Sick Goldfish! Urgent Please

[ASquidabs0727]

I’ve had this goldfish for over 6 years. She’s a part of the family at this point. She lives alone in a 20gallon tank (fully cycled ofc) and gets weekly 25% water changes with Seachem Prime. There’s a video of her behavior and I wanted to get water conditions but my testing kits expired except for ammonia which is 0ppm. The problem- she’s floating upwards and her belly seems to be ‘bulging’ or extended to one side. She’s also kinda leaning sometimes to that side. Could just be simple constipation but, I’m concerned. She is strong enough to keep swimming down right now and has been eating everyday. However, if this is serious like swim bladder issues or dropsy I know I need to act fast. She’s not pineconing. You’ll notice in the video she’s missing a scale, it’s been like that for a couple months and will grow back eventually, it’s the only one. I did a water change about 48 hours ago because I notice her bottom sitting. This isn’t something she does. Her behavior perked up and hasn’t bottom sat since then so far. But, she’s clearly floating up more than normal and I don’t want her to get too weak and go downhill fast. My plan so far is to fast, increase water changes to every 2-3 days (cause prime neutralizes everything for 48hrs but daily if condition worsens), feed peas to see if constipation, and I’m looking into epsom salt treatments (i have aquarium salt and quite a few medications already from fishkeeping). Lastly, she recently had red streaking on her fins which was a whole other thread and month long thing. However, I thought she had recovered from it.

What is the epsom salt bath dosage? I keep seeing 1 tsp for every gallon and 1 tbsp for every gallon.

Any advice is appreciated! What could the diagnosis be??

 

[Frank the Fish guy]

Your fish looks fine, but is just a little floaty.

Feed your fish sinking goldfish pellets so it does not eat food from the surface and gulp air.

May I recommend: https://www.amazon.com/OMEGA-One-Goldfish-Pellet-Small/dp/B009POE9YU

I use these to keep my goldfish from becoming floaty.

Don't add any medicines or alter the water, this is just gulped air.


Goldfish have this problem which is why you should only feed them sinking food.

 

[Noroomforshoe]

You can try Epsom salt baths. If she is constipated, an Epsom salt bath can help move things along.
You need a bowl, container, small tank, pot, ... anything that you can fill partway and allow the fish to swim comfortably for 15 minutes. even a fish bag would work. The dose is one tablespoon per gallon, there are 3 teaspoons in a gallon, if your container is smaller than a gallon, you may need to do some estimating. let the goldy swim in the Epsom salt bath for 15 minutes, more than that is not ideal, but you can give it another bath the next day. FYI, It is best to use the fish tank water for the dip. Don't put the salted water in the tank when you return the fish. It would not hurt the fish if it is diluted, but it can affect the water hardess, and if you did it three days in a row, you could have major tank water changes.

 

[ASquidabs0727]

Your fish looks fine, but is just a little floaty.

Feed your fish sinking goldfish pellets so it does not eat food from the surface and gulp air.

May I recommend: https://www.amazon.com/OMEGA-One-Goldfish-Pellet-Small/dp/B009POE9YU

I use these to keep my goldfish from becoming floaty.

Don't add any medicines or alter the water, this is just gulped air.


Goldfish have this problem which is why you should only feed them sinking food.

That’s what I feed! Honestly they never sink
unless I soak which I do like half the time or push them down with my finger into the water.

 

[Frank the Fish guy]

Hmmm. They should sink!

When I put these sinking pellets into the water, they go right to the bottom where the goldfish pick them out of the gravel.

Goldfish should not eat from the surface. That is the reason for boiled peas by the way. They sink. So the fish don't gulp air.

 

[ASquidabs0727]

Hmmm. They should sink!

When I put these sinking pellets into the water, they go right to the bottom where the goldfish pick them out of the gravel.

Goldfish should not eat from the surface. That is the reason for boiled peas by the way. They sink. So the fish don't gulp air.

hmm I wonder why it’s different for me. it’s always been like that and i’ve gone through multiple containers. but, i’ll push them down or soak from now on. i’m still gonna fast for a little and try the peas tmrw to try and flush her system.

 

[mc12345]

Hmmm. They should sink!

When I put these sinking pellets into the water, they go right to the bottom where the goldfish pick them out of the gravel.

Goldfish should not eat from the surface. That is the reason for boiled peas by the way. They sink. So the fish don't gulp air.

Not to butt in, but I use the omega one sinking cichlid pellets and mine don't sink either. I've been through 2 large containers and half sink and half don't. The smaller pellets sink without a problem though.

 

[Frank the Fish guy]

Oh dear, must be some quality control problems at the fish food factory .
If it says it should sink and doesn't you must ask for a refund!

 

[mc12345]

Oh dear, must be some quality control problems at the fish food factory .
If it says it should sink and doesn't you must ask for a refund!

Ha I did. They sent me a replacement too and they didn't sink either. I guess I'm not the only one to have the issue.

 

[ASquidabs0727]

Update and new concern- As I mentioned in my original post, she’s been leaning to one side a lot. I noticed under her eye being more yellow than the other side. Her floating stopped the next day BTW. I’ve been feeding peas past two days and she just pooped but it was basically all white which normally I would be concerned by the color but I’m assuming it’s just a result of the peas. You can see the poop (lol sorry) and her yellow under eye in the first photo. This is also the side she’s been leaning into which you can see in the second.

 

[Frank the Fish guy]

Peas sink which is why we feed them to floaty fish! Glad she is not floaty any more. She is still a little floaty, but only on one side now. Keep feeding sinking food from now on forever.

 

[ASquidabs0727]

She’s bottom sitting a lot. I’ve kept up water changes every 48 hours. Doing another one tmrw. Still has an appetite and perks up when I go near the tank.
I read another thread with a similar problem and they added aquarium salt which makes sense. Does that sound like a good idea?