Hi! Emma are you here? You helped me a lot just recently with my Goldie floating upside down. Also, thanks to all the other people's advice too-it really helped. My fish is still swimming upside down. I did the three day fast and yesterday offered one pea as recommended. Part of the pea floated to the bottom and she did not eat it. The part that stayed at the top (small piece) she did eat. She is still upside down and will only swim around when stimulated. Today I noticed some small red streaks on her body. I know that is not good. Her body is still swollen. Should I now start antibiotics???? I am going to the store today. I will have her water tested today. Her water changed is due sat. which will be a week from her last change (which was the 50%) Will Maracyn 2 be ok. Any help would be great. Thanks again!!
P.S. The small red streaks are on her belly part
Kim

red streaks on the belly MAY be an internal bacterial infection, but i'm not sure. You should send Emma a private message, she'll probably get that faster. Also, try putting a piece of the pea on your finger right by your fish's mouth so she can eat it.

Emma may or may not be able to help right now.....but I would be happy to try to help you. I am afraid that I do not know what has happened so far so I will start from the beginning if you do not mind.

1. Is your tank still cycling? Are there any readable ammonia or nitrite amounts? What are your nitrate readings?

2. How long has your fish been upside down?

3. Are there any portions of the fish that are sticking out of the water?

4. What have you done so far to help this fish, besides fasting and feeding peas?

Never be afraid to change the water sooner than your original schedule. If you feel it needs changing, CHANGE it. You do not have to wait until Saturday. Sometime high nitrate iis the main culprit of flipping. My Puppy, a red/white ranchu, flips anytime I am careless enough to let her tank get over 40ppm nitrates.....

The small red streaks on her belly may be because that part of her is exposed to the air - this is not a good thing for a fish. There are a few ways to prevent this until we get her righted and doing better - the easiest way I know of is to suspend a tank divider or piece of gridded plastic (the kind you find in a hobby store for stitching with yarn or something) just under the surface to hold the fish under the surface. I wire it to suction cups and stick it there. She will float to the top, but cannot break the surface of the water with her belly this way.

You can also hold a pea and feed it to her - place it right in her mouth if you can. Most fish recognise you after one or two tries and learn to eat well from your fingers, whether they are upside down or rightside up.

Sometimes it helps to "walk" a flipped fish - it gets them moving, and, if constipation is the difficulty, movement helps things to work out. I gently place my hand under the water, flip the fish and "drive" them around the tank. Make the fish do the majority of the work swimming, you are simply keeping her upright and under the surface. Physical activity can help with constipation.

Raise the temperature of your tank to 78 - 80 degrees F.

These are all big starts. If you can answer the questions I posed at the top of this, we can analyse the situation better and look to see what the next step should be.

Most flipped fish do FAR better with a medicated food, than with a water bourne antibiotic, so you need to get her eating, and it would be much better if you could get a hold of some medicated food.......

Please post back soon. We care........

Ok, I looked up your history. It certainly is a problem when the weather will not cooperate with you, huh? :angry: Stupid hurricanes......

As Emma said, my bet is that the majority of the problem rests with poor water qualtity for one reason or another. You certainly have had more than your share to deal with recently.

Please let me know how you are doing......

Hi! I think I understand what you are saying about her belly being out of the water. I did look and you are right-that is the part slightly out of the water. I guess I will try and do what you said and keep this from happening with the piece of plastic and suction cup. I think I know what you mean. I am just so afraid that she might have an infection and I want to treat it as soon as possible. I am having the water tested in just a few minutes and I'll have to let you know what it says. As far as the antibiotic food-I'll have to see if they have it and another concern is that she really isn't eating so I don't know if she would eat that. I am going to try and hand feed the pea also and do what you suggested with turning her right side up. Thanks so much for your response. I'll keep you posted.

Kim

UPDATE: I just had the water tested. There is 0 ammonia, nitrates -60 which they said was not that bad, nitrite - 0, ph is 7.6 which is ok especially with our water here. Overall they said that it looks ok. What do you all think??? Thanks for all the help.

Kim