Old bloaty goldfish

[cow]

can someone tell me if it is okay to give a gel food of the following to my goldfish, i was told on another site to do so, and i did and he is floating again, but he always does alot after he eats, but tonight he is a bit worse
I made gel from tuna, probiotic, mint tea, baby food sweet potatoes, baby food green beans, wheat germ, and psyllium and cod liver oil, garlic powder

I am concerned this may be why he is floating, he always floats but i wonder about some of the ingredients, will they hurt him, does psyllium swell or help with constipation, is it okay to give this mixture to him
He is old about 13 yrs and has had problems with floating at top for over a year, it is worse lately maybe due to my changing his food to pellets cant figure it out, I added a 1/2 tsp of epsom salt to tank, he is in a twenty gallon, all parameters except gh are good, his gh is 0 as i use water from a softener but always have, nothing new with that
two filters and airstone
Thanks
cow

 

[SKB]

What kind of goldfish do you have? And gel food is the best for constipation I hear. If that doesn't work try cooked deshelled peas. But for goldfish gel food is the best!

 

[cow]

old bloaty fish

What kind of goldfish do you have? And gel food is the best for constipation I hear. If that doesn't work try cooked deshelled peas. But for goldfish gel food is the best!

thank for reply, i dont know how to use this thread and post stuff, I just wondered if the ingredients such as psyllium or wheat germ, cod liver oil etc, will hurt him or make it worse for his consitpation and floating

 

[SKB]

baby food peas, tuna, garlic powder, NLS pellets, crushed, egg whites, gelatin, and a few spirulina flakes and one crused probiotic (acidopholis)

I don't know much about gel food for goldfish as I have never had problems like this. But I recently posted on someone else's thread about the same problem. What you see above is the ingredients they used and they said there goldfish is getting better

 

[jlk]

I have to question some of these ingredients. Potatoes- not a good idea at all. The heavy starches will aggravate problems. Psyllium- this helps humans in need of fiber, not fish. Mint tea? I am not sure of the logic on this one. Cod liver oil is fine. Garlic is fine. Probiotics are great. Opt for a different fish than tuna due to the heavy metal content. Stick to a basic fish protein and veggies such as spinach and peas. For right now, I would feed spinach and peas only for the next few days until his system is cleared.

 

[SKB]

I was just posting another threads ingredients as they said there goldfish was getting better off of it.

But with that said, I'm sure these people know what they are talking about with gel foods, as I said, I've had no experience with it.

 

[cow]

Hello, i havent been on here is a while to see the replies about my floaty fish, I have been giving him frozen brine shrimp and ocean nutirition green algae, along with a few flakes of food, the brine shrimp is given every other day and wow does he poo! So my question now is if it has been a few large poos wouldnt he be better or does it take a while for any impaction to completely clear,, Also how would i know if he had an infection of any kind, he eats like a pig, (I dont let him right now though) and swims every morning just fine, gracefully and not sitting at top, he knows it is time to eat so he is going around looking for food, but as soon as he gets it up to the top he goes, I jsut wonder if anyone esle has this problem and about how long should it take to clear him up, he is old, but still active, ONLY until he sits at top, so far for the past few days since i have tried this diet, he hasnt listed over on side, I just worry i might be missing something else. The water is good, and i do 3 gallon water changes every 3-4 days, it is a twenty gallon tank, I dunno??? Need advice. Thanks

 

[jlk]

Brine shrimp has a natural laxative effect (which you are seeing). I would stick to this , lots of veggies and some occasional soaked sinking foods or a homemade gelfood with better ingredients. It just sounds like he is suffering the effects of old age and there honestly is no cure for this. Just keep his diet healthy and the water clean.

 

[cow]

Brine shrimp has a natural laxative effect (which you are seeing). I would stick to this , lots of veggies and some occasional soaked sinking foods or a homemade gelfood with better ingredients. It just sounds like he is suffering the effects of old age and there honestly is no cure for this. Just keep his diet healthy and the water clean.

Thank you for reply, I was feeding him progold and peas, this is when he seemed really bad, are you the one i sent a message to about how to tell if they need antibiotics and if it could be parasite, as i never had any new fish or live food or plants?? What does garlic guard do?? I appreciate this , i am about sick from this, but feeling better as it looks he is feeling better, Have you ever heard of wonder shells, i have put a tiny piece in my tank, i use softened water from a whole house filter, but always have, wondered if this would hurt him, so i got a wonder shell, it made my water hardness go from 0 to 120, he never had this before either, the kh is down from 240 to 180 and ph down from 8 to about 7.6 or somewhere in between 7.6 and 8. no ammonia, and nitrates are 20, nitrites 0
should i add epsom salt or do a water change to lower gh back a bit to where he is used to??

 

[cow]

When you explained what brine shrimp is, and said you would stick to this, did you mean stick to using the brine shrimp or using veggies, Sorry i have been confused with all the reading i do!! Is brine shrimp safe for fish everyday?

