What Is This? [Goldfish Problem]

[unijambiste]

Okay so. I came home from university for the weekend and I notice that my goldfish's spine now looks like this:

Near the end by the tail, it curves sharply upwards. The fish itself is healthy, active, swimming fine, eating, not showing any problems other than the fact that it's spine has a huge kink in it now? What is going on here?

Some stats about the fish- It's just a feeder goldfish; last spring two friends won it at a spring carnival my school had. Neither of them could take it home for the summer (they had to fly), so it got stuck with me. It's just in a bowl; I don't have the means to set up an actual tank for it. I honestly didn't expect it to live the summer (feeder fish rarely do...), but it's almost a year later and the darn thing is still going strong. I'm just really confused about the sudden bend in the tail?

 

[llamalord305]

Quite strange. Feeder fish have pretty bad genes, and usually they are born like that. I've never heard of a spine being bent after birth, but I'm not very experienced in these matters so don't take my word for it. Are you sure that he didn't have any spine bentage before?

 

[kelly528]

Well for starters he's in a bowl. The smallest tank a 'feeder', or common goldfish can live relatively normal life in would be roughly 80 times the size of an average bowl (of 1 US gallon).

As a consequence there are many reasons he could have developed a bent spine:

-Skeletal stunting (in an adequate tank he would be about a foot long by now)
-Neurological damage due to nitrite poisoning
-Swim bladder difficulties
-Internal parasites (many feeder fish carry them).

In the hospital section you will probably get more assistance but if you are not keen on a 240L tank I suggest you contact a friend who has a pond he can live in.

In the future, I suggest you stick to fish like the betta who, well they can NOT live in those stupid bowls, will thrive in a 10-20L tank with a little TLC. I have my guy in 5 USG and he loves it... under proper care it is not uncommon foor them to live 5 years!

Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear about your fishy

 

[unijambiste]

Yeah, I know the bowl isn't the best thing for him, but I'm in a college dorm and don't have the means to set up a tank at all. I never would have bought a goldfish to keep in a bowl; like I mentioned in the original post, one of my friends won it at a carnival and I got stuck with it when they had to fly home for the summer (I live in the same town as our university).

I'm not new to fishkeeping at all, I actually do keep betta (right now I've had my guy Haneul for 2 years and my girl for a year and a half.

I don't really think it's anything to do with him being in the bowl; Even though it's not the best living situation, he's been in it for almost a year now and this just happened... I was home last Sunday and everything was fine, but by Friday he had that kink. And he's still swimming perfectly and eating and everything. Just... bent.

 

[kelly528]

I am a university student as well and am running 4 tanks out of my bedroom. I know getting an 80g tank (even if money is not an issue) is out of the question, so I never suggested it.

I get that you're doing the best you can and are not intentionally harming your fish. We all make mistakes, and who can blames us considering the horrifying advice pet store employees give people! Fish like yours are the reason British parliament is debating a ban on the use of goldfish as carnival prizes.

Comet goldies can life for an average of 20 years given proper husbandry and I was not kidding when I said your little guy should be at least a foot long by now. Goldies do most oftheir growing in the 1st year of life. I literally cannot think of a diagnosis that does not pertain to the inadequate tank space. If you want a second opinion you'll have to post in the hospital section.


Sorry about your fish.
Kelly

 

[Assaye]

Spinal deformities are classic "small tank syndrome".

If the fish is over a year old and still small enough to fit into a bowl then he is seriously stunted and this will do more than just bend his spine out of shape.

Common goldfish can hit 2 foot with relative ease and as Kelly said, they do most of their growing in their first year. These beasties need 6 foot long tanks if they hit a foot and even larger if they get bigger. This still gives them a rather limited amount of swimming space but does at least let them 'stretch out' a bit. A more viable alternative is to keep them in a pond.

I know you got given him and don't have space for larger tanks and I know you're trying to do your best but to be honest, that doesn't mean keeping him in a hugely inadequate and life threatening environment is OK. He needs a pond or he will stay stunted, his spine will curve more and he'll end up dying a rather nasty death. It's not a case that the bowl isn't perfect - the bowl will kill him. If you're wondering why the bend happened so suddenly, it's gotta happen some time. Maybe his immune system just can't hack it anymore? Maybe you overfed him before you left? Maybe the ammonia in the tank peaked over the weekend?

Another potential problem is ammonia poisoning. How often do you change the water and do you have test kits for ammonia and nitrites?

Has he ever been wormed or given a preventative course of internal-parasite meds? Good idea with feeder goldfish.

Sorry about the little guy but please realise that there is a lot that needs changing if you have any hope in him growing up properly, living a decent life (15-20 years minimum) and staying heathy.

 

[kelly528]

Just flipping through my new goldfish book this morning... kinks in the spine are also a symptom of fish tuberculosis. In which case you need to watch out because it's quite serious and transerfable to humans through open wounds.

 

[three-fingers]

Get big tank with a filter, or lose the fish (rehome it to a garden pond, or to someone with a large tank). Those are the two options.

Otherwise all your doing is taking an animal down a long road to death through deformities, what's the point in keeping it?

Tuberculosis is pretty #40## unlikely given the circumstances .