My pearscale Moo Moo has been a bit floaty. He is very round. I have been watching my tank parms and the water is fine. I used to change the water only once a month, about 50% but that was not enough. This was due to strict water restrictions. Where I am now we are up to Level 4 water restrictions so I came up with a plan to use my GF water to do my clothes washing. I know some people might find that gross but I'm saving water and my fish are getting a water change twice a week now

I think because of the lack of water changes previously he has gone a bit floaty. I read that I should fast him for 4 days. Is that too long for the other fish to go without food?

Also I normally feed peas but I read on the net that daphina is good and acts as a natural laxative, but what form would be best?

1. Live
2. Frozen
3. Gel

I'm not sure which to give him. I will feed peas but I thought I might also try Daphina too.

I am not able to get antibiotic GF food here in Australia so does anyone else know what I could try if the fasting and peas dont work?

Thanks in advance

I can understand your issue but still I can't agree with this solution. Don't take it in a bad way, but the same way we arecareful about our goldies we need to take care of our health. So, I don't think this is a good idea.

Also, the old tank water would work well in the toilet .. . .
Here's a thought: do you have live plants? If you had live plants, they would take care of the nitrates, and you'd probably be okay at weekly changes.

I'm gonna have to go with frozen daphnia as the best. I raised live daphnia earlier this summer, with some success, but a person whos opinion I respect alot warned me about possible bacterial infection with live daphnia. gel-food is wierd to me bacause, and maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think gelatin would be beneficial to intestinal problems, it seems too "gummy".

I use the Hikari frozen daphnia for my very expensive fish, due to Hikari's sterilization process. I've been feeding a non-sterilized, wild harvested brand to my other goldfish with great success, so I'd suggest whatever type of frozen daphina you can find.

4 days does seem a tad long for fasting. 2-