Black Moor Swim Bladder Advice

Hello friends, just looking for some input on next steps for dealing with SBD in my black moor.

Just to get the preliminaries out of the way:

Aquarium size: 40 gallons

Fish: Black moor, Redcap Oranda

Ammonia: 0

Nitrites: 0

Nitrates: ~5

Temperature: 74-77 degrees

Tank's been established for over a year, 30% water changes weekly.

No significant changes whatsoever prior to the issue arising.

They're fed once a day NLS 1 mm sinking pellets, with peas once a week after a previous SBD issue in the oranda.

I've had these two for a bit over a year now (sidenote: I've kept goldfish for much longer but my last two met an untimely end by raccoon). My poor little guy started showing some slight SBD symptoms about a week ago which turned into floating at the top upside down a day later. I started treatment again and fasted for 3 days and started feeding only peas.

He has definitely gotten better as he can swim to the bottom with less struggle and no longer flips upside down. However it's been 4 days now of only peas and he still flips and floats right side up at the top at times. It seems to get worse after he eats. When the oranda had SBD it went away in a day, so I'm concerned that the issue is still present after 4 days. The fact that there has been improvement makes me think it isn't something more serious, but I'm getting worried that it's persisting for this long.

The black moor is otherwise perfectly healthy, no shaking, clamping, good appetite, so I'm very reluctant to turn to medications. At the same time I'm worried about malnutrition due to only eating peas for too long.

So I guess my question is whether it's time to turn to medication for parasites/bacteria or if anyone else has had experience with SBD lasting for this long. I'm also quite frustrated that this happened despite my great care in maintaining good water quality and a varied diet and confused as to how the issue still arose with high quality food and water and no previous issues in the moor.

Thanks for your help.

 

Gypsy13 Goldiemom Rtessy

 

I'm sorry, I'm not going to be much of a help, never dealt with it myself. It sucks, it's one of the things that just comes with fancy goldfish sometimes, even if you take perfect care of them. Is the poo normal? And I've heard that daphina can work very similarly to peas, so you may be able to switch the diet up a bit with that. But just four days of peas won't cause nutritional deficiencies, after a week, it might start to be a problem

 

Try fasting him for a few days then feeding peas. (Daphnia is good too). It won’t hurt either fish to fast a few days if they’re still together. If it’s not some better after two days fasting, let us know? Please?

 

SBD is one thing I haven’t had to deal with yet. Gypsy13, can you teach us anything here?

 

Try fasting him for a few days then feeding peas. (Daphnia is good too). It won’t hurt either fish to fast a few days if they’re still together. If it’s not some better after two days fasting, let us know? Please?

Thanks Gypsy, just to clarify I should fast him in addition to what I've done previously? And then return to peas again?

 

Thanks Gypsy, just to clarify I should fast him in addition to what I've done previously? And then return to peas again?

Yes. There’s a few steps to take. This is the first and with any luck only step you’ll have to deal with. And don’t pay attention to those begging faces. They’ll be ok.

 

SBD is one thing I haven’t had to deal with yet. Gypsy13, can you teach us anything here?

Unfortunately, SBD can be caused by many things. Constipation being very common. SBD is more common in fancy goldfish and large goldies raised in too small tanks due to the crowding of organs. It can also be bacterial. There could be tumors or cysts. But, in this case we’re hoping for constipation.

 

UPDATE: Well after two more days of fasting he hasn't gotten noticeably better, but on the other hand he hasn't gotten any worse either. I've started feeding peas again but I'm starting to think I might just have a special needs goldfish now. I'm still wondering what caused the sudden onset of SBD if not constipation, but he's otherwise healthy and has no problems getting to food so I guess it's not a huge deal in the end.

I did buy some Prazipro on the chance it is parasites though. Anyone have experience with it? The label says it's very safe and won't harm the beneficial bacteria but I know better than to take them at their word for that.

 

UPDATE: Well after two more days of fasting he hasn't gotten noticeably better, but on the other hand he hasn't gotten any worse either. I've started feeding peas again but I'm starting to think I might just have a special needs goldfish now. I'm still wondering what caused the sudden onset of SBD if not constipation, but he's otherwise healthy and has no problems getting to food so I guess it's not a huge deal in the end.

I did buy some Prazipro on the chance it is parasites though. Anyone have experience with it? The label says it's very safe and won't harm the beneficial bacteria but I know better than to take them at their word for that.

I’ve used it and it didn’t Harm my bb.