Pregnant goldfish?!??

[Brett97]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum and I have a very urgent question. I'm not sure if my goldfish is carrying eggs or if it has an infection. Sorry in advance for the long message. I really want to be thorough.

Back story:
I received 2 goldfish from my grandparents yesterday, as they could no longer take care of them. I transferred these 8-year-old goldfish from a very crammed 30 gallon tank to a 70 gallon tank in my home. So when the white goldfish (Pam) was acting strange, I thought it was a result of shock to the difference in water parameters. She was staying at the bottom of the tank with her butt in the air. She also looks very bloated. The orange goldfish (Uncle Ruckus), however was doing fine (swimming around, eating, etc.). I'm making an educated guess that Pam is a female and uncle ruckus is a male based off many YouTube videos on how to sex goldfish. Ever since I got them, uncle ruckus has been pushing up against Pam and always staying very close to her. At first I thought he was bullying her, hence why I named him "Uncle Ruckus". I read up that this was him trying to help Pam push out the eggs. When I look at Pam from up above, her body looks very symmetrical (her belly is evenly bloated on each side). Pam hardly ever moves from her spot in the corner of the tank near the pump and the castle. I did a water test this morning to make sure that wasn't the reason, and I had perfect water parameters (including temperature) for goldfish. At all times she is somewhere at the bottom of the tank in her akward position. She never turns upside down. I don't know whether she is bearing eggs or if she's sick.

I hope all this info helps, but I will monitor this forum as often as possible incase you have any further questions.

Thanks!

 

[ThatPlantedGuy]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum and I have a very urgent question. I'm not sure if my goldfish is carrying eggs or if it has an infection. Sorry in advance for the long message. I really want to be thorough.

Back story:
I received 2 goldfish from my grandparents yesterday, as they could no longer take care of them. I transferred these 8-year-old goldfish from a very crammed 30 gallon tank to a 70 gallon tank in my home. So when the white goldfish (Pam) was acting strange, I thought it was a result of shock to the difference in water parameters. She was staying at the bottom of the tank with her butt in the air. She also looks very bloated. The orange goldfish (Uncle Ruckus), however was doing fine (swimming around, eating, etc.). I'm making an educated guess that Pam is a female and uncle ruckus is a male based off many YouTube videos on how to sex goldfish. Ever since I got them, uncle ruckus has been pushing up against Pam and always staying very close to her. At first I thought he was bullying her, hence why I named him "Uncle Ruckus". I read up that this was him trying to help Pam push out the eggs. When I look at Pam from up above, her body looks very symmetrical (her belly is evenly bloated on each side). Pam hardly ever moves from her spot in the corner of the tank near the pump and the castle. I did a water test this morning to make sure that wasn't the reason, and I had perfect water parameters (including temperature) for goldfish. At all times she is somewhere at the bottom of the tank in her akward position. She never turns upside down. I don't know whether she is bearing eggs or if she's sick.

I hope all this info helps, but I will monitor this forum as often as possible incase you have any further questions.

Thanks!

I know this isn't probably what you want to hear but Pam has what looks like dropsy her scales are folding back and is bloated. Though I can't explain why uncie ruckus is going cray trying to push Pam. It does look like breeding activities but she looks like she has dropsy. I'm not sure but I have kept goldfish for many years PS sorry about long message

Hope this helps

 

[ThatPlantedGuy]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum and I have a very urgent question. I'm not sure if my goldfish is carrying eggs or if it has an infection. Sorry in advance for the long message. I really want to be thorough.

Back story:
I received 2 goldfish from my grandparents yesterday, as they could no longer take care of them. I transferred these 8-year-old goldfish from a very crammed 30 gallon tank to a 70 gallon tank in my home. So when the white goldfish (Pam) was acting strange, I thought it was a result of shock to the difference in water parameters. She was staying at the bottom of the tank with her butt in the air. She also looks very bloated. The orange goldfish (Uncle Ruckus), however was doing fine (swimming around, eating, etc.). I'm making an educated guess that Pam is a female and uncle ruckus is a male based off many YouTube videos on how to sex goldfish. Ever since I got them, uncle ruckus has been pushing up against Pam and always staying very close to her. At first I thought he was bullying her, hence why I named him "Uncle Ruckus". I read up that this was him trying to help Pam push out the eggs. When I look at Pam from up above, her body looks very symmetrical (her belly is evenly bloated on each side). Pam hardly ever moves from her spot in the corner of the tank near the pump and the castle. I did a water test this morning to make sure that wasn't the reason, and I had perfect water parameters (including temperature) for goldfish. At all times she is somewhere at the bottom of the tank in her akward position. She never turns upside down. I don't know whether she is bearing eggs or if she's sick.

