Oranda floating after feeding

[JustinFoo]

OK... I found some time to duck out during lunch to get a heater and thermometer. Set it to 22 degrees celcius. Not much else I can do but wait I guess...

[Hubert90]

Originally Posted by JustinFoo

OK... I found some time to duck out during lunch to get a heater and thermometer. Set it to 22 degrees celcius. Not much else I can do but wait I guess...

What is ur temp now? Don't raise it more than 1 degree every 12 hours

[JustinFoo]

Originally Posted by Hubert90

What is ur temp now? Don't raise it more than 1 degree every 12 hours

Well, it's in the day time now and the temp in the water was 21 degrees. So it's just one degree My white clouds seem to be loving the new addition though...

[Hubert90]

Originally Posted by JustinFoo

Well, it's in the day time now and the temp in the water was 21 degrees. So it's just one degree My white clouds seem to be loving the new addition though...

Great! Good luck with everything.

[JustinFoo]

Originally Posted by Hubert90

Great! Good luck with everything.

Thanks! You guys have been great help with the many advice. I'll update this if I see any changes to the Oranda.

[Hubert90]

Originally Posted by JustinFoo

Thanks! You guys have been great help with the many advice. I'll update this if I see any changes to the Oranda.

just another idea. I feed my goldfish pellets 3 times a week, bloodworms once a week and frozen food for goldfish I brought from my Lfs once a week with one day of fasting. It works great! Other than pellets my oranda doesn't gasp for air!

[Mr. Limpet]

Originally Posted by Hubert90

just another idea. I feed my goldfish pellets 3 times a week, bloodworms once a week and frozen food for goldfish I brought from my Lfs once a week with one day of fasting. It works great! Other than pellets my oranda doesn't gasp for air!

Maybe pellets don't set well with it. Do you feed peas (shelled) to them? Once a week is what I do and they go crazy for them, zucchini is another one you might want to try.

[Hubert90]

Originally Posted by Mr. Limpet

Maybe pellets don't set well with it. Do you feed peas (shelled) to them? Once a week is what I do and they go crazy for them, zucchini is another one you might want to try.

O ya forgot to mention. I do feed peas once a week. Ya that's why Im thinking of changing my pellets. Always being a hikari person, gonna give nls a go! Zucchinis? Do u blanch it?

[Mr. Limpet]

Originally Posted by Hubert90

O ya forgot to mention. I do feed peas once a week. Ya that's why Im thinking of changing my pellets. Always being a hikari person, gonna give nls a go! Zucchinis? Do u blanch it?

Nope, don't blanch the peas either. I use plant weights to keep the zuc's down.

[Hubert90]

Originally Posted by Mr. Limpet

Nope, don't blanch the peas either. I use plant weights to keep the zuc's down.

O ok. Any reason y u don't blanch ur peas? Oo so u leave ur zucchinis whole? O wow how do goldfish eat them.

[Mr. Limpet]

Originally Posted by Hubert90

O ok. Any reason y u don't blanch ur peas? Oo so u leave ur zucchinis whole? O wow how do goldfish eat them.

I use frozen peas (defrosted) so the don't need to be blanched before feeding, if you use fresh then yes, blanch them.

For zucchini I cut it into a 1 1/2" wide, 1/2 round chunk and do a shallow slice up to the skin till it's small cubes of veggie meat (like a cube steak ), then slip a plant weight thru it and they'll pick at it thru the day and sometimes they'll even leave my plants alone lol.

[BeavisMom62]

I give my goldies zucchini as well. I do it a bit different than Mr Limpet. (Do you peel yours? I do because I didn't think they would eat the skin). Anyway, I peel them, slice them, put them in the microwave for a bit, just until soft. Then I put them in a zip lock freezer bag and keep them in the freezer until I want to feed it to them. Then back out of the freezer and I defrost them in some tank water with a little garlic added, use a veggie suction clip to attach it to the glass and its generally gone by the next morning.

I have a floating oranda too! It seems to be going around. There is no rhyme or reason that I can tell why mine does that. I've stopped feeding flakes and generally feed either Hikari Lionhead or there is a food that is supposed to prevent bloat that I buy from Goldfish Connection. ProGold I think it is called. Obviously its not preventing bloat in my fish but sometimes I wonder if it would be even worse if I didn't feed it to him. Who knows? Mine floats belly up, usually in the mornings and sometimes it will last for half a day. By evening though, he's generally fine. This happens once or twice a week and I can't figure out what causes it! Frustrating.

[Mr. Limpet]

Originally Posted by BeavisMom62

I give my goldies zucchini as well. I do it a bit different than Mr Limpet. (Do you peel yours? I do because I didn't think they would eat the skin). Anyway, I peel them, slice them, put them in the microwave for a bit, just until soft. Then I put them in a zip lock freezer bag and keep them in the freezer until I want to feed it to them. Then back out of the freezer and I defrost them in some tank water with a little garlic added, use a veggie suction clip to attach it to the glass and its generally gone by the next morning.

