Float Bladder Problem

Villy Valley

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Hi

How long does it take for a fish displaying floating problems to sort itself out. This is a goldfish - fantail. She has been on her side now for 3 days. I have taken her out and put her in her own bowl. I have given her water treatment for this condition - she is still just drifting around looking dead apart from her gills moving. Will She recover and can I do anything to help at this stage.

villy Valley
 
Dispite popular belief, goldfish are not suited to life in bowls at all due to their size and being high waste producing fish- the minimum tank size for a single golfish is 10gals.
Swim bladder disorders can arise from a number of isses, from constipation, bad water quality or bacterial infections- the key to curing the issue is finding out what caused it in the first place :) .
How many gallons does the goldfishs tank hold, how often and how do you go about tank maintanence and what do you feed your goldfish?
 
Hi

It is a 28 litre tank. I do a 20% change each week and 50% change each month when I clean the filter. I have checked the nitrite level which is fine. I feed a mixture of dried daphnia and flakes. The Black Moor and two other fantails seem quite happy it is only this one that is affected. Have taken her out of the tank and put her in her own bowl today because I don't want the other to bully her. Am treating with No13 Swimbladder medicine. Not sure what else I can do...... we are on day 3

Villy Valley
 
What exactly are your nitrite levels though? If you don't have test kits for ammonia and nitrates i would also get those too and test your water asap.
Do you clean the filter out in tap water at all and do you use dechlorinator?
Unfortunatly your tank is too small for goldfish, they will be putting much strain on your tanks ability to handle the bioload- i advise you upgrade to at least a 30gal as this way you will not encounter water quality issues and desease rates will be much lower, the fish's health will be better overall but you should look up on cycling tanks if you are to upgrade your tank :nod: .
You should try feeding your fish some cooked de-shellled peas as her condition could be constipation in origin, the veg based foods will help clean her out so to speak- doing regular 3 times weekly water changes with dechlorinator(although don't take out more than 60% of water in one day) while she has her condition will also help take the strain off her swim bladder alot too :) .

edit: is the bowl filtered at all?
 
Ok will try the peas. I do use droplets for dechlorinating. No idea of NitrAte level. The pet shop said the tank was fine for what I wanted. I upgraded from a fish bowl which they sold me as a starter kit and later said you shouldn't keep fish in a fish bowl..... Mmmmm Now it seems you can't keep fish in the fish tank either. Why on earth are they selling a 28 litre fish tank if you can't put fish in them!!!??? As I know nothing about fish I took their advice. Now I guess I am paying the price - but the kids don't understand why the fish can't swim and looks dead.

Villy Valley


I clean the filter in the water I have taken from the tank and not in clean tap water.
 
Yeah its very fustrating, goldfish are often sold as fish for small unfiltered bowls but in reality they need a strongly filtered tank and the minimum tank size for any coldwater fish is 10gals, for goldys its usually 10gals plus 10-5gals more for every other goldfish you have. If well looked after they can often live to 20-30yrs old.
Basically though when it comes to testing water quality, ammonia and nitrites should be 0(with no exceptions) and nitrates preferably kept under 40(but you should at least have a trace of some)- if ammonia or nitrites exceed 0 you should do a 30% water change with dechlorinator imediatly, nitrates can be lowered by either adding live plants to the tank which absorb nitrates or by doing water changes :) .
If you need to clean your filter out, never clean it out in tap water as tap water contains chlorine which will kill off the beneficial bacteria that resides in your filter sponge that breaks down ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. You shouldn't need to clean out the filter sponge more than once every 10days- never use nitrates/ammonia/nitrite removal chemicals or ph altering chemicals as these mess up your tank enviroment and cause much stress to the fish.
As far as tanks go though, the only tropical/coldwater fish that can live in an unfiltered tank or a tank under 5gals is a betta, but that is purely because they have been bred in tanks like that for hundreds of years and have grown accustomed to small unfiltered tanks- unfortunatly this is not the same for goldfish.

As for the swimbladder though, just keep your water quality good and cystal clean, feed the goldfish some peas and continue treating the fish with the med and it should recover within a week or so :thumbs: .
Goldfish are quite prone to swimbladder disorders due to their extensive breeding and ability to chow down endless quantitys of food, as long as you don't overfeed the fish and do the above advice all should go fine though, good luck :) .
 

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