Swim bladder disease in goldfish?
I have a fish tank at work with 6 goldfish in it. To be honest I don’t know what type of goldfish they are. They are all healthy except one who appears to have Swim Bladder Disease. He is a tiny copper coloured fish without a dorsal fin and he has a fan tail and bubble eyes. His name is Slick. In any event he either floats at the top or just bobs around but still has a healthy appetite. He’s been like this for a week now. I have read the other answers for swim bladder disease but would just like to know - if I withhold food from the fish, should I separate Slick or could I withhold it from all the fish? Would it do them any harm?
Thanks very much!
Thanks for the answer! I do the routine maintenance on the tank. I think overfeeding might be the main culprit as I am not office-based and I reckon that my colleagues add some food when I’m not here because these fish are very efficient beggars!
I will follow your advice and leave them to "fast" for the next few days, then do a partial water change. I use a de-chlorinating product and also sera nitrate before I put them back. The tank is cold water. It’s coming into summer here now (South Africa) so the aircon is turned down and the water feels cold. During winter the tank was almost body temperature, day and night. It is filtered and the tank has gravel, some pebbles, a small plastic plant, as well as a plastic "Dory" from Finding Nemo that releases air out of her mouth. I soak all of the pebbles, the plant and Dory in boiling water when I change the water. Am I doing anything wrong?
Tags: aircon, beggars, bladder disease, body temperature, boiling water, cold water, coloured fish, culprit, dorsal fin, fan tail, finding nemo, fish tank, Goldfish, Gravel, healthy appetite, nitrate, partial water change, pebbles, routine maintenance, swim bladder
December 12th, 2009 at 02:42
Withholding food from the whole tank for a few days will do them no harm.
Who does the routine maintenance on the tank? For 6 fancy goldfish you need at least 65-70 US gallons over filtered. As well as over feeding, water quality can cause swimbladder disorders.
I would suggest a smattering of some cooked deshelled pea (a fish laxative) a few days before their partial water change, then no food at all and see if that improves matters.
If Slick is still having problems it could be that over feeding has led to a bacterial infection in which case he will need to be isolated and treated with anti-internal bacteria medication (any "swimbladder medication" is the same stuff).
Edit: with regards to your maintenance, do not boil the substrate. While most good bacteria lives in the filter media (do not replace the filter media, just rinse off debris in old tank water) some also lives in the substrate. At each water change (should only be about 20% once a week) use a gravel vaccuum to stir and hoover the substrate, as long as it’s only 1" in depth, that’s all it will need (any deeper is unnecessary without live plants (which goldfish eat) and would just trap dirt). Watch the goldfish don’t get gravel stuck in their mouths, a known problem with small gravel. They really do better either bare bottomed or large stable river rocks (relying entirely on the filter media to keep water parameters stable).