Im not sure if this in the right forum but here goes....
My new fish is having some trouble eating at the moment and I think It might be constipation. Because about 15-30 minutes after eating he always has trailing poop and stops swimming. He usually just hovers around in the same space near the bottom of the tank.
From reading this forum I have found out that Peas could clear his system out. I haven't fed anyone in that tank today so I was wondering what type of peas to use and should I do anything to them before I feed them to my fish???

Any advice would be really helpful.
Thanks

Buy a pack of plain frozen peas at the grocery store. Make sure its the kind with no butter or salt or anything. Feed about a pea per fish. You want to take them out of the freezer, thaw them out (microwave or otherwise, they don't need to be hot, just room temp), remove the outer shell, and cut up the inside into bite size pieces.

Then just drop them in the tank, the goldies should love them.

Thanks for your help.
I will give it a try tomorrow.

I found this really interesting - hope this helps (remember to fast the fishie btw)

http://goldfishconnection.com/articles/det...d=83&parentId=8

Thanks Kat, great article--thanks for posting it. And I have also read the article on high nitrates/sbd connection.

Stubbsy, trailing poop is a sign of constipation and fasting and feeding peas should help.

One of my fish is "floaty" and sometimes "sits" on the bottom. I just started seeing her upside down at the top of the tank. When she sees me, she will right herself and I believe that this problem (swim bladder disorder) is caused by a combination of constipation and high nitrates.

Before I do a weekly water change, the nitrates are high (80ppm) so I have started doing 2 water changes a week--that lowers it to 20ppm.

But I think that problem begins with constipation and the high nitrates make it worse. She is a real pig and gobbles most of the food. I have been feeding twice a day but will cut way back. I should try what is suggested in the article.

But not feeding for FIVE days is gonna be hard on me! It is hard for me to ignore the begging.

Peas are great for your goldfish ( and won't do any harm if the poop isn't constipation.) You can use the frozen peas, you find in bags, in the grocrey store. Boil a few in a pot - for 3 to 5 minutes in boiling water or until soft - and then peel the skin of them. The skin makes it hard for the goldfish to eat. Drop them in the aquarium. Your goldfish may eat them, but they might not like them after a taste or not go for them at all. If you want you could also cut the pea in half, so that your goldfish can consume it better - just a thought. Anyway, good luck and happy pea feeding!

I forgot to add that that link you gave us is great! Thanks for posting, I would never have known about goldfish connection! Thank you again.

Along the pea feeding topic. Does anyone have advice how to get a pea to each fish? All of mine seem to be quite delighted by them, but the faster swimmers...or should I say piggy-wiggies seem to snap them all up. I try distributing the bits all over the 40 gallon, but Sting always seems to get the lion's share. Never have had diarrhea, but it worries me.