My Pearscale, Theo, is acting really strangley and I don't know what is wrong. I just noticed him swimming a lot on his side, sometimes on his back, near the surface. He seems to be having trouble staying balanced. I can't really tell if his scales are "pineconed" since he is a pearscale and his scales are naturally round. But his scales do look a little bit different than normal. I just fed him some Omega Gold about two hours ago and he ate it. I usually give hime peas at night, but have not for 2-3 days. I have changed about 4 gallons of water so far tonight and added 1/8th teaspoon of epsom salt. The temp of the water is already at 80 degrees due to the hot weather. I don't know what else to do!! Any suggestions would be great.

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 40-60ppm
Ph: 7.4
Tank Size: 10 gallons
Water Changes: Once a week. Two gallons.
Other Fish: No. Only Theo.

These are the best pictures I could get. Now that I look closer, his scales do look different than normal.
I just ordered some Metromed form goldfishconnection.com.

Theo seems to be more stable at the moment. Not as much turning upside down. But he is only hanging out at the top of the tank.

Hi jdesio, is he pooping at all? If so, is it thick/coloured? or is it white/stringy?

Also, if you're adding epsom salt for dropsy it's 1/8 teaspoon per 5 gallons so you would need to double your current amount for 10 gallons.

It's hard to tell from the pictures if it's dropsy - it could be this or it could be swimbladder problems. Do you soak his food before feeding? You could try feeding him blanched veggies for the next couple of days to see if this helps with the floatiness. Dropsy is a bacterial infection so in most cases shouldn't affect his boyancy which leads me to believe it may be more to do with swim bladder. Something that can trigger swim bladder problems is high nitrates and yours are starting to climb a bit (if it's closer to 60) so my suggestion would be to increase your waterchanges until you get your nitrates to a healthy 20ppm or less. A nice 50 - 70% waterchange should do this (with temperature and ph matched water)

When you say his scales appear different - can you describe how they appeared before?

Also, what kind of filtration do you have?

Filtration: All I know is that it is an Aqua-Tech filter. It came with the 10 gallon tank. It has a blue cartridge (which I change every two weeks) and a Bio-Fiber.

Food: When I give him his flakes (Omega One), I do let them soak before I give them to him.

I have not noticed him poop lately, but then again, I have been working a lot and have not been home too much.

Scales: It is hard to explain, but they almost look like roof shingles now . The ends are sticking out a little bit more than usual. I think they were more dome shaped before. Like I said before, it is hard to tell because he is a pearlscale. And the fact that I have been staring at him for the past few hours probably doesn't help I will try and take a better picture.

To be honest - you know your fish and if his scales look different and are causing you concern, then this is a good enough indication that all is not well. When do you think the metromeds will arrive?

Try to see if he poops and post back what it looks like...

Does he still have a good appetite?

I would still go with a large waterchange to try and get your nitrates within a healthy range especially if it is dropsy. He's going to need perfect water and the metromeds are an excellent medicated food especially for early signs of dropsy ...

JenW, thanks for all your help!!

So far tonight, I have changed 6 gallons of water. I will give him some peas tomorrow morning and give an update. Hopefully he goes to the bathroom. He usually does after eating peas.

I don't know how long it will take to get the metromed. There was no option to change the shipping, so I guess it is the standard 3-5 business days.

Did your waterchange bring your nitrates down to a nice, healthy level?

And I look forward to an update tomorrow - hopefully it brings good news

Theo is doing a lot better today. He is swimming around the tank normally....not having any balancing issues. I gave him 2 peas this morning and he ate them all up. I still have not seen him go to the bathroom yet.....

I just tested the nitrates and it is between 15-30 ppm. I am a little confused on the nitrates. What is the proper level? And should I continue making water changes?

Your nitrates are looking much better A healthy range is 20 or below so if you're closer to 15 then this is a great improvement

I'm glad he looks like he's doing better

Thanks Jen. He pooped a little today and it was green (exact color of the peas). I just gave him 2 more peas for dinner. Should I keep him on a pea diet for acouple of days or can I give him flakes in the morning like I use to?

I'd keep him on peas for another day and then go back to normal feeding. If you find after feeding flakes (presoaked) he goes back to floating, you can try adding other blanched veggies to his diet. I have a couple of orandas that just can't take flakes no matter how long I soak them so I make up a gel food for them - it's the only thing that stops their boyancy issues....

When you say you "change it every two weeks", do you actually toss it out and replace it with a new one? If you do, you also throw out half of your beneficial bacteria, which causes at least a little mini cycle every time, if not worse. It would be much better to just rinse out the media in a small container of tank water, not tap water. Tap contains chlorine which will kill the beneficial bacteria.
If you do just rinse it and not replace, then that is perfect....

I do replace the cartridge everytime I did not know that. I was only following the directions on the cartridge box. I should have known better! Thanks for the tip.

By the way, Theo is doing good. He is having no problems with his balance and is eating everything that I give him.

I just got Metro-Med in the mail today. Oh well....at least I have it just incase something happens down the road.

Well I just woke up and Theo is floating upside down again!! I don't know what is wrong. I am going to change the water again and add some epsom salt. Yesterday and today I gave him flakes in the morning and peas at night. About two weeks ago, I started giving Omega One to Theo. So maybe it has something to do with giving him a new type of flakes. I don't know. HELP!!!

One of my fish floats like this once in a while but frozen peas or spinach usually fixes the problem. You could try feeding some vegies.

It may well be swim bladder playing up again.I'd go back to peas for a couple of days.I also suggest raising the temp of your tank as this helps keep SBD at bay.Feed peas twice a week instead of normal food hopefully things will improve.Heres a link for you full of swim bladder info

http://www.geocities.com/swimbladderhelp/index.html

I gave him flakes around 8am this morning and now it is about 2pm. Do you think I should give him peas now or wait until tonight?

I don't understand why he would be having this problem since he gets 2 peas every single night.

I'd leave feeding him tonight.Also you should go by the the rule of one pea per goldfish.

Maybe you wonna try upting up your water changes just a little bit. Some fish are really nitrate sensitive, and even though a reading of 40-60 looks like its okay for most fish, some do not well with that. Floating would be one problem.
You can either try working in another water change of 2 gl during the week, or just change more water during that one water change.

I think that you are right. I have been changing his water more often and he is doing a lot better. For the past few days I have only been giving him peas...so that seems to be helping too. I just don't know when I should introduce flakes back into his diet. But I am closely monitoring his water parimeters. In about two weeks I am going back to Florida (for school) and there is a 30 gallon tank waiting for him. So hopefully a bigger tank will help. It has been cycling since June so it should be pretty much ready when Theo and I get there.

I will keep you guys posted if anything else changes, but for now Theo is doing better with his swimming!!

How are things going at this point? Better hopefully.

Things are going much better! He has been swimming fine and I am slowly introducing him back to flakes. Eventually I will get him back on his normal feeding routine...flakes in the morning..peas at night. When I finally get back to Florida, I think I am going to try out one of the gel food recipes! Thanks for all the help.

Glad to see that things are going better for you and the fish.Continued luck.

Ditto what Devs said. I'm pleased things are doing better