Can fish inhale mushed up, liquified food through there gills?

[Angrybagel67]

I don't see why not, if I put the cloud of liquified food directly next to its gills. I am out of options. My fish has pop eye and is in such bad condition right now. It won't eat the medicated food I bought it or barely even it's regular food, part of that reason is because it's kind of "dumbed down", it doesn't see or notice the falling food or realize its there, like when it goes to nip at the food it almost always misses or it doesn't go directly into it's mouth, and then the fish just ignores the food or loses interest right after the miss and dozes off somewhere. It's really sick and doesn't swim right. I tried soaking the pellets in garlic and it didn't help, and I have no clue how to syringe feed, I feel like I am hurting it. Isn't there anyway to get the medication from the food to be inhaled? Maybe if the liquified food sat long enough in the tank the meds should eventually immerse throught the water, right? It only makes sense. Feeding the fish meds are simply not an option.

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!!!

Can you provide us with some more information so that we can better help you? Tank size? Parameters? Stocking? Fish affected? Exact symptoms and how long they have been occurring? Any other information you can provide in respect to this fish will be helpful including a picture.

Dumping medicated and/or other foods into a tank when a fish is not eating is only going to serve to further pollute the water and result in more health issues. Rotting food will also fungus very quickly which will create further problems. I suggest doing some decent water changes along with good gravel vacs to remove all uneaten food and get the tank conditions back to healthy state. We can then make further suggestions once we have some more information!

 

[Angrybagel67]

10 gallon tank, has an air pump (no stone added just tube), heater(68F), and only 1 skinny goldfish. Have had both the tank and fish for 2 years.I've never tested the water for nitrates, ph or ammonia so not sure. The fish has had symptoms of pop eye for about a month, at the beggining it would always lay near the bottom of the tank, then progressed to laying ON the bottom of the tank, barely moving, with slightly bulged eyes. The condition now of it's eyes, particularly the left one, is much worse. It still sits at the bottom daily and when It decides to move around it can barely swim. It looks like out of agitation or pain, though, that it decides to move. It seems jittish. As for the quality of the water there is no Algae/fungus, haven't had that for 2 years. I was doing 35 percent water changes a week. Never had a problem with murky water. I gravel clean all waste out of the tank then go back with a net and catch the rest. I currently took the carbon out of the filter then put the medicated food in, along with half a teaspoon of epsom salt. But thanks, I guess I'll just have to buy some sort of medication to put in the water. What would you recommend? Someone told me erythromycin for pop eye. I was thinking the API brand would be good but maracyn 1 also contains it.

 

[Angrybagel67]

And a few months ago the temperature dropped TREMENDOUSLY, the water temperature was very cold and so was my room, I thought it was just cold and stressed from the symptoms it was showing so I went out and bought a heater. Didn't do that much. Also, it isn't dropsy, it's abdomen area isn't swollen at all, and It's not pineconing. Just the eyes are bulging. I originally thought it was dropsy because of it's swimming condition, but... It seems most of the swelling is in it's head. Again NO pineconing what so ever and it's been a month.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Fish do not "inhale" through their gills, so that methodology isn't going to work for you. Fish take water in through their mouth or nares, then as water is pushed out over the gills, oxygen is absorbed through the gills surface. In other words, water flow over the gills is one directional, out, not in.

 

[Angrybagel67]

Ah, then I guess the mouth. That's still complicated but I have heard someone else ask the same question, if the medication from then food immersed throughout the water and if the fish could just "breathe" it in. I'm ignoring that though because a couple of mushed up pellets would do no harm to the fish but it also wouldn't be effective, because you'd need ALOT of food if you were going to do it that way.. 10 gallons will dilute a couple pellets into nothing. Plus using anbunch of food WOULD be harmful. this was just a temporary idea, anyone have any medications they can suggest?

 

[DragonFish71]

A two year old goldfish in a 10 gallon tank? Part of the issue could be that it's too large for the tank and since goldfish do have a high bio-load, the water conditions could not be the best. Between the two, pop-eye can happen. Pop-eye usually is a sign of other issues going on, improper water conditions, stress leading to a bacterial infection.

Tropical Fish Disease Identification with pictures and cures.

 

[Angrybagel67]

GUYS, I really need you're help. I put API erythromycin in my tank a few days ago, and while the overall health of my fish has improved, IT HAS FIN ROT!! It JUST happened today and it's terrible, it's on every fin, and my fish was spotless yesterday. It spread so fast omg. When I put the medication in, I also took the bio filter out before that, because I read online that the medication would kill of the good bacteria anyway. I'm just trying to figure out what happened. since this medication is supposed to KILL off the bad bacteria to.. But the swelling in its eyes have gone down, it's extremely energetic and able to move again, and it's looking for food now. I also change the water once a week 35%, and just 2 days ago I did a 50% water change.

 

[jlk]

The fish's condition is likely due to very high toxin levels. While antibiotics may be helpful in addressing bacterial illnesses, they do not discriminate in killing bacteria- good or bad. Erythro is also a gram positive antibiotic while most fin rot issues are the result of a gram negative bacteria which means the erytho will not help with the fin rot.

Did you invest in a decent liquid test kit (such as the API fw master test kit) for your parameters yet? If not, please do so as soon as possible. I suggest start working on addressing water quality issues with frequent 50% water changes with temperature matched, properly conditioned water until you are able to test your water and act accordingly. Healthy water is the first step in addressing any health issue in fish. Please ask if you have questions!