I have a strange Black Moor. He's(she's) always been kinda fat and his tail is normally inverted (for lack of a better word). (The tail's ends float upward instead of drooping down like the ones on my other fishes.)

Anyways, I came home and noticed him(her) resting upside down at the bottom of the tank. When I tapped the glass, he started swimming as normal. Now, he'll swim around a little and eventually drift back upside down. Scary!

I tested the water and sadly discovered pH and Nitrates out of whack:

pH--6.6
ammonia--0
nitrate--20 or maybe higher (This has never happened before. How do I fix it?)

filtration/tank size--two 20g power filters on a 30g tank
conditioners--Kordon's NovAqua
food--Omega One's small pellets; TetraExotic's sinking sticks; Hikari; peas; frozen shrimp

water changes--8g every 1-1.5 wks (I just changed the water a couple days ago.)

Again, the pH and (especially) nitrates levels are surprising. Would they have anything to do with this?

Should I go ahead and use my Proper pH 7.5? (My water is a little hard and might resist this stuff.)

Hi there

First, can you answer a few questions?

Are you or have you been using the buffering product?

Can you test your tapwater for everything that you have tests for and report back with them?

Is there a chance you can take a sample of your tapwater and a sample of your tankwater to a local fish shop to e tested for the following (or better yet, get the missing kits for yourself):

Ammonia/ NitrIte/ NitrAte/ pH/ kH

Armed with that bit of info, we will know a bit more about your water chemistry and can make good sound judgement calls as to how to handle your pH problems.


But for now, how about the results for your tapwater?

Post back soon.

Tapwater:

pH--7.4
ammonia--0
nitrates--0

Should I feed my fish (or make him fast)?

What else can be done?

...I've never used any buffering products.

Okay, well, we can see that your tapwater is coming out of the tap at a perfect level. if you say that your water supply is known for being hard, its probably safe to say that you have a good kH level as well.

How steady the pH in your tapwater stays remains to be seen. Here's a little test you can employ to see what we are dealing with. At least, until you can get your water tested or you get your own kits for the tests:

Draw some tapwater into a jug or large bowl. Test and recoerd the results. then stir or shake the heck out of it for several minutes. Test and record your results. if no change, stir or shake some more and testand record. if still no change, let it sit our overnight and then test again in the morning. If you still get no change, it is probably a safe bet that youve got a good kH level to keep yourpH level steady. If there is a change, you have some gas like co2 as a buffer in your city water suply. but, that can be overcome with a little patience.

What this means is that you aren't changing enough water weekly to keep your kH levels up. so, in turn, the lowered kH is allowing the pH to decrease. This will be easily remedied by increasing the waterchanges to 40-50% weekly.

Your nitrAte levels are actually ideal. 20ppm or less is actually what most of us have to work and slave for to achieve. If you keep them at or around 20ppm or less, your doing great! But, if your goldies flipover problems are induced by nitrAtes (some goldfish are), you'll have to strive to keep your nitrAtes as low as you possibly can at all times. LOTSA waterchanges. Keep in mind that some fish are chronic flipovers but there are surgical techniques to help this that you can get a vet to perform.

For now, try performing 10-25% waterchanges once a day for a few days. Try not to change any more than that either because we don't want your pH in the tank to change to much too fast. Fast for a few days and offer deskinned pinched peas from "frozen peas" packages. This should act as a laxative in case constipation has anything to do with it.

Post back soon.

Thanks for your help, Toothless. I will start the daily water changes. Do you think LouRawls (my Moor's name) will be okay in the meantime? Might this problem go away if the nitrates go down or should I try the surgery (frightening!)? Is the surgery you have in mind deflating his(her) swim bladder? (I've heard of it before but have never done it--and don't know how to do it.)

If I fast LouRawls and put him on peas, his roommates will have to do the same. Sucks for them (JohnnyGill & JeffreyOsbourne).

Thanks again.

Surgery is definitely a last resort type of thing. There are many other things we can try before that even becomes a reality. Work on the nitrates and feeding peas for now and se how that goes. There is a recipe for a gel food that works wonders for flipovers/floaters available in the goldfish feeding forum on the main forum page. The ,ain thing is to feed foods that do not contain any air that can cause your guy to float. He might just be a little constipated and have a bit of air in his tummy that is causing him to flip. This is why it is suggested to soak all foods that your feed your fancies for a minute or two before feeding.

I think your goldies will be just fine during the fasting.

Just for good measure try using the search feature at the bottom of the pages to find posts about your type of situation. Keywords to use are sbd, flipover, upside down, constipation, etc. I think you'll find plenty of extra info regardiong this......


Keep us updated!