Save my fish!

Phoebs

Phoebs

Phoebs

Associate
Joined
17 Oct 2006
Posts
808
Location
Manchester,UK
Ive got two small big eyed gold fish (cant remember the propper name) and ive had them for around a month

feed them normal gold fish food and keep the water ambient temperature BUT for the last two days they have been struggling to stay down

if i tap the tank they swim around then immediatly float to the top, they simply cant stay down

any suggestions?

thanks
 
Phoebs said:
if i tap the tank they swim around then immediatly float to the top, they simply cant stay down

any suggestions?

thanks
Click to expand...
Try miniature lead boots, the kind deep sea divers use.
 
My ex's fish had this problem, the bloke at the fish shop recommended feeding them their food in ice cubes, reduces the amount of air they gulp. Worked too. :)

BTW - the condition is harmless.
 
It can be caused by too much dried food, try frozen bloodworms and the odd slightly squashed pea for a bit of variation.
 
how long are goldfish supposed to live for ?

my brother won one r 3 years ago and its still with us .... or is it


he doesnt look after it tbh and at most times the water looks like sewage before he cleans it.

how on earth has it stayed alive ..... have our parent swapped it out when its died :p they deny it
 
There is a "tonic" that you can get that helps to stop these ailments. I think it's called black water tonic or something similar...
Also try live food sometimes or frozen....
 
Try this... maybe the oxygen level of the water is low. you can easily sort this by simply scooping a cup water and pouring it in violently. this will put air back in to the water for the fishes to breath.
fishes go to the top for air.. they may live in water but they still need to breath.
 
if the scales are sticking out then this sounds like a condition called "dropsy" one of my businesses is to do with the fishing trade and i have seen this condition many times, hopefully its not as i dont hold out much hope for your fish. if they do die and if you can bear it on the dead fish, gently squeeze the fish and if it realeases lots of fluid then it is most definately "drops"
 
Pop into the pet shop, they have loads of medicines these days for fish.

BTW: Goldfish need cleaning out very often, they are very messy as fish go. Also 15 years plus is a good age I think.
 
Thanks guys. just put some food in the freezer to see if that works

the first thing i did when i was getting a bit concerned was to pour the water back in incase it was the oxygen.

they were cleaned out this week and they've been acting funny since. :(

dont think their scales are sticking out. they dont look any different.
 
Also get some dechlorinator to get rid of nasty chemicals in the tap water. £5.00 for a tube full and it'll last a year or so.
 
Phoebs said:
Thanks guys. just put some food in the freezer to see if that works

the first thing i did when i was getting a bit concerned was to pour the water back in incase it was the oxygen.

they were cleaned out this week and they've been acting funny since. :(

dont think their scales are sticking out. they dont look any different.
Click to expand...

When you clean them out, don't remove more than 50% of the water, maximum.

It sounds like a swim bladder problem, but it could also be "dropsy". If the fish start to swell up and their scales start to stick out, they have dropsy and are going to die a slow, painful death. The humane thing in that case is to kill them quickly.
 
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