 

[SKB]

For goldfish, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think brine shrimp is good everyday. I think, I think I read somewhere that can contribute to bloat

 

[SKB]

Disregard the last post!! I didn't notice jlk had posted, jlk knows what you need to know about goldfish!!! My bad )

 

[cow]

I heard that too, but it is working, I have one more question, with this going on for a month, should i medicate, I know the fish is defacating now and still sits at top, i dont know what to look for now, i dont see any marks, the scales are not bloated but do look a bit bumpy, from under neath, not tumors, jsut slightly bumpy when it swims in certain light, does any one know if jungle medicated food is safe as the fish is old and water is good, the medigold i could only use for 3 days as it made him really bloaty, it goes down the next morning, i suppose he "Goes" through the night and is ready to eat again in the morning, but i might be missing something here, please let me know, and forgive me for where i end up on here, cannot get it right, never did this before, thanks to all

 

[jlk]

When you mention the scales are 'bumpy', do you mean they stick out from his body? Look down at him from above and notice if the scales lay flat to his body or appear to be rough/stick out and let us know.

 

[cow]

When you mention the scales are 'bumpy', do you mean they stick out from his body? Look down at him from above and notice if the scales lay flat to his body or appear to be rough/stick out and let us know.

No his scales are not looking like pinecone, not at all, it looks some like they refer to in supersaturation, or i read about clumnaris, He dont act sick only that he floats, more like constipation, is is possible to get parasites if inever introduced new fish or plants or live food, Does anyone know if i can still find jungle medicated food, not parasite, but the one that has nitrofurazone in it? I have medigold and he gets floaty on it, also have maracyn 2 but never used it yet, Last night i noticed this if anyone know what this mean

He was floating at top most of the evening, before i went to bed, i looked at him, he had alot of bubbles coming from vent, very fast, then he dropped to bottom and sit a second with a few bubbles coming from mouth

 

[jlk]

I honestly doubt he has internal parasite issue- it would have to be introduced. Jungle was bought out by Tetra quite a few years ago and the Jungle line of medicated foods is no longer produced. Bubbles from his vent and mouth suggest he gulping air. If you would like to try treating him, my suggestion is to treat with metronizadole and praziquantel. You can either purchase them as individual meds (cheaper option) or purchase API's General Cure. Just check the GC ingredients- older forumulations contained different combo of meds than metro and prazi. The new formula is just metro and prazi. You will need enough to treat the tank for minimum of two weeks. Please ask if you have questions!

 

[cow]

I dont want to treat him with meds if you dont think he would have parasites, I do want to know what you think of my feeding him nls garlic pellets and some brine shrimp each day, seems the brine shrimp helps most, is it okay to feed this daily?? He DOES eat alot of bubble, I dont know how to stop this, even when he is done eating he will scoot along top or sit by filter outflow and eat bubbles, I have 2 filters that run pretty strong, and airstone , do you think i have too many bubbles in tank? It is a twenty gallon tank, water parameters are good, I alternate changing filters each time and clean out 3 gallons every 3-4 days, Any thoughts much appreciated, I am really thinking he gets gassy with anything i give him due to his eating bubbles!!
Thanks again

 

[cow]

Thank you for reply, I was feeding him progold and peas, this is when he seemed really bad, are you the one i sent a message to about how to tell if they need antibiotics and if it could be parasite, as i never had any new fish or live food or plants?? What does garlic guard do?? I appreciate this , i am about sick from this, but feeling better as it looks he is feeling better, Have you ever heard of wonder shells, i have put a tiny piece in my tank, i use softened water from a whole house filter, but always have, wondered if this would hurt him, so i got a wonder shell, it made my water hardness go from 0 to 120, he never had this before either, the kh is down from 240 to 180 and ph down from 8 to about 7.6 or somewhere in between 7.6 and 8. no ammonia, and nitrates are 20, nitrites 0
should i add epsom salt or do a water change to lower gh back a bit to where he is used to??

Is it possible i am over filtering, I have one whisper rated for 40 gallon tank and had to buy new biowheel, It is a 150, couldnt get the smaller ones anymore, he had this about 2 weeks ago and i had to change it, it stopped flowing, he actually has little bubbles sticking to him from so much action in tank, now the top dont look like you see in some pics, i can see down through water but it is moving, some pics show it so agitated you cant see down, Just wondering if this could be an issue, also have 6 inch airstone and its rated also for 40 gallon tank
thanks

 

[jlk]

I doubt your filtration is an issue. If your concerned, place filter foam over intake to dampen the flow. You can try turning airstone off and see if this helps. The bubble gulping is likely a bad habit at this point. Your fine to feed him some brine shrimp daily but he will need some other type of food to cover nutritional bases. Veggies are a good idea as well.

 

[cow]

floaty fish

I doubt your filtration is an issue. If your concerned, place filter foam over intake to dampen the flow. You can try turning airstone off and see if this helps. The bubble gulping is likely a bad habit at this point. Your fine to feed him some brine shrimp daily but he will need some other type of food to cover nutritional bases. Veggies are a good idea as well.

I read all over that fish eat bubbles because they need oxygen , how can i tell if my tank has enough of it in it?? I looked at some test kits but they are so expensive and some of the reviews say they dont work, should i add another airstone, this seems to make more surface action then the filters do, they push water out hard, but the airstone leaning straight up make surface move, If i took off one filter and added another stone would this be bad idea?? He even gets little tiny bubbles on his body, i see it when light is on, there are bubbles everywhere, from filters running and airstone, just wonder if any of this could cause his floating