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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / March 2005Change in Swimbladder
Since November 15th - we brought in a fish that was swimming upside down in our small pond outside and put him in a 29gal tank. Up until a week ago, he was swimming upside down able to move about the tank - but not able to keep himself down in the water for very long. He was eating (although I never actually saw him eat). I feed him every few days - shrimp brine or a pea or sinking wafer. Now... he has started sitting at the bottom of the tank upside down. Occasionally he moves around. But, he seems very lethargic to me. The Ammonia,Nitrate,Nitrite levels all test zero. The ph is around 74-76. The tank temperature has been around 68. And it has been cold lately and the tank is near a window. I put a heater in to raise the temp to the low 70s. I also added 4T of aquarium salt. My question is... why the sudden change in flotation? Could it be affected by temperature or does this signal the end for our fish? Thank you for any help you can provide. Suzanne > Since November 15th - we brought in a fish that was swimming upside > down in our small pond outside and put him in a 29gal tank. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Thank you for any help you can provide. > Suzanne nitrate being 0 is suspect. If he's stopped eating it may be time for euthanising the fish. Are the gills active, do you have good water agitation from a bubbler or filter outlet? The gills are active. We have a Whisper Power filter 30 that came with the 29 gal tank. I'm not sure why a low Nitrate is bad. Can you explain? I just put some very fine sinking pellets into the tank and he seemed interested. In an established tank (after it has cycled) thee is always some trace of nitrates in the water...indicates that your beneficial bacteria are actively working converting any ammonia and nitrites quicky.... The only other reason nitrates would be so low is that you do 100% water changes every day (really bad!) or have an extremely heavily planted tank (that the fish can hardly swim though) Do you use anything (liquid or filter medium) that soaks up ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates by any chance?? They will stop your tank from cycling...or cause it to re-cycle constantly > The gills are active. We have a Whisper Power filter 30 that came with > the 29 gal tank. > I'm not sure why a low Nitrate is bad. Can you explain? > I just put some very fine sinking pellets into the tank and he seemed > interested. No. I don't use any liquid or filter medium. I also re-tested the Nitrates and they are at 5ppm now. (I probably thought the color indicated 0 before). We only have 4 small plants (plastic) that are at the 4 corners of the 29 gal tank. By the way, this is the only fish we have in the tank - it is around 6 inches long. The tank is sitting in front of a window that faces east. We wait a few weeks before we change the water.. but we did change it about >= 40% over a week ago. (we have well water, in case you are wondering about the chlorine). We shake out the spongy thing that sits in front of the biobag into a bucket containing some of the aquarium water we are taking out. We also replace the white (biobag?) along with its charcoal contents. Suzanne Thats ok then!!!! Nitrates showing means the cycles established! To avoid a mini cycle, change/clean each of your filter media 2-3 weeks appart to give bacteria a chance to grow onto the new/clean media. Try doing smaller changes more frequently so that your water doesn't change too much...something like 10-20% twice a week. Smaller changes are easier and more gentle on the fish. HTH Hope all goes well with your fish! > No. I don't use any liquid or filter medium. I also re-tested the > Nitrates and they are at 5ppm now. (I probably thought the color [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Suzanne Thank you. Suzanne |
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