Got A Few Goldfish.

[Gurglar]

So I just went and bought 3 goldfish for my 35 gallon tank about a week ago. They are only about an inch long without the tail. I ended up gettin 2 fantails and 1 oranda I think. The one I think is an oranda is plain orange, looks like it will form a growth on its head and has a completely different body shape to the other 2. The other 2 look like a normal fantail shape just small I got 1 plain white one and a calico coloured one.

Now I just want to know how can you tell if goldfish have swimblader and how do you treat it? Just want to get a heads up on it so if it happens I can act fast.

Also what other diseases do I need to look out for?

Thanks for the help.

 

[SnBMeg]

There are several different ways that swimbladder disorders (SBD) can present, depending on the cause and severity.

The flippers: they just sort of tip or roll onto their backs. With some effort they can right themselves, but will flip again if they stop or slow down. They usually don't float at the surface. My personal experience with this type is that it's caused by a mild internal bacterial infection. You can treat it, temporarily, with antibacterial meds, but the best solution that I've found is a homemade gel food with part of an acidophilus tablet dissolved/mixed in (I feed my goldfish homemade gel food every morning, and it's done wonders for my flip-prone albino.)

The floaters: the fish float at the surface. Often this is a result of constipation, usually due to overfeeding. Some fasting and meals of deshelled peas are often enough to clear this up.

The flipped floaters: the fish float upside down at the surface. This can be a very severe situation. Again, constipation, internal bacterial infections, or a combonation could be the cause. Chances are there's more than just one bad thing going on. On the other hand, my blue/choco Moor recently had a bad habit of skimming the surface for leftovers (I only feed sinking foods, but some of the stuff had floaty crumbs), and was swallowing air to the point that she was floating upside down. This is why you should never feed floating foods to compact-bodied breeds of goldfish. I figured out which foods were producing floaty crumbs and stopped feeding those.

The sinkers: the fish stay on the bottom. This usually follows a very severe round of flipped floating. At this point the swimbladder is most likely permanently damaged, and the fish's days are numbered. Some people have made buoyed slings for their unfortunate fish (you can find descriptions of and plans for those online), but there's not a whole lot that you can do.

The main things to do to prevent SBD are keep the water conditions as close to perfect as possible, and do NOT overfeed. Some fish will be more prone to it (like my albino with her bacterial infections, or Ryukins with their especially deep/compact bodies.)

There are other situations and causes, as well, so hopefully someone else will chime in and share their knowledge/experience. That's about the extent of mine off the top of my head.

Aside from SBD, goldfish can get just about any other common fish disease--finrot, ick, fungus, hole-in-the-head, parasites, dropsy, etc., etc., etc.

 

[The-Wolf]

IME
the 3 main causes of swimbladder problems are
A ) physical damage (think bruised ribs in us); the fish has bashed into something and it is 'painfull' to inflate/deflate the swimbladder
this should heal on its own in a few days.

B ) intestinal blockage aka constipation; this is often caused by (but not always) feeding a mainly flake food diet. as the fish grabs flakes from the surface it also gulps air, this mixture can create a blockage in the intestines and as the blockage grows it pushes against the swimbladder, thus making it hard to regulate.
feeding a cooked (deshelled) garden pea and/or live foods (bloodworm,daphnia etc) will act as a laxative and clear the blockage.

C ) internal bacterial infection: (think inner ear infection in us); a good broad range antibiotic should cure this problem

there are of course other ways a swimbladder can be effected but these,IME, are the most common.

if you feed your fancy goldfish a good balanced diet, preferably with a sinking pellet food rather than flakes,
then you should minimise the chance of it being B & C.
remember an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

HTH

 

[Gurglar]

ok thanks alot I think my white one had a case of swimmblader because it layed on the bottom every now and then and I found it dead yesterday arvo wen I went to look at them. I think the calico coloured one may have a case of it as well because it just sits on the bottom until it sees me near the tank and starts swimming around. the oranda seems to be doing fine it just swims around constantly looking for food.

 

[SnBMeg]

How old are your fish? Something that I've noticed in my own goldfish is that as they get to be several months or more old, and reach about 2 to 2-1/2" or so (not including the tail), they like to take naps from time-to-time. During these naps they'll rest on the bottom of the tank or on the plants for short periods of time, until they feel like going back to swimming or something catches their interest.

Bottom-sitting can definitely be a bad sign though, especially if one of your fish died shortly after you saw it doing so. But by itself it's not a sure indicator of swim bladder issues, because SBD affects the floatation of the fish: If a fish is bottom-sitting, but has no trouble swimming and staying upright, then it may not be a swim bladder problem.

I would look into other possible causes, to try and pinpoint exactly what it was that was causing the bottom-sitting. It is possible that it was a swim bladder issue, but even then it would be best to know why it happed in order to prevent any more occurences.

Some things to look into would be:
Water quality
Unusual behavior (aside from the sitting, did the fish seem depressed and/or unreactive?)
Spots, streaks, or other discolorations on the fish's body and/or fins
Changes in diet

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[Gurglar]

How old are your fish? Something that I've noticed in my own goldfish is that as they get to be several months or more old, and reach about 2 to 2-1/2" or so (not including the tail), they like to take naps from time-to-time. During these naps they'll rest on the bottom of the tank or on the plants for short periods of time, until they feel like going back to swimming or something catches their interest.

Bottom-sitting can definitely be a bad sign though, especially if one of your fish died shortly after you saw it doing so. But by itself it's not a sure indicator of swim bladder issues, because SBD affects the floatation of the fish: If a fish is bottom-sitting, but has no trouble swimming and staying upright, then it may not be a swim bladder problem.

I would look into other possible causes, to try and pinpoint exactly what it was that was causing the bottom-sitting. It is possible that it was a swim bladder issue, but even then it would be best to know why it happed in order to prevent any more occurences.

Some things to look into would be:
Water quality
Unusual behavior (aside from the sitting, did the fish seem depressed and/or unreactive?)
Spots, streaks, or other discolorations on the fish's body and/or fins
Changes in diet

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I've only had them about 2 weeks now and they are about an inch long. The calico coloured one has started doing the same it just sits on the bottom and does not move much at all. They seemed perfectly fine and then all of a sudden they just stop moving. theres no spots or anything on them as well

I'm just hoping my oranda doesn't come down with it

I think it might have been the batch of fish that were in the pet shop caz I went back to the pet store 2 days later after getting them and there wer hardly any left and they have never sold that many fish at once before.

 

[SnBMeg]

You might want to seriously consider quarantining your sick fish. It's always possible that fish from pet stores will have some kind of bug when you buy them (even in a store that takes good care of its animals, with so many fish in such small spaces, communicable diseases can rapidly spread through the entire population), which is why it's a good idea to keep new fish separate from your others for at least a couple of weeks, until you know they're "clean."

If you can, I would recommend setting up a 10G hospital tank for your sick fishy. Good luck! I hope that both of your goldies come out of this okay.

 

[Gurglar]

You might want to seriously consider quarantining your sick fish. It's always possible that fish from pet stores will have some kind of bug when you buy them (even in a store that takes good care of its animals, with so many fish in such small spaces, communicable diseases can rapidly spread through the entire population), which is why it's a good idea to keep new fish separate from your others for at least a couple of weeks, until you know they're "clean."

If you can, I would recommend setting up a 10G hospital tank for your sick fishy. Good luck! I hope that both of your goldies come out of this okay.

The calico one didnt make it overnight But the oranda still seems to be fine i'll keep an eye on him for the next week or so before I get anymore. I would set up a quarantine but I just don't have the money at the moment.