Blind Comet looks normal but swimming in circles

[SLStormin]

Hello - New member here. I have a 10-12 year old blind Comet that has fairly recently been intermittently swimming in circles and seeming to struggle with buoyancy. He's in a 25 gal tank, and has been there since he was super small - he came in as a baby from our 400 gal Koi/Comet fish pond. We've always kept him inside, as we are afraid he won't be able to find food or otherwise survive back in the pond. He at times will be normally at rest near the bottom of the tank, and does not appear to be bloated or distended, otherwise looks pretty healthy. I did try fasting him for 3 days during which time he was acting/oriented normally. This morning I gave him a couple of skinned cooked peas, and soon after he was spiraling again & acting agitated. He seems to float tail first towards the surface if he stops swimming downward. He never goes belly up or loses orientation in that way.
Any observations/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Aiken Drum]

While appreciating what you have done for your blind goldfish, and understand the reasoning, 25 gallons is still quite small for a comet and will cause health issues as a goldfish ages. 10 + years in a 25g aquarium is pretty good going, and it could just be old age combined with the restricted living environment catching up with him.

The video you posted is saying "video unavailable" for me. It looks like a FB link, so maybe there is a permission issue. Edit: Looks to be working now.

 

[Andy Sager]

The good news is that he's not really swimming in circles. Since he's blind, he doesn't know what is in front of him so from what I see, he's swimming like he' trying to figure out if it's safe where he's aiming to swim. This is what swimming in circles looks like:

Since you say he doesn't do this all the time, I don't see the other symptoms in the video you mention so if you can load a 1 minute video, that would better help. If it were a swim bladder issue, the fish should not be able to stay still without floating or rolling over. If it were an indigestion issue, the gas inside would usually cause the body to not swim normally at all so the tail up position in this case may be because the fish knows the food is below him so he's looking for a scent of food underneath him.

So ruling out disease as the cause, as Aiken said, 10 years in a tank that is too small for him will take it's toll. As you may know since you have a large Koi/Comet pond, at 10-12 yeas old, the fish should be too big to even swim in a 25 gallon tank so there is that. Since the fish is blind, it's also possible a recent bumping into something in the tank or one of the tank sides may have caused a hesitancy in the fish to swim " normally". Past placing him a larger tank with few obstacles in it, there's not really much you can do for the fish. In a new/ larger tank, you would need to feed the fish directly until it gets used to when or where in the water he gets fed.
Hope this helps

 

[SLStormin]

Thanks for the replies. I’m currently looking around for a larger used tank, as budget does not allow for 5-600plus investment. What would you recommend as minimum for this guy? TIA

 

[Aiken Drum]

I'm not sure that a bigger tank is going to fix anything. I think its an issue with age catching up with your fish quicker than it would typically in a pond or larger tank. But you can't wind back the clock however much my joints would like me to be able to.

You typically say a 30g tank for 1 comet, and my expectation would be having a comet live 10 years in that would be exceptional. If you went for a standard 75g tank, that's 48" long and 19" wide, you might get more towards what their lifespans could be in a pond. But even with a larger aquarium you would never get to what they get to in a pond. A pond simply gives greater water volume, and outdoor temperature will be more suited to goldfish than indoor temperature. Higher temps leads to higher metabolism, which leads to lower lifespans.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks for the replies. I’m currently looking around for a larger used tank, as budget does not allow for 5-600plus investment. What would you recommend as minimum for this guy? TIA

Aiken's points are very valid in that giving him a bigger tank now may have no effect at this point so that's something you need to consider when dishing out more $$ on tanks. With that, I'd go for a tank at least 4' -5' long and at least 18"-20" wide. Even better would be something like the Rubbermade stock Pools. You can get 100-300 gallon ones for much less than $500. Then there's this one ( or something similar) Poly Stock Tank 52112187 3'x2'x8' Round-End 300 Gallon that would really fit the bill if you have the space (maybe in the garage? ) . The fish would have a lot of room for swimming and it looks like it's only 2' deep so not so deep that spot feeding the fish would be an issue. The good thing with the larger volume of water is that it would take a lot for the water to foul if you keep the fish alone and you shouldn't need a huge filtering system for it. ( If you add more fish to it, you should use a large filtering system. )
hope this helps

 

[SLStormin]

All very helpful ideas, thanks everyone. One last thought, and I’ve already ruled it out, but looking to confirm my suspicions: Releasing him back into the pond I’m thinking would be a terrible idea, as he would not only have to be able to find food, but would have to navigate the features in the pond which include a rock pedestal in the center which supports the pump for the external filter. Clutching at straws because definitely don’t have room for a 55gal, and all the 40gal ones I see are breeder tanks.

 

[Andy Sager]

All very helpful ideas, thanks everyone. One last thought, and I’ve already ruled it out, but looking to confirm my suspicions: Releasing him back into the pond I’m thinking would be a terrible idea, as he would not only have to be able to find food, but would have to navigate the features in the pond which include a rock pedestal in the center which supports the pump for the external filter. Clutching at straws because definitely don’t have room for a 55gal, and all the 40gal ones I see are breeder tanks.

Good thing you already killed that idea because against the other fish in the pond, I suspect it's future would be short.