? I changed from stones to sand before Christmas as my black moor died from swallowing a stone and so I don't think it can be that he has swallowed something...... but I guess it is possible and he is definitely weighted head down.



Help

Villy Valley

 

[black angel]

If he is only a cm long in body then he should have been eaten by the other fish. What colour is he? If he is coloured and not the baby colour then the fish is seriously stunted.
Can you get a pic of him wth the other fish?
If he cant eat then it could be a stone thats stuck but his size doesnt suggest that, another is a mouth tumor, or he is too small to eat flake yet.
Try something soft like a bit of mushed boiled pea or a bloodworm or two. Brine shrimp as well might get his appetite back.
Is he big enough for you to lift out and see in his mouth?

 

[Villy Valley]

He was happily eating the flakes (that I break into little pieces and soak in tank water before putting in) when he first got in the tank. He shares with a black more and two fancy tail gold fish and 3 cloud minnows and 1 hillstream loach. They are a happy family and no one is fighting!! The true goldfish were taken out before Christmas when you advised me they shouldn't be in together. His body shape is as wide as long almost triangular with nice fin tail. He is multicoloured - splatter pattern.

Villy Valley

Just had another look and I would say he is a similar length to one of my smaller cloud mountain minnows including tail which has 3 peaks. His body is probably nearer 1.5cm and he is about 1cm wide his tail is almost as long as his body. He has eaten a few small live daphnia last week when I put it in as a treat. He doesn't looked damaged on the outside although his dorsal fin is down. The two sets of fins under him - the small set are fairly close in to the body - although they do not looked clamped and the second set are free flowing. There are not bruises or marks, no fungi no nothing!

Villy

Will try and post a picture.... give me a few minutes.

edit: Here is the picture: http/img131.imageshack.us/img131/8144/img13875hr.jpg
Villy

 

[black angel]

My isnt he cute

With the dorsal down and not eating he may have a parasite. The most common is gill flukes. Have you seen him flicker his fins or scrape or dart around the tank? Does he come up for air more than the others?
Take a look in his mouth to rule out any lumps or stones.
A fish will sometimes spit out the food and chew it again and again, does he do that?
With him being in full colour he will be stunted as at that size they should still have baby colour.

As long as he is eating something thats a good sign

 

[Villy Valley]

He hasn't really been acting strange - I do like to watch them. It was at feeding yesterday that I noticed him swallow food and then within a few moments spit it out again. A couple of the flakes did look a bit too big for him and so i wasn't suprised he spat them out - but he did it with the very small ones too and he took the hanging upside down movement while opening and closing while the food was in him. He hasn't been flash dancing. I will try and look in his mouth - I will go and net him.

Villy

Just netted him..... but did wonder if he would survive it

Looked at his gills - no inflamation. Can't see anything in his mouth. His scales look fine - no slime or marks. Put him back in and he appeared to perk up. Open and closed his mouth at me a number of times and gave me a good view close up at the front of the tank and I can see nothing in his mouth. Have now resumed his position floating head down.

Should I go and buy some live daphnia ...... the other fish will gobble it up if he doesn't. I don't really want to add chemicals if I don't know what I am treating...... should I take him out incase he has something contagious.

Villy

 

[black angel]

I would leave him just now and just observe him.
With floating that might be a swimbladder problem and the commonest cause is too much flaked foods in the gut. is the water warm? warm water helps the food go through a bit quicker so not fermenting and giving off gas. Food just passes straight through fish and flake food is hard for them to break down so maybe finding a granular food that sinks might be better for him. I feed my fish JMC high protein fish food, which is small enough for your fish to eat.
So starve him for the rest of the day, i would normally say for 3 days but hes so small and then feed some boiled garden peas and squash it up and he should eat that with no problems for a couple of days.
whats your nitrate level? some fish are sensitive to nitrates and that can cause them to turn turtle as well.

 

[Villy Valley]

ok will just observe. water is slightly warm. Did nitrite stick test last night and was slight tinge of pink - so nothing really. 25% water change was carried out too - although I do partial changes twice a week anyway. Will put in the daphnia granules that I have for a while rather than the flakes and see if that helps. But the flakes are not dry when they eat them and they do not feed gulping air at the top because I soak the flakes and they sink to the bottom.

Will let you know how he goes.

Villy

 

[Villy Valley]

Isaiah Wilson died in the night. Don't know why. Won't replace him for a while. Give the tank a chance to settle.

Villy

 

[black angel]

Oh no im sorry. Such a cute thing too