goldie

[superjalami30]

I beleive one of my goldie's is constipated.
It's shwoing all the signs of it, sitting at the bottom, pooh that wont break off, sometimes stringy long pooh, and its abdomen is swollen.
I started to feed it spinach right away and a grain or two of epsom salt but neither seems to of worked.
Now, its mouth is wide open, it looks as though it cant close it, which may meam something is stuck inside, but theres nothing or no one missing.
What could it be.



Water params are fine btw.

 

[cuba408]

How big is your goldie?

Do you have small rocks that he may have swallowed?

what where you feeding the goldie before all this happen?

 

[superjalami30]

Nah.
He's about 3 inches, still small.
I dont use gravel in any of my tanks, this paticular tank has black sand.
Diet wasnt changed at all before this happened, however I did add one new plant, a red tiger lotus, but it doesnt appear to of been nibbled on whatsoever.

I gave him tubifex worms "after" and spinach as well as epsom salt to help with the constipation, but nothing seems to be working.

 

[cuba408]

My red cap oranda thats around the same size had all signs that he was constipated. what i did was just feed him ONLY frozen brime shrimp for 4 days. it seemed to work for him. After the fourth day he was back to swimming all over the tank and sh*ting normaly.

 

[black angel]

Have you actually grabbed him to take a look down his throat?

If his mouth is open can he still feed?
What other fish is he with and how big compared to him? If theres any that are bigger have you noticed any chasing around the tank as it could be easy to have been pushed into something and dislocated a jaw.
A poor diet can also lead to defficiencies that stop the mouth from closing.
How do you do water changes and how often and how much?
Even if you have perfect readings bacteria can still mount up.

Try feeding a lightly boiled shelled squashed pea and then starve for three days. Try and get some daphnia, preferably fresh or frozen and then feed him that and some peas for a few days to see if that helps.

If the poo is long and thick then it could be constipated but if its thin and hairlike then more likely bacterial.

Give us what you have for water quality, size of tank, filtration etc.

Is it a fine sand? sand and goldies often dont mix as they like to grub about in the substrate and sand acts like a glue in the gills.
Take a look in the gills as well to see what colour they are as healthy gills are a cherry red.

Youve mentioned adding a new plant, is it real and if so did you disinfect it first?
Theres a chance it could be gill flukes. Have you noticed any twitching or rubbing of the head?

 

[superjalami30]

There is nothing in the tank that I know of that he could of eaten.
I believe it may be he's so bummed up its effecting the way he opens and closes his mouth.
This all started about 5 or 6 days ago, right away I feed him pea's, tubifex worms and spinach, not all at the same time of course, over the course of those 5-6 days.

His abdomen is slightly swollen and is a different size on either side of him.
One side is larger than the other, but both sides do pertrude.

Yes, I looked in his mouth when I dripped cod liver oil down it.
No, he's the biggest fish in the tank, he's also the laziest thing I've ever seen.
He may of dislocated it, but I doubt it.
I'm not sure if he can still feed, as of yesterday yes, but today he's hiding on the bottom and not coming out from under the wood he underneath of.

His diet is far from poor, the water quility is perfect, I do changes once per week 25% with a vacuum and aged water.
He's in a 25 Gallon, filtered by one aquaclear 150, a dynamo and a power head at the surface for C02/02 exchange.
I added a new plant, yes its real, a tiger lotus.
Did I disinfect it? No, never have, not from within my own systems anyways, a new plant from a store maybe.
I tried the pea method as mentioned above, and he gets frozen daphnia every saturday and sunday mornings, or the odd time mosquito larvae instead.
Which in fact he hasnt had in quite awhile.
It is a sand substrate, I use it cause I was told it was better to use then gravel by peeps here!
Although I dont think its a gill problem as they are bright red and he seems to be breathing just fine.

Thanks for all the help folks.


I'm completely lost as to what might be wrong, the checklist is fine but the fish doesnt seem to be.

 

[black angel]

hers a couple of pages for you to look at

http/www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/diseas...s_Fish_Physical



http/www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/diseas...agnosis_by_poop

Have a look at those and see if anything fits.

 

[superjalami30]

Thanks black angel, I'll check those out.
Hopefully all is well.

Thanks again.

 

[sylvia]

I'd stop feeding for a day or two and see if there's any improvement. Have you considered that it might be parasitic? Tubifex - in particular when fed frozen or live - has been known to carry parasites. Other live foods from freshwater environments can also carry pathogens but tubifex seem to be the worst and also are the only ones you mentioned feeding the goldie.

 

[superjalami30]

I fed him tubifex worms "after" he seemed to be constipated.
I read on a goldy site that they are a helpful laxitive.

And ya, This all started on saturday, the day I fast all my fish, so he didnt eat saturday or sunday, not until sunday night anyways when I feed him frozen daphnia.

I feed all my fish "freeze dried" tubifex worms, so I dont think its a bacteria infection or parasite problem.

I checked out his gills and they look nice and healthy, red and clean.

He does close his mouth a bit, but then opens it WIDE open, as if he puking.
I also noticed just a short time ago he looked like his mouth was going into cunvulsions.

 

[black angel]

That sounds like trying to spit something up or gills have something not right with them.
Are you sure you got a good look down the throat.
I'm afraid tubifex can bring parasites in. I hardly if ever feed it to my fish in any form.
Is there any chance of a pic?

 

[superjalami30]

I could post a pic, but it would be completely useless.
My cam is only a 2.0 megapixal, shots close enough to get a good look are very blurry.

Hmmmm, that parasite thing is news to me, good to know I spose.

I got several good looks down his throat with a superbright LED key chain light, super bright, white light that worked really well. Theres nothing I can see in his mouth.