Fancies eating bubbles after feeding

[ryukins]

Today I noticed 2 of my fish are eating bubbles after feeding. One of them has had swim bladder issues before so I am worried he might get it again.

I am presoaking sinking pellets for 15 mins prior to feeding (they expand to double their size after soaking).

I tested my water just now and it looks fine:
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
10 nitrate
7.6 ph

I have some live plants, air stone, rocks and treated wood in the 38 gallon.

For now, I have turned off the air stone so they would stop eating the bubbles. The one with swim bladder is still hovering near the top and making bubbles at the surface.

Without the air stone my tank appears to still have alright water circulation/agitation from my canister's output so I am not sure if lack of oxygen is still an issue?

Any advice? Should I be concerned about this behavior?

[jlk]

Start offering them some cooked veggies every day. Cooked, plain broccoli florets are a great, easy one. Spinach, peas, cauliflower & zucchini are other good staples. Pretty much any plain, cooked veggie can be fed as long as its mashed in bits or soft enough to tear. Avoid heavy starches (potatoes, corn) and anything spicy (onions, hot peppers). Make sure you remove the shells on peas. Remove anything uneaten after 24hrs & replace. This will also help with swim bladder issues related to diet. Make sure you are only offering small meals of pellets- goldfish do not have 'true' stomachs & will gorge themselves if given the opportunity. Its better to offer a few small meals over the course of a day & have veggies available for grazing. Just my opinion, but presoaking a sinking pellet really isnt necessary- you will lose alot of the nutritional value by doing this. I would just offer them smaller, more frequent meals & daily veggies.

[ryukins]

Hmm I will try some cooked veggies. Regarding soaking the pellets, my fish "appear" to be so hungry whenever I walk near the tank they are waiting for the food to be dropped. If I drop some pellets with out soaking them they gobble them all up right away at the surface!

I will also try dropping the food in different locations to make them swim for it. Perhaps that would help. Seeing the pellets expand to double the size, I can't imagine that being good for the fish if it expands in their digestive tracts?

[jlk]

Goldies are little piggies! Yes, they will beg for food constantly & they always seem to be hungry even after eating. Offering veggies allows them to fulfill their need to graze constantly without ill effects & keep their digestive tract running smoothly. Dropping food in different locales sounds like an easy solution as well. If you do soak their food, limit the soaking to less than 5mins. You can also offer some 'real' foods for meals instead of pellets (bits cooked shrimp, salmon, tuna, etc) as these will not 'expand' or even consider making your own home-made gel foods (which wont expand either).