Is my goldfish haveing a problem?

My sons have a tank with two gold fish. One is a calico fantail and the
other is a blackfish with bulging eyes (we can't remember the name) The
calico is doing just fine. The black fish seems to be have problems every
time it poops. It takes forever to complete the task. It also seems to
have trouble swimming while doing this, as if it is exhausted, some times
even flipping upside down and floating to the top of the tank. A two times
I thought it had died and when I went to check it, the fish turned over and
swam away as if all was well. Is this normal?

We feed the fish goldfish flakes. Should we be giving the fish anything
else? Both fish are only about one inch long.

Thank you for any help.


D~

It sounds like your fish might be constipated and perhaps suffering from a
swimbladder problem.
Try feeding your fish a more varied diet. Flakes or pellets are fine as long
as they are of high quality, but supplement this with live or frozen blood
worm or brineshrimp at least once a week. Your fish will also love most
fruit and veg (cooked if a hard one like carrot etc) as long as it is
chopped very small. Try adding them a couple of times a week as a treat,
For now though, to sort out your constipation problems (well,not yours, the
fishes!! lol), starve the fish for 3 days then feed nothing but defrosted
and shelled frozen peas chopped or mashed very small for another 3 days.
This will clear your fish out and hopefully help the constipation. After
this introduce it's normal food slowly, but always soak it in alittle tank
water for a few minutes before feeding as this will aid digestion and help
prevent swimbladder problems. Also, make a habit of feeding the peas a
couple of times a week to prevent this happening again.

Mel.

"Annaid" wrote in message
...
My sons have a tank with two gold fish. One is a calico fantail and the
other is a blackfish with bulging eyes (we can't remember the name) The
calico is doing just fine. The black fish seems to be have problems every
time it poops. It takes forever to complete the task. It also seems to
have trouble swimming while doing this, as if it is exhausted, some times
even flipping upside down and floating to the top of the tank. A two
times
I thought it had died and when I went to check it, the fish turned over
and
swam away as if all was well. Is this normal?

We feed the fish goldfish flakes. Should we be giving the fish anything
else? Both fish are only about one inch long.

Thank you for any help.


D~

dont feed flake food like that
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...care/food.html
feed higher quality, higher protein, but WAY less of the food per feeding. GF graze
all day. they cannot digest big loads of food. no stomach.
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...m.htm#floating
problems
Ingrid

"Annaid" wrote:
My sons have a tank with two gold fish. One is a calico fantail and the
other is a blackfish with bulging eyes (we can't remember the name) The
calico is doing just fine. The black fish seems to be have problems every
time it poops. It takes forever to complete the task. It also seems to
have trouble swimming while doing this, as if it is exhausted, some times
even flipping upside down and floating to the top of the tank. A two times
I thought it had died and when I went to check it, the fish turned over and
swam away as if all was well. Is this normal?

We feed the fish goldfish flakes. Should we be giving the fish anything
else? Both fish are only about one inch long.

Thank you for any help.


D~




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

Wow! Thank you for the information.

D~


"Mel" wrote in message
...
It sounds like your fish might be constipated and perhaps suffering from a
swimbladder problem.
Try feeding your fish a more varied diet. Flakes or pellets are fine as
long
as they are of high quality, but supplement this with live or frozen blood
worm or brineshrimp at least once a week. Your fish will also love most
fruit and veg (cooked if a hard one like carrot etc) as long as it is
chopped very small. Try adding them a couple of times a week as a treat,
For now though, to sort out your constipation problems (well,not yours,
the
fishes!! lol), starve the fish for 3 days then feed nothing but defrosted
and shelled frozen peas chopped or mashed very small for another 3 days.
This will clear your fish out and hopefully help the constipation. After
this introduce it's normal food slowly, but always soak it in alittle tank
water for a few minutes before feeding as this will aid digestion and help
prevent swimbladder problems. Also, make a habit of feeding the peas a
couple of times a week to prevent this happening again.

Mel.

"Annaid" wrote in message
...
My sons have a tank with two gold fish. One is a calico fantail and the
other is a blackfish with bulging eyes (we can't remember the name) The
calico is doing just fine. The black fish seems to be have problems
every
time it poops. It takes forever to complete the task. It also seems to
have trouble swimming while doing this, as if it is exhausted, some
times
even flipping upside down and floating to the top of the tank. A two
times
I thought it had died and when I went to check it, the fish turned over
and
swam away as if all was well. Is this normal?

We feed the fish goldfish flakes. Should we be giving the fish anything
else? Both fish are only about one inch long.

Thank you for any help.


D~

Thank you for the links.

D~


wrote in message
...
dont feed flake food like that
http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...care/food.html
feed higher quality, higher protein, but WAY less of the food per feeding.
GF graze
all day. they cannot digest big loads of food. no stomach.

http://users.megapathdsl.net/~solo/p...m.htm#floating
problems
Ingrid

"Annaid" wrote:
My sons have a tank with two gold fish. One is a calico fantail and the
other is a blackfish with bulging eyes (we can't remember the name) The
calico is doing just fine. The black fish seems to be have problems
every
time it poops. It takes forever to complete the task. It also seems to
have trouble swimming while doing this, as if it is exhausted, some times
even flipping upside down and floating to the top of the tank. A two
times
I thought it had died and when I went to check it, the fish turned over
and
swam away as if all was well. Is this normal?

We feed the fish goldfish flakes. Should we be giving the fish anything
else? Both fish are only about one inch long.

Thank you for any help.


D~




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

some sound advice given there!

Also pellet food after soaking, squeeze the food to release
any trapped air. This will help also.

Another point, are you keeping your water qualities
good too? If you were unaware of the feeding mechanism
then ensure you look this up as well as keeping water
quality good.