Hi, I have one fish that battles swim bladder problems constantly. I have tried fasting for 3 days and peas for three days endless amounts of times (actually, he swims alright after 1 day of fasting), I have tried all sorts of different foods : flakes, floating pellets, sinking pellets, pro gold, frozen food, etc. ( the food he swims the best after is the frozen brine shrimp.) I have tried soaking his food in water. I think I have tried pretty much everything.

So, I saw on goldfishconnection that feeding spirulina flakes can help with swim bladder, so naturally I bought some right away (I am desperate now!). I just got them yesterday, and not 5 minutes after he ate them, he was upside-down. It happened much faster than with any other food, and it was much worse. He was upside down at the top of the tank all night, and just now he is swimming normally again. I think these were worse for him...

It's so strange, though, that he doesn't get the problem when he eats brine shrimp or peas. Certainly I can't build a healthy diet on that, though. What should I do, folks? It's getting to where I dread feeding that tank, and save it for last during all the feedings.

Aqua

Aqua, with some fish the swim bladder problem is so far progressed, that its very hard to treat it successfully. You never know to what stuff the fish was exposed before he got to you.
If he does best on the brine shrimp and the peas, could you try to make a gel food based with those ingredients? There are a few great ones pinned on top of the page, and gelfood is one of the foods tha have kept mine from floating again.

Try something protein rich, like crab meat or precooked cocktail shrimp from the store, blend them in a blender, add enough water, so the blender doesn't burn out on you, add maybe some spinach, red bell pepper (color enhancer), the peas and brine shrimp. I have wheat germ in mine as well, I am just not sure with such a severly effected fish that its something you should add in it, maybe a spoon full.
Heat the whole thing up, and add unflavored gelatine powder. Vitamin supplements you can add as well at this point, if you have any for fish, otherwise dog vitamins will do as well. Let it cool down, put it in the fridge overnight, and then cut it in comfortable slices.
I store mine in the fridge or freezer with appropriate packaging, and for feeding time I take a slice or two out, cut them up in bite sized pieces, and VOILA!
All natural foods, no additives or preservatives. Even my daughter likes it !
Good luck with your fish!

Hmmm... I dunno... I don't think you realize how easy it is for me to mess up even the easiest recipe...

I'll give it a try. Thanks Andrea.

Aqua

Henry eats dry dog food if he can get his hands on it, but I've never heard of a child who eats fish food before That is really interesting, I never would have considered making fish food before, maybe I'll give it a try some rainy day. Cheers!

Hi Aqua,
It is frustrating, isn't it! I dreaded feeding my poor guys because of the floating afterwards. I fed them ProGold....even very soaked ProGold. Still floated. I finally decided to try the homemade gel food at the beginning of this month. They haven't floated since! How exciting! It is fun to feed them again!

I used the green peas, broccoli, green beans, 1/2 can tuna, crushed garlic, crushed ProGold and the Knox gelatin recipe. The basic recipe was in that pinned gel food thread...the garlic and the ProGold was from Koko's post in that thread. I didn't add any extra water in the blender although it was very thick. I cut it into 4 1/2" strips (and then smaller chunks) and separately packaged each strip in saran wrap then all were put in a freezer bag inside a freezer bag since it is very fragrant. We keep it in our basement freezer. Each morning we take a strip out, let it thaw and feed our two spoiled fishes.

I'm so thankful for this group of wonderful goldfish lovers!

2goldfish -- thanks so much. I think I will try it. I am going to the grocery store today, so we'll see. Did you notice any side effects after you started feeding? Was the water cloudy, or did their growth slow down? Thanks again.

Aqua

Where are your nitrate levels? Try to keep this tank with this particular fish very very very low on nitrates. That may help him, too.

Mine are always below 10.

Aqua

I didn't notice any side effects at all. The water didn't turn cloudy either. As for growth....it's only been 20 days....but I'd swear they have grown! Before I was only feeding them (2 goldfish - hence my name) 3 peas or 2 to 4 ProGold pellets every other day. Now I feed them each morning and sometimes give them a snack around supper time.

Their poop seems more normal now too...coming out in little chunks.

When I cleaned the tank it didn't seem very dirty (poop-wise).

The other changes I recently made in the tank was to increase the air going to the bubble wand and decrease the water level just a bit so that the water coming out of the hanging filter is more of a little waterfall. My hope was to increase the oxygen level in the tank so that they wouldn't gasp at the surface. I thought maybe that contributed to the floating trouble they were having.

My nitrate level is always under 10 also.

Hope your fish have luck with the gel food!