Aquascapes
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2013
- Messages
- 7
Okay so I don't know if anything really is wrong it's just odd and that's usually a sign something is wrong so... yeah. Anyway I have three small goldfish in a 2 gallon fishbowl. I have been removing about 1/3 of the water ever other day and replacing it with fresh to keep the water clear and aerated. The water stayed very clear and the fish seemed really happy until last week. One of my fish, Jasper, started looking a little bloated in his abdomen area and began swimming toward the top of the bowl. Not like gasping for air at the top but just floating there about a quarter inch below the surface.
On inspecting the bowl I realized it was a bit murky and that there were quite a few poops laying atop the gravel. So worried that this could be cousing the problem I bought a battery operated gravel siphon. It had a filter on it so the water could just spill back out into the bowl and I wouldn't have to worry about the water getting low while trying to clean out the poop, which sounded good at the time. Problem is when I used it the filter only caught the big stuff and all the little sludgy stuff just poured back into the water making it cloudy as heck. Then about a third of the way through I noticed that my poor fishies were having to swim to the other side of the bowl to escape the suction because it was so strong, which I know isn't good. I managed to get all the poop out but then as I said the sludge had made the water so clouded that I had to take like 1/2 (way more than I usually take) out and replace with clean water to get the sludge to die back down.
I have done two regular changes since then and discontinued use of the stupid gravel siphon but now Jasper is worse. His abdomon is even more bloated and as of this morning he wasn't responding to things like normal. Usually when I first put the food in they all swim down to the bottom for a few minutes before realizing it's just food and going back up. The other fish did this but Jasper just sat there in his quarter inch below surface position and ignored the food completely. I moved him into another bowl by himself with fresh water and started looking online to see if I could identify what was wrong but his symptoms don't seem to match anything illness exactly. So I thought I'd ask here and see if you guys could tell me.
His original symptoms:
- Slightly Bloated Abdomen
- Swimming about 1/4 inch below the surface of the water
His symptoms as of this morning:
- Really Bloated abdomen
- Swimming 1/4 inch below the surface
- Not responding to stimulation (e.g., other fish swimming past him, me dropping food into bowl, me tapping bowl to see if he would even respond to that, etc.)
His condition as of me leaving for work:
- Sitting at the bottom of the new bowl
- Hardly Moving
- And still rather bloated
Other Notes:
- He has not been swimming sideways or upside down
- He doesn't have scales sticking out
- He doesn't have spots or discolorations
- As far as I know he was eating until this morning
- I don't actually know if it's a he or she, I just call it he because I named it Jasper
On inspecting the bowl I realized it was a bit murky and that there were quite a few poops laying atop the gravel. So worried that this could be cousing the problem I bought a battery operated gravel siphon. It had a filter on it so the water could just spill back out into the bowl and I wouldn't have to worry about the water getting low while trying to clean out the poop, which sounded good at the time. Problem is when I used it the filter only caught the big stuff and all the little sludgy stuff just poured back into the water making it cloudy as heck. Then about a third of the way through I noticed that my poor fishies were having to swim to the other side of the bowl to escape the suction because it was so strong, which I know isn't good. I managed to get all the poop out but then as I said the sludge had made the water so clouded that I had to take like 1/2 (way more than I usually take) out and replace with clean water to get the sludge to die back down.
I have done two regular changes since then and discontinued use of the stupid gravel siphon but now Jasper is worse. His abdomon is even more bloated and as of this morning he wasn't responding to things like normal. Usually when I first put the food in they all swim down to the bottom for a few minutes before realizing it's just food and going back up. The other fish did this but Jasper just sat there in his quarter inch below surface position and ignored the food completely. I moved him into another bowl by himself with fresh water and started looking online to see if I could identify what was wrong but his symptoms don't seem to match anything illness exactly. So I thought I'd ask here and see if you guys could tell me.
His original symptoms:
- Slightly Bloated Abdomen
- Swimming about 1/4 inch below the surface of the water
His symptoms as of this morning:
- Really Bloated abdomen
- Swimming 1/4 inch below the surface
- Not responding to stimulation (e.g., other fish swimming past him, me dropping food into bowl, me tapping bowl to see if he would even respond to that, etc.)
His condition as of me leaving for work:
- Sitting at the bottom of the new bowl
- Hardly Moving
- And still rather bloated
Other Notes:
- He has not been swimming sideways or upside down
- He doesn't have scales sticking out
- He doesn't have spots or discolorations
- As far as I know he was eating until this morning
- I don't actually know if it's a he or she, I just call it he because I named it Jasper
