Fish lying on side

[Vissy Dartae]

My 7" fantail showed symptoms of a bacterial infection some weeks ago,
probably caused by a newcomer to the tank. (yes, the newcomer had been
thoroughly quarantined--details available on request. At this point it
just seems like bad luck.)
She has now been through a long and tedious series of anti-bacterial
treatments. For all I can tell, the bacterial infection is now gone.

Unfortunately she has been left with no bouyancy at all. She scoots
around the tank floor on her left side. Flips over to the right side
from time to time, but doesn't stay there long. Eats enthusiastically
and is responsive to me, but is inactive for long periods. She tries
to get up frequently, and gets tired out.

I have removed everything from the bottom of the tank (except the big
airstone) so she can move freely. She's alone in a 29 gallon.
Parameters are excellent: Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates barely
perceptible, pH 7.5ish, temp 78F.

I have salted to 0.1%, thinking it might help her not develop contact
sores. She does have a whitish spot where she is resting on the
glass-- looks like heavy slime coat in that spot but I'm not sure.

Obviously she will deteriorate if she continues like this, but I don't
have a clue what to do for her besides keep her tank clean.

Any ideas??

[[email protected]]

http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/disease/symptom/symptom.htm#floating%20problems
you might try walking the fish to see if she can overcome her problem. I think I
heard that sometimes the muscles atrophy or ??? and helping them stay upright gives
them chance to move those muscles. well, can hurt anyway.
actually they can live quite a while, but do put antibiotic creme on anything looks
like a sore. also, you might try a short fast see if that helps.
what have you been feeding her, how much? what made you think it was a bacterial
infection? Ingrid

(Vissy Dartae) wrote:

>My 7" fantail showed symptoms of a bacterial infection some weeks ago,
>probably caused by a newcomer to the tank. (yes, the newcomer had been
>thoroughly quarantined--details available on request. At this point it
>just seems like bad luck.)
>She has now been through a long and tedious series of anti-bacterial
>treatments. For all I can tell, the bacterial infection is now gone.
>
>Unfortunately she has been left with no bouyancy at all. She scoots
>around the tank floor on her left side. Flips over to the right side
>from time to time, but doesn't stay there long. Eats enthusiastically
>and is responsive to me, but is inactive for long periods. She tries
>to get up frequently, and gets tired out.
>
>I have removed everything from the bottom of the tank (except the big
>airstone) so she can move freely. She's alone in a 29 gallon.
>Parameters are excellent: Ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates barely
>perceptible, pH 7.5ish, temp 78F.
>
>I have salted to 0.1%, thinking it might help her not develop contact
>sores. She does have a whitish spot where she is resting on the
>glass-- looks like heavy slime coat in that spot but I'm not sure.
>
>Obviously she will deteriorate if she continues like this, but I don't
>have a clue what to do for her besides keep her tank clean.
>
>Any ideas??



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Vissy Dartae]

Thanks for the reply.

wrote in message >...
> what have you been feeding her, how much?

She gets 3-4 Progold pellets in the morning, 1 or 2 whole peas at
night.
During the day if I'm home she might get a little piece or two of
thawed frozen spinach (loves it) or 1-2 spirulina flakes. (I am not
home most days.) Occasionally she gets bits of fresh fruit, rice, or
canned tuna.


> what made you think it was a bacterial
> infection?

Some redness in fins and at fin joints, unusual inactivity, floating a
little with tail a bit higher than head. That's all I could figure
out from my books. (I lost an old oranda a year ago who was
displaying the same symptoms.)

Thanks for the "walking" and fasting suggestions. She allows me to
handle her a bit, and I've been holding her upright from time to time
to see what would happen. She usually swims away after about 10
seconds, though. I'll continue to try.

[[email protected]]

how big are the pellets? big GF get 3-4 medium sized pellets per feeding. maybe you
are overfeeding. the veggies are really not digestible except the spirulina. they
do act as a laxative, however.
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
look in the disease section for head standing. poor water quality is most likely,
altho being overspawned is another. Ingrid

(Vissy Dartae) wrote:

>Thanks for the reply.
>
wrote in message >...
>> what have you been feeding her, how much?
>
>She gets 3-4 Progold pellets in the morning, 1 or 2 whole peas at
>night.
>During the day if I'm home she might get a little piece or two of
>thawed frozen spinach (loves it) or 1-2 spirulina flakes. (I am not
>home most days.) Occasionally she gets bits of fresh fruit, rice, or
>canned tuna.
>
>
>> what made you think it was a bacterial
>> infection?
>
>Some redness in fins and at fin joints, unusual inactivity, floating a
>little with tail a bit higher than head. That's all I could figure
>out from my books. (I lost an old oranda a year ago who was
>displaying the same symptoms.)
>
>Thanks for the "walking" and fasting suggestions. She allows me to
>handle her a bit, and I've been holding her upright from time to time
>to see what would happen. She usually swims away after about 10
>seconds, though. I'll continue to try.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Vissy Dartae]

Thanks again for replying.

wrote in message >...
> how big are the pellets? big GF get 3-4 medium sized pellets per feeding. maybe you
> are overfeeding.

Smallish, I think--what is medium??. These are about 1/16 inch thick,
1/8 inch long.

> http://puregold.aquaria.net/
> look in the disease section for head standing.

I already looked there! :) Symptoms don't match up.

> poor water quality is most likely,

Not in this case.

> altho being overspawned is another.

There was an episode of spawning with the new manly fish that seemed
to aggravate the symptoms that led to the bacterial treatments. This
was about six weeks ago. She was pretty passive in response to his
advances, but did produce a few eggs. (The manly fish has since been
moved back to the q-tank) After that she was very inactive, and
showed the symptoms I described above.

Thanks again for all suggestions.

[[email protected]]

she might be egg bound again. try heat and epsom salts as that treatment is
non-toxic. Ingrid

>There was an episode of spawning with the new manly fish that seemed
>to aggravate the symptoms that led to the bacterial treatments. This
>was about six weeks ago. She was pretty passive in response to his
>advances, but did produce a few eggs. (The manly fish has since been
>moved back to the q-tank) After that she was very inactive, and
>showed the symptoms I described above.
>
>Thanks again for all suggestions.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.