I hope all this info helps, but I will monitor this forum as often as possible incase you have any further questions.

Thanks!

What you can do is put aquarium salt into their water as 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons I think. DONT QUOTE ME ON THIS. Research some more but if nothing works, you might have to euthanise. I'm sorry if it doesn't work out

 

[Brett97]

What you can do is put aquarium salt into their water as 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons I think. DONT QUOTE ME ON THIS. Research some more but if nothing works, you might have to euthanise. I'm sorry if it doesn't work out

Thanks a lot for the help. I'm very new to fish keeping. I just did some research on dropsy and it looks like pam has it. I will definitely quarantine Pam and attempt salt treatment and some antibacteria, but this seems too far progressed. I'm just hoping this isn't an infection, otherwise I might have to euthanize both of them. If Pam doesn't respond to treatment soon, I will euthanize her.

For now I will:
-Separate the two fish (Pam in a quarantine)
-put salt in both tanks (online it said 1tsp./gallon)
-put antibiotics in only Pam's tank for now
-feed rich, healthy food

Uncle ruckus hasn't shown any symptoms yet, so I'm hoping he's ok. I will keep this thread posted. Thanks again ThatPlantedGuy.

 

[Betta keeper]

Hi, I just came across this

I'm using Tetra fungal guard, in my tank currently and the package claims to treat dropsy. It was only 7.99 at my lfs

The relevant ingredient in this med to your problem, I believe is Nitrofurazone. Here's the package

I'm not a fish expert, and I'm sure that if this product is no good, another member will debunk it.... but if it were me, I would want to know about every option

Good luck!

 

[Brett97]

Hi, I just came across this

I'm using Tetra fungal guard, in my tank currently and the package claims to treat dropsy. It was only 7.99 at my lfs

The relevant ingredient in this med to your problem, I believe is Nitrofurazone. Here's the package View attachment 296176View attachment 296177

I'm not a fish expert, and I'm sure that if this product is no good, another member will debunk it.... but if it were me, I would want to know about every option

Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion! I live in Toronto and my nearby pet stores don't carry that. I did however buy Mariland's equivalent medication and added it to Pam's quarantine tank. I also added 3 teaspoons of epsom salt to her 4 gallons of water. She is moving around a lot more, but she's still not floating very well. She ate a few food food flakes an hour ago.

I'm preparing myself for the worst but I'm still optimistic that Pam will push through.

 

[ThatPlantedGuy]

Thanks for the suggestion! I live in Toronto and my nearby pet stores don't carry that. I did however buy Mariland's equivalent medication and added it to Pam's quarantine tank. I also added 3 teaspoons of epsom salt to her 4 gallons of water. She is moving around a lot more, but she's still not floating very well. She ate a few food food flakes an hour ago.

I'm preparing myself for the worst but I'm still optimistic that Pam will push through.

I'm glad it is going well. It may also help to feed her peeled peas, like round peas. It helps with digestion and the swim bladder.

 

[Betta keeper]

Yes, peas do help

You could offer a broccoli head to graze on, attached to a fork, so that she can eat at her leasure....it can be left in for a few hours before you pull it out. She looks plenty big enough to make a go of fresh greens

Is it just the angle or does she look a little less spiked than in the first photo?

 

[Brett97]

Yes, I'm going to start feeding her peeled peas and broccoli.
As for the spikes, yes they have gone down but that's a result of the Epson salts. The pressure in her abdomen has been released so her scales went down. It's just a question of whether she suffered organ damage because of the pressure. If she didn't, she'll be ok after all the bacteria and fluid is gone from her abdomen. If she did then there's nothing I can do.