Pearlscale Swim Bladder Problem

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lostthoughts

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 4, 2019
Messages
3
Hello everyone,

I have a pearlscale goldfish in a 40 gal tank that is having a mild case of swim bladder problems. When not actively swimming, she floats to the top of the water like a little round fishing bobber and she struggles a bit to swim down to the bottom of the tank when she has a belly full of food. After her food passes she has an easier time swimming (but still floating), and she is showing no other signs of illness. Neither of her tank mates are showing any swim bladder issues and seem to be healthy. I usually feed the goldies repashy soilent green and NLS thera A+ 1mm pellets (I soak the pellets first).

I did have pool filter sand in the tank until I noticed she was eating it and getting constipated (it was causing her swim bladder problem to be worse). As of now, I removed the sand, fasted her for 3 days, gave her de-shelled peas, made sure the water parameters are good with an API master test kit, and I'm doing a water change almost every day. She is still floating to the top when she's not swimming around searching for food. I'm really worried about her long term quality of life and her dorsal fin since it gets flattened by the water surface when she floats.

Since this seems to only affect her when she isn't actively swimming... Should I continue to worry about it and try to find solutions? Or just give in to the fact that she may have to live this way? Is there any possibility this may be something she can grow out of? Any advice would be much appreciated!

More info about my tank:
40 gal w/ 3 goldfish inhabitants
AquaClear 70 HOB filter (no carbon media)
Sponge filter run by a Eheim 200 air pump
Nitrate reactor with DrTim's Aquatrics NP-Active Pearls
0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate (currently)
around 8.0~8.2 pH (same pH as my tap water)
 
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