Goldfish swimbladder question w/video

[jbimflyer]

Hi just an update on my son's goldfish Sharkey. I told of how he got sick when we went away for a week and the Auto-fishfeeder dumped way too much food in the water and caused a cloudy bad water condition. Sharkey got sick, but Priscilla did not. Now it's been a couple of months and Sharkey is doing better after treatments and being separated a while ago, but now I think he's developed either a new sbd or is showing symptoms of the prior one from the bad water quality accident. Anyway here is a video which shows both goldfish swimming and Sharkey showing possible signs of sbd:






I appreciate any feedback and advice. Thanks

 

[jlk]

I do not see a video link but perhaps it's because I am on the app. Can you provide some more info such as your parameters, water change schedule, tank size, diet? What symptoms does the fish have (floatiness, bottom sitting, bloating, red streaks, etc)? Thanks!

 

[Sharpchick]

I don't see a video either, and I'm on a laptop.

 

[jbimflyer]

I do not see a video link but perhaps it's because I am on the app. Can you provide some more info such as your parameters, water change schedule, tank size, diet? What symptoms does the fish have (floatiness, bottom sitting, bloating, red streaks, etc)? Thanks!

Yeah my bad, I was having some technical difficulties LOL. I'm still trying to get it linked. It sucks b/c the video does show exactly what he's doing. It's a little floatiness sometimes, and normal bottom sitting straight just like priscilla does, no red streaks(he's orange lol) and he doesnt look bloated. He just swims a bit tilted to the side though, and he is only the size of a piece of wrigleys gum.
The tank size is 20 gal, and I do atleast a 20% water change once a week w/stress coat, and a teaspoon of aquarium salt. Not sure of the parameters as I'm newb and I don't do it myself. The last time I took a sample to Petsmart they said it was well balanced. I have a fluval external filter for more gals than I have.

 

[jlk]

How long has this tank been setup with fish? My guess is a water quality issue in an unicycled tank. Water quality problems are the biggest factor in buoyancy issues. A good liquid test kit, a bottle of good water conditioner and lots of water changes would be the first things I would address to remedy the issue.

What do you normally feed? Diet would be the concern. I'll post some links below with more info- please ask if you have any questions!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

http://www.myaquariumclub.com/goldfish-101-11174823.html

 

[jbimflyer]

How long has this tank been setup with fish? My guess is a water quality issue in an unicycled tank. Water quality problems are the biggest factor in buoyancy issues. A good liquid test kit, a bottle of good water conditioner and lots of water changes would be the first things I would address to remedy the issue.

What do you normally feed? Diet would be the concern. I'll post some links below with more info- please ask if you have any questions!

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

http://www.myaquariumclub.com/goldfish-101-11174823.html

It's been setup for a few months now, first the two Goldfish, then I recently added 5 Panda corys... and I must say they all get along so well. My Goldfish treat them very well and they all seem to like each other, I was very impressed.

I use stress coat for water conditioning, and Easy balance like very other weekly water change. I'm pretty convinced that water quality is not an issue here, Priscilla has no issues. But I did notice a few times and even tonight that after feeding Sharkey 4-5 sinking Goldfish pellets, he starts to get floaty and starts just floating around like a homeowner that just ate a couple of plates of BBQ then went to bob around in his backyard pool on his/her back. Sharkey will even float perpendicular sometimes after eating with his like hes "standing" in the water.

When I skip a day of feeding he will swim normal and more deliberately. I also noticed after he pooped, he was swimming very normal again. Maybe he gets constipated?

 

[jlk]

Ok, thats alot of fish for a 20g even if they are small right now. Did you cycle the tank prior to adding fish or with them in it? I would start by increasing your water to 50% atleast once a week and invest in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Amazon as well as a few other places sell them for a decent price. Dont depend on a chain petstore that uses inaccurate strips to tell you that your water is 'safe'.

Next, I would start feeding these guys veggies daily and switch them to a gelfood as food seems to be making the buoyancy issues worse. Gelfoods can be homemade or purchased (Repashy or Mazuri). Please ask if you have any questions!

