So I just brought home a new fantail who I think is having some issues. He was put into his tank yesterday but I'd like to get some advice as soon as possible.
I'm concerned because he has a few problems going on:
The most obvious is his floating problem, where he has a tendency to swim with his butt above his head and float upwards, as well as flip over belly up when at the surface. He's actually quite active despite this, and when swimming could sometimes pass as mostly "normal", although his swimming can also be very uncoordinated.
(He was swimming like this when I got him. I work at an aquarium wholesaler and since they can only sell healthy fish, I took him in as a rescue)
The second thing I noticed was his lack of appetite. I tried to feed him goldfish pellets once he was set up in his tank, where he ate half of a small pellet (a whole pellet was too big, he tried eating one and couldn't fit it so I broke it in half) After some researching I decided to try feeding him peas (properly prepared and cut into small enough pieces). He displayed absolutely no interest in them. Today I got some of the food he is used to eating, as I thought he may be more interested in something that he knows is food and has eaten before. Although he showed a bit more initial interest, he only ate one pellet.
The third I noticed today was the white-clear stringy poop. It looked mostly clear, partial areas of it a more opaque white colour. I don't really know, but it didn't really look like air bubbles. It's hard to tell because of how small he is ( I'd guess he's maybe 1.5 inches??)
If possible I'd like to find out what the possible causes might be. I've heard it could be constipation, or a problem with his digestive tract, like bacterial infections or internal parasites.
I'd really like to figure out my options sooner than later, although I can post updates over the next few days to see any changes.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured more information was probably better >.>
I'm concerned because he has a few problems going on:
The most obvious is his floating problem, where he has a tendency to swim with his butt above his head and float upwards, as well as flip over belly up when at the surface. He's actually quite active despite this, and when swimming could sometimes pass as mostly "normal", although his swimming can also be very uncoordinated.
(He was swimming like this when I got him. I work at an aquarium wholesaler and since they can only sell healthy fish, I took him in as a rescue)
The second thing I noticed was his lack of appetite. I tried to feed him goldfish pellets once he was set up in his tank, where he ate half of a small pellet (a whole pellet was too big, he tried eating one and couldn't fit it so I broke it in half) After some researching I decided to try feeding him peas (properly prepared and cut into small enough pieces). He displayed absolutely no interest in them. Today I got some of the food he is used to eating, as I thought he may be more interested in something that he knows is food and has eaten before. Although he showed a bit more initial interest, he only ate one pellet.
The third I noticed today was the white-clear stringy poop. It looked mostly clear, partial areas of it a more opaque white colour. I don't really know, but it didn't really look like air bubbles. It's hard to tell because of how small he is ( I'd guess he's maybe 1.5 inches??)
If possible I'd like to find out what the possible causes might be. I've heard it could be constipation, or a problem with his digestive tract, like bacterial infections or internal parasites.
I'd really like to figure out my options sooner than later, although I can post updates over the next few days to see any changes.
Sorry for the long post, but I figured more information was probably better >.>
I knew it was a pretty slim chance he would live since I got him when he was already sick, but I'm still pretty sad.
