One of my 2 orandas is still showing every-other, every-third day-type symptoms of SBD, usually worse at night. Since the first of the year we've gone from regular floating flakes [as I didn't know better], to Tetra's ColorFin [which we are discontinuing because this particular fish is white, I like him white, and his face is turning yellow from the ColorFin. Poor fish looks jaundiced.], and the only non-flakey thing I could find at the store was Wardley's Crumbles [also no Vitamin C--ergo, no orange], which I soak for at least 2 minutes before I feed them.

And yet we still have problems. I know I've got a small nitrAte issue...I'm going to check the levels of my regular tap water across the board, and then post a question tomorrow, in either the Goldfish discussion, or the Diseases section, about the best way to handle my water/nitrates. I don't know how much is "fixable," as it were.

Having lost a fish last August to SBD, this is not something I want to go through again. And like everybody says, it is terrible watching him swim funny, even if it is only a few minutes.

I know about the pea treatment, but what I want to know, is what are the best foods [both commerical fish foods, and things like lettuce] to both keep him healthy, diet-wise, but also to avoid SBD problems. I want this fish to stick around!

Thanks,
Mav

If your fishy is a constant problems with the upside down
act, you may want to start making some gel foods for him.
This is one of the best ways to keep SBD from appearing.
Another thing to try is a varied diet. Here's a list of goodies
I've given to my gang:

Goldies can eat many different things: lettuce
(darkleaf), spinach, cucumber, zucchini, oranges, apples, grapes,
bananas, watermelon, pineapple, tangerines, peas, dehydrated seaweed,
shrimp, krill, bloodworms, earthworms(put in paper towel for 2 days
to purge the dirt out of their system). Plus they may like some
other things you'd never think of.

A good sinking food would be Progold from goldfishconnetion.com


Any more questions just ask away!

He hasn't gotten to the upside down stage--his symptoms, which do tend to be temporary when they show up, tend to involve a bit of the head-down-tail-up thing, and a general buoyancy problem wherein he tends to drift towards the top of the tank.

So I know this isn't horrible, end-of-life stage SBD, I just don't want it to develop. Hence the asking. I am very seriously considering the Pro-Gold. Do fishies really like it? These 2 can be picky--the fancy Hikari plankton, they won't eat. The cheap Tetra plankton, they like.

Thanks,
Mav

My fish 2 of them had a bad cause of this. So I had to resort to Gel food. I made it off of this post but modified it alittle to my goldfishes likings

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/forum/index.p...?showtopic=2269

My whole gang enjoys the progold. Some of them are picky
are the goodies they eat though. <_<

One of my fish will float whenever I feed him pellets. For him, I have to stick to flakes (presoaked of course!), veggies, and gel food. Avoid foods that float, and try to stick to foods that allow him to feed midway down the tank or on the bottom.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys--I'm planning on trying to make a small batch of food this weekend, probably Sunday. Hopefully they like it--and with just two of them, makes sense to start small, right?

--Mav

I soak my pellets or flakes for 1 minute before feeding too!

Thanks for the recipes...my pea-tuna-green-pepper-and-zucchini squash gel food seems to merit 2 fins up.

--Mav