Hi, the baby goldies are now 5 months old , they are mostly orange with cute chubby bellies. Most of them are a little less than 2 inches, I hope this isn't bad . They are all super active, eating well, I change 50% of their water 3x/week and rinse their sponge filter sometimes once a week, mostly every 2 weeks. All are swimming well except there is one who has had a bit of a deformity. This is hard to describe but when he swims his tail is always moving on one side of his body. I do not know if this makes sense. It may be a while before I can get a pic or video of him but if it helps, I did post the 12 week old video a while back. Here it is again


You see him at the end of the video.

Anyway, one morning I went to check on them and found him upside down. I thought he was dead but when I touched him he started swimming. It seems like every time he rests, he floats upside down. He swims normally, eats well, etc. He's still tiny, maybe less than an inch w/o tail. I'm just afraid he is not resting well because of this, also that his belly is being exposed to air which may irritate it.
Could it be his deformity may have made his back too weak to support his belly? I do not know if it is best to cull him. I know most breeders cull the fry that have abnormalities but he was adapting to his physical condition and I thought he would be ok. I want to do what's best for him.

I feed them Hikari Gold baby pellets 2-3x/day. I soak them for 20 minutes and then crush them b/c the babies' mouths are still tiny. The pellets always sink. I also feed them frozen daphnia and bloodworms. And Hikari Algae wafers, at least once or twice a week.

On a side note, 3 babies will be leaving today to a good home , I'm going to miss them but they will be in good hands .


karla

I am not an expert but it sounds like he has a swim bladder problem (I cant tell much from the video sry) lol It remids me of the pepsi commercial, feel free to get a second opinion though. . .

Hi FinnyFinnedFriend and thanks for replying quickly. The video is old, I just wanted all of you to see if you can see where he has a bit of a deformity, since it was hard to describe. I just thought that this may be the reason he cannot rest normally, like perhaps the developement of his back/spine is not normal or strong enough to support the growth of his belly. I do not have an updated video or picture yet.

karla

Karla, unfortunately, a lot of fry come with deformities. Some are easily spotted, while some are hidden, or come out when the fish gets bigger. Might be that something is inside of him as well, besides the obvious problem with his tail.
Before you feel that the fish is doomed to a lifelong suffering, give it a shot and give him peas for a few days, and see if the floating continues. The algae wafers also are very good for him. No need to give into submission before you haven't tried everything else. Maybe the little guy at least will come somewhat around. A tail deformity alone will not bother a fish too much in his life - a lot of pet store fish are "deformed fish" in the eyes of a breeder, and do just wonderfully as a pet.

I have a moor with out anal fins, and I looove him to death. actualy most of my moors arent up to breeder standards but I love them any way. . . who knows maybe he isnt suffering. Good luck and Ranchugirl great advice!

Hi, thank you both for your replies . I want to give him a chance since he is doing fine w/his deformity, and he is still very active, not really showing stress. Culling him is last resort if this becomes too hard for him. I will keep you up to date on his progress. Also, although I've found very good homes for these guys, this guy I plan to keep .

Thanks again


karla

Good luck with the little guy, and keep us posted every now and then on him!

Hi, thanks Ranchugirl.

karla

I've had a lot of strange fry, some fell to its side when stop swimming. That corrected itself after some time. If the fry wiggles when it swims, because of a crooked back (visible in side view) I don't think there is anything to do.

Oh he swims fine, with the exception of his tail, it is only when he rests that he has problems.


karla

More pics/video when you can!

Mine has completely fused tailfins.

Dear Karla80,

I might sound as if I'm the most cruel person on earth to you right now. If you love the rest of the fry, you should discard the disabled one. Or else, if you want to give him a chance, isolate in another tank. Deformed specimens are easily susceptible to a number of diseases and may be a threat to the rest of your brood.

Regards

JohnF

Hi, I do not know if it sounded like I wanted to cull this fry b/c of his tail/deformity alone, so I just want to clarify why I had originally posted.

