Any Idea What Is Going On With My Goldfish?

[Ryefish]

When he was a wee baba Hercules had a massive chunk ripped out his side (we presume the heron tried to nab him). He survived it, but had to live inside for a few months. He is our 'problem fish' in the sense that he always gets sick. The pond has just thawed and he is on the bottom on his side (I kind of expected it to happen). My mam thought he was dead but he is still breathing. He goes through phases like this every so often and eventually gets over it, but I am wondering what on earth is going on with him! My mam thinks it has something to do with the hole he had in him once, but im not so sure. She said that you can still see a mark where it was and his scales have grown back a bit wierd (not sure what she meant).
He occasionally floats on the surface but then sinks down to the bottom for a while.
He lives in a 200 gallon pond with 54 other goldfish and 3 tench. There is an external UV filter attached to a hozelock 2000 pump in there. It hasn't been tampered with for a while (its been under snow for atleast a month).
My mam fished him out and put him in a tub and said that he looks like normal except for one eye looks a bit more bulgy than the other, and he prefers to lie/float on his right side. Every other fish in the pond are in good health. He is back in the pond lying on the bottom - we didnt think keeping him inside was such a good idea. He hasn't been given anything in terms of medicine

Here he is the last time he did this back in June 09 (ish) floating in the kitchen sink (he didn't stay in the sink of course!)

He is between 6-7 years old and has since turned fully orange

 

[aly_starh]

Hmm. Dont know much about coldwater fish, but ill try and help before someone else who knows comes along.

Does this happen every year? And then does he get better after?

Whats his diet like? It might be beneficial to give him a deshelled pea.

 

[Ryefish]

Thanks for the reply lol
It happens on and off all the time, there isnt any set routine or anything - like specific times of year. He is off for a week or two and then is normal again.
As for diet - we feed them Tetra Pond Sticks and of course they eat whatever buggies live in the water. We haven't fed them for a while because we don't feed over winter. I read a few times on here giving fish a de-shelled pea and suggested it to my mam when i came home from work but i wasnt sure. We would have to fish him in the net and try feed him a pea that way - but they havent been fed all winter

My mam says we will just keep an eye on him and if he dies, he dies We have almost lost him so many times i think she is just getting fed up with it all

 

[aly_starh]

Oh sorry to hear that.
Good Luck, hope he does survive, but *if* he doesnt dont worry as you have helped him stay well for 7 odd years!

 

[Ryefish]

I hope he doesnt. I don't feel like it is quite his time yet.

I am going to watch him, and if i have to i will rig up an air system and make a mini sponge filter and pull him inside again.

I have no idea why he keeps doing this, it blows my mind each time.

 

[Ryefish]

He is still alive today.
My boyfriend gave me a freakin heartattack running in shouting "ONE OF THE BIG FISH IS DEAD!". I ran outside to look and Hercules doesn't even look dead! (eyes are still bright, fins are still in good condition, looks really shiny and healthy, fair enough he wasnt opening his mouth but come on lol). I got the net anyway and gave him a bit of a push and he rolled his eyes to look at the net and started flapping around with his fins. Definately not dead

 

[jasminekiddell]

Sounds like it could be swimming bladder.
Does he find it hard to keep balance?
Or hard to get from the top to bottom of water or from botoom to top?
If so I'd treat with a swimming bladder medication, but you'd need alot for that pond. So i'd say maybe isolating him.
But where the chunk got bitten out of him a while back, that could of hit his swimming bladder, causing this effect.
As for the colour change, i wouldn worry about it, they do tend to change colour with age.
Swimming bladder causes the fish to lie on it's side,not be able to keep control of balance, not be able to get from top to bottom or bottom to top of tank and just float.
My advice:
Isolate the fish into the biggest think you can (you could use a storage box, but a big one) Treat for swimming bladder and add a small about of aquarium salt.
Also make sure the water is VERY well oxygenated and that theres an airstone in there to increase aeration which will help the treatment get moved around the tank more.
Also, don't feed your usual, feed cooked deshelled pea to help push out poo if bloated, too much food can also cause swimming bladder.
Good luck

 

[Ryefish]

Ill see if there is any large bins or containers lying around. I haven't set up my fish tank yet so i have an air pump, a long piece of tubing and have read the manual for setting up a mini spong filter so i could do that. Ill pop down the pet shop tomorrow and see what i can find as far as meds go and an air stone only costs a couple of quid.

A fish at college has a swim bladder infection and he flits around all over the place on his side - its awful to watch. Hercules just lays there. Haven't actually witnessed him move every time he has this. He just appears at different sides of the pond every now and again.

 

[jasminekiddell]

Just because he doesnt float around everywhere doesn't mean he doesnt have it. Just lying on his side can be swimming bladder, so find the biggest cotnainer you can and treat for that. You'll need a fitler and an air pump, air pumps don't actually give off oxygen the bubbles just aereate the water.
So if you could use a filter too, a sponge filter won't be enough they don't give off much bubbles, and there not very good for oxygen. You can get a stingray filter for £15 which would be good.
Keep us updated!

 

[Ryefish]

We bought the largest bucket we could find and afford, shot some media out of the ponds filter in the bottom, rigged up an air stone etc. and its set up in my dining room. We bought some medicine for swimming bladder infections and dosed it correctly. We will feed him some peas tomorrow when the water warms up to room temp. We filled the bucket with pond water and i had to shove my hand in there and my god, it was painfully cold!

My mum had better be impressed with the effort, haha!

 

[mark4785]

My outdoor koi (metallic ogon) is having the same issue as your fish. It appears to be swimbladder syndrome, possibly due to the cold weather which is causing extreme fluctuations in temperature. From what little experience I have, my advice to you is to put the fish in a tank (seclude it from other fish), treat for internal bacterial problems, add some tonic salt (1 teaspoon for every 5 litres) and warm the water (no more than 1 degree per hour) and you should see a dramatic improvement in the fish, i.e. It will be able to swim up/down and maintain it's buyouncy.

Keep conditions (mainly temperature) constant in the temporary tank until they match the conditions of the pond. Putting it back into coldwater from warm water will either kill it or result in swimbladder occurring again.

I have a topic of my own within the 'coldwater fish and ponds' section of the forum detailing how this method of treatment worked for me.

 

[Ryefish]

Thanks for the info mark

 

[Ryefish]

He is looking better
When we first fished him out he didnt even make an attempt to move but last night he was trying his hardest to stay upright and normal. Today he is a bit off balance but is mostly staying upright and not on his side ^^

The bottle says treat on days 4, 8 and 12, so he has a while to go yet but the outlook is good

 

[mark4785]

He is looking better
When we first fished him out he didnt even make an attempt to move but last night he was trying his hardest to stay upright and normal. Today he is a bit off balance but is mostly staying upright and not on his side ^^

The bottle says treat on days 4, 8 and 12, so he has a while to go yet but the outlook is good

That is great. My fish has maintained its balance but I can't get it to keep the pellets in it's mouth! I have moved the fish from a 1400 litre pond to a 20 litre tank with warmer water. I suppose the change to it's environment and being away from his fish friends is causing the loss of appetite lol.

 

[jasminekiddell]

I'm so glad my advice is helping If though he may look better, don't add him to the pond until the treatment has been fully done, glad he's improving!