 

[Sharpchick]

Ok, thats alot of fish for a 20g even if they are small right now. Did you cycle the tank prior to adding fish or with them in it? I would start by increasing your water to 50% atleast once a week and invest in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Amazon as well as a few other places sell them for a decent price. Dont depend on a chain petstore that uses inaccurate strips to tell you that your water is 'safe'.

Next, I would start feeding these guys veggies daily and switch them to a gelfood as food seems to be making the buoyancy issues worse. Gelfoods can be homemade or purchased (Repashy or Mazuri). Please ask if you have any questions!

Agreed.

And the cories are tropical fish. Two goldfish in a 20 gallon are generating a lot of waste, which leads to high ammonia and eventually, high nitrates - something cories are very sensitive to.

I'd suggest you consider letting the cories have their own tank, with tropical tankmates, and as soon as possible, get the goldfish a larger tank.

 

[jbimflyer]

Ok, thats alot of fish for a 20g even if they are small right now. Did you cycle the tank prior to adding fish or with them in it? I would start by increasing your water to 50% atleast once a week and invest in a good liquid test kit such as the API fw master test kit. Amazon as well as a few other places sell them for a decent price. Dont depend on a chain petstore that uses inaccurate strips to tell you that your water is 'safe'.

Next, I would start feeding these guys veggies daily and switch them to a gelfood as food seems to be making the buoyancy issues worse. Gelfoods can be homemade or purchased (Repashy or Mazuri). Please ask if you have any questions!

Doesn't seem like alot, but I held off on adding a 3rd Goldfish for the water cleanliness factor, and the Pandas stay in groups so I bought the whole group rather than split them up.
The food change for the goldfish seems like a good idea, although Priscilla eats anything I put in there including the Pandas shrimp pellets. Can I get the gel food from a chain store? And should I only feed it to Sharkey since he has the issue. And what kinds of Veggies should I try and how? Thanks

 

[jbimflyer]

Agreed.

And the cories are tropical fish. Two goldfish in a 20 gallon are generating a lot of waste, which leads to high ammonia and eventually, high nitrates - something cories are very sensitive to.

I'd suggest you consider letting the cories have their own tank, with tropical tankmates, and as soon as possible, get the goldfish a larger tank.

I'm running a fluval powerfilter good for up to 50 gals, which has the foam, carbon, and biomax inserts. its been doing great so far for water quality, i'll see how it goes and stay up on the weekly water changes for now. The frequent water changes and carbon insert keep the ammonia to a minimum.
Yeah they say that they are tropical, but can handle a colder setup, and the way my aquarium is set up, it actually is good for both. I have a heater in the tank set at 70 degrees, which for pandas i was told 70-72 is fine, and not too warm for the goldfish.

 

[Sharpchick]

I'm running a fluval powerfilter good for up to 50 gals, which has the foam, carbon, and biomax inserts. its been doing great so far for water quality, i'll see how it goes and stay up on the weekly water changes for now. The frequent water changes and carbon insert keep the ammonia to a minimum.
Yeah they say that they are tropical, but can handle a colder setup, and the way my aquarium is set up, it actually is good for both. I have a heater in the tank set at 70 degrees, which for pandas i was told 70-72 is fine, and not too warm for the goldfish.

For a properly filtered goldfish tank, you need to be turning the water over 10 times the tank volume per hour. For you, that would mean filtration capacity of 200 gallons per hour.

That's why many of us who keep goldfish keep them in species specific tanks with sufficient room, and use more than one filter in the tank. If your one filter crashes, your goldfish tank can go south in a major hurry.

 

[jbimflyer]

For a properly filtered goldfish tank, you need to be turning the water over 10 times the tank volume per hour. For you, that would mean filtration capacity of 200 gallons per hour.

That's why many of us who keep goldfish keep them in species specific tanks with sufficient room, and use more than one filter in the tank. If your one filter crashes, your goldfish tank can go south in a major hurry.

Yeah but I understand it's to be atleast 10 gal per goldfish, and mine are only 3 inches each. The filtration for up to 50 gal should be more than equivalent to 2 (20 Gal) filters I'm assuming.

 

[jbimflyer]

Ok here's the link I tried to post in the op sorry for the wait:

http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab55/jbimflyer/f59c4206b961f1889b1eaf562efbba49.mp4