I have a floating oranda too! It seems to be going around. There is no rhyme or reason that I can tell why mine does that. I've stopped feeding flakes and generally feed either Hikari Lionhead or there is a food that is supposed to prevent bloat that I buy from Goldfish Connection. ProGold I think it is called. Obviously its not preventing bloat in my fish but sometimes I wonder if it would be even worse if I didn't feed it to him. Who knows? Mine floats belly up, usually in the mornings and sometimes it will last for half a day. By evening though, he's generally fine. This happens once or twice a week and I can't figure out what causes it! Frustrating.

I have to dig for the plant weight on occasion, because they eat the skin and all sometimes lol. Do you feed them peas (shelled)? That's the defacto meds for SBD in my research and there's no cure for it that I can find.

Seems like Oranda's have an aversion to pellets :\ since the OP is having the same issues as you with regards to pellets. Other than flakes, I don't know what else there is for a balanced food. seems to me Jsoong mentioned a homemade food somewhere (here?) and that might be an option to try out.

Good luck and please keep us posted, so others can benefit from anything learned.

[jsoong]

Originally Posted by Mr. Limpet

seems to me Jsoong mentioned a homemade food somewhere (here?) and that might be an option to try out.

This is the recipe page (click on the recipe name for detailed instructions):
Gel Food Recipes

Some fancy golds can't stomach anything except whole food - so this is what the real goldies fanatics feed them. Just make a batch, freeze into little cubes & thaw & feed. <A lot of the fancy goldies keeper at the specialist boards will not feed any commercial food ... they think that the homemade whole food has better nutrition, etc.>

[JustinFoo]

Originally Posted by jsoong

This is the recipe page (click on the recipe name for detailed instructions):
Gel Food Recipes

Some fancy golds can't stomach anything except whole food - so this is what the real goldies fanatics feed them. Just make a batch, freeze into little cubes & thaw & feed. <A lot of the fancy goldies keeper at the specialist boards will not feed any commercial food ... they think that the homemade whole food has better nutrition, etc.>

Thanks for the link Jsoong! Much appreciated. I've just spoken to the guy at the LFS and I'm now starting a pea diet (should also try the zuchini soon) for about 5 days to a week before feeding them dry food again. This is day one of the pea diet and the Oranda isn't floating after eating

I'm just afraid of what might happen because I've got to trust my housemate to feed my fishes while I'm gone for 3 weeks . Dunno if I should just measure out how much I normally feed and just get him to feed them once every 2 days or something to avoid any mishaps...

I got the thermometer and heater yesterday and set the temperature now to 22 - 23 degrees celcius. The fishes seem to be loving it! One more PWC and algae scrape this weekend before I go off on holiday. Thank god for cycled tank, a great canister filter and stable water parameters!

[jsoong]

It all depends on how trustworthy your housemate is as to how complicated a feeding regime you want to do when you are gone.

In general, it is a good idea to measure out each day's portion & have the fish-sitter feed the pre-measured portions. You can have him/her alternate between peas & pellets each day. <Alternating pellets & whole food each day is a good regime for sensitive fish (gut wise) ... you might want to try that when you come back.>

[Hubert90]

Originally Posted by jsoong

You can have him/her alternate between peas & pellets each day. <Alternating pellets & whole food each day is a good regime for sensitive fish (gut wise) ... you might want to try that when you come back.>

+1 I Agree the mentioned feeding schedule does wonder for my oranda but I'm still to figure out what kinda pellets my oranda can take without him gasping for air as a result! Jsoong what kinda pellets do u feed ur oranda(assuming u have one from ur profile pic) ?

[JustinFoo]

Huzzah! I think I have managed to help the little Oranda reset his gut after 4 days of frozen peas diet. I moved back to pre-soaked flakes today and he isn't floating anymore! Thanks again guys, for all your useful suggestions.

[jsoong]

Originally Posted by Hubert90

+1 I Agree the mentioned feeding schedule does wonder for my oranda but I'm still to figure out what kinda pellets my oranda can take without him gasping for air as a result! Jsoong what kinda pellets do u feed ur oranda(assuming u have one from ur profile pic) ?

I am using new life spectrum Goldfish pellets.

[Hubert90]

O yes! After feeding my goldfish NLS goldfish (arrived yesterday) for the first time! My oranda didn't gasp for air after feeding! didn't even presoak my pellets(I've read on NLS website presoaking doesnt actually work)!

I think it may have being the high % of ash in my hikari lionhead that cause the gasping! With NLS it's only 8%