I knew he had this deformity when he was about a month old, yet I never culled him b/c I wanted to give him a chance to adapt to his condition, which for several months he seemed to be doing. It was not until a week ago that I noticed him upside down. I did not suspect swimbladder problems to be the cause b/c of the way i feed these guys, that is why I was concerned that maybe his spine has developed in a way that makes it too weak to support his growing belly, therefore this problem would become permanent.

So my question was, if his deformity is causing him to go upside down when he rests and there is no way to fix it, should I cull him? He does swim like all the others, very active and so far no signs of stress. Tough little guy , but i think all fish are pretty tough.

I've read from some of the posts in the disease section that when parts of their body is left out of the water for long periods of time, this could irritate that part. I'm just worried that this could happen to him, and in the long run he will suffer some damage to that part, i.e. the belly.

John F, I do not think you sound cruel, in the wild it is survival of the fittest. Unfortunately i do not have enough room for another tank, but those who will be taking the fry are planning on taking them Tuesday, I hope, so he should have the tub all to himself in 2 days.

I will posts pics asap.

thanks

karla

Hi, sorry for being a bit of a pest but i just have a few questions. How do you feed fry peas when their mouths are still too small? I tried today, squished the peas up as small as possible and just put a bit in as a test. Some pieces were still a bit too big. Squishing until it becomes powder pretty much makes me worried that i might contaminate the water. Therefore, after the "test" I gave up and put an algae wafer in instead. Could i use algae wafers instead of peas to help him? If yes, how often can i give them algae wafers?

Also, several months back i posted that according to instruction, you can leave the algae wafer in the tank for 2 hours. I usually leave it in for 1h15mins to 1h30mins. Is this ok? There are 14 babies and this has never been a problem.

thanks


karla

Hi Karla,

Sorry for being a little rough on you re. your little goldie. Sadly, I myself have tried to be a good Samarithan on many occasions and ended up loosing many fish related to Dropsy or Matsukasa. And the usual first signs are related to swimbladder problems.
Btw, I work with persons with developmental disabilities, so to a certain extent I know what it's like.........
Re. feeding peas, you can either boil the frozen peas, dispose off shells and squeeze between your fingers or you can include them in any home-made recipe using a blender. Keep a little syphon pipe handy to clean out uneaten pieces asap.

Cheers

JohnF

Hi, these are not the greatest videos, sorry .

This one, at the start of the video you see just him, unfortunately the others wanted attention too. He seems to swim well, except for his tail.



This one, he's swimming again, you see him kind of begging for food.



This last one, in the beginning of the video you see him kind of start to turn, but then he corrects himself and starts swimming normally.




Sorry i could not get one of him upside down, he mostly does this when he sleeps or gets tired. I was hoping to get his belly b/c he has developed this red mark. It appears to be on his bottom fin and not directly on his body. I do not know if it is a sore or irritation from him being belly up when he rests. B/c I was around he thought it was meal time.

Lastly, i think this has more to do w/an abnormality than a swimbladder issue, but i am not too sure.

thanks for any help.


karla

Hi, I finally got a video of him/her resting, unfortunately he is far away so it may be hard to see the red spot, but it does look like a colouration on his/her tail.




thanks again


karla

hi, i know that my photos aren't the greatest, but here is an update:

still swimming pretty normal, but sometimes i find him/her kind of tilted to one side while swimming as if one side is weaker than the other.
still active and eating
still rests upside down and has a bright red color on one of the anal fins, he/she does not seem to be affected by this, no signs of stress

and i noticed yesterday that he/she is still pooping and the poop looks healthy, no sign of bacteria or illness

i am still worried about the redness of one anal fin, could this be caused by that fin being left a bit outside the water when upside down? I do not know for sure if parts of him/her is being exposed to our air so this fin could still be in the water when fish is upside down, but hard to tell.

thanks


karla