Goldfish Drama

[bettaballistic]

Okay so my goldfish Mr Wiggles has been showing minor swim bladder issues since I moved in March. He's in a 20 gallon tall by himself with some plants. I test his water consistently and it's always no ammonia or nitrites less than 10 nitrates. I do his water changes at least twice a month. We had a small ammonia Spike this month where it got up to .25. I've gotten that down but his problem has definitely gotten worse.

He just floats at the surface slightly on his side a good 50% of the time. He gets up and swims fairly normally as soon as he sees me. But I can definitely tell he struggles a bit to keep his butt from floating up when he's relaxed.  He's got a really good appetite. I feed him, repashy gold, Hikari fancy goldfish, and other miscellaneous Foods like fresh Frozen and Omega one.

I haven't really tried much except for fasting and peas intermittently for the last few months. All of that's not working and I'm kind of worried it's a more serious issue. I did a couple days of kanaplex in repashy just to see and that didn't do anything either. I haven't tried salt just because he's positively buoyant and I don't know if that's really going to be beneficial to him. I'm open to suggestions

I'm also trying to consolidate my tanks and I'm considering moving him to my 55 gallon. He would be with a lot of plants, snails, a bristlenose pleco and a whole bunch of kuhli loaches. The water parameters are very consistent in there and he would have a lot of space to himself so I'm wondering if that might help. 

I really love this guy and I'll do pretty much anything to make sure that he's safe and healthy. Here's a picture of how he sits relaxed in the water. And a blurry one of him floating. I'm also going to post a picture of the 55 I'm considering moving him too. The angel fish will obviously not be in there with him

[Colu]

Swim bladder can be caused by a number of things. Such as fish over eating and stomach putting pressure on the swim bladder. a bacterial infection or injury to the swim bladder. parasitic infection. As you have fasted. What I would do is epsom salt baths 1 table spoon for 2 gallon no more than 15 minutes for 5 days. as Epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant to help relieve press on the swim bladder I wouldn't use kanaplex in food it's poorly adsorbed by the gut maracyn2 in food is a better antibiotic treatment is it eating ok any rapid breathing @bettaballistic

[bettaballistic]

On 12/8/2023 at 5:20 AM, Colu said:

Epsom salt acts as a muscle relaxant to help relieve press on the swim bladder I wouldn't use kanaplex in food it's poorly adsorbed by the gut maracyn2 in food is a better antibiotic treatment is it eating ok any rapid breathing @bettaballistic

I will definitely try Epsom salt baths I'll pick some up this afternoon. He eats very well and doesn't seem to have any unusual breathing. Since it's been going on for so long I really don't think that it's an infection. What's your thought on moving him to my 55 gallon?

[Colu]

On 12/8/2023 at 4:56 PM, bettaballistic said:

I will definitely try Epsom salt baths I'll pick some up this afternoon. He eats very well and doesn't seem to have any unusual breathing. Since it's been going on for so long I really don't think that it's an infection. What's your thought on moving him to my 55 gallon?

Would wait to move him till you have resolved the issue with his swim bladder 

[gardenman]

Swim bladder issues with fancy goldfish becomes an extremely common issue as they grow and mature. In most cases, there's not a lot you can do about it. Too much fish has been bred into too small of a space and deformed the swim bladder. Warmer water may help as it keeps the goldfish's metabolism and food digestion running at a higher speed limiting the risk of food impaction. Feeding very soft food like Repashy could help. The sad reality though is that many, maybe most goldfish bought small will develop swim bladder issues as they mature. More than a few goldfish enthusiasts have abandoned keeping fancy goldfish because of this issue. I'm a hobbyist who likes to buy fish small and raise them myself, but fancy goldfish would be the one area where I'd make an exception to that rule and buy a mature, fully, or nearly fully grown fish. If a fish has reached adulthood and hasn't developed swim bladder issues, it likely doesn't have the level of deformity you find in many others. You still need to exercise some caution in food choices and whatnot, but you're safer buying an already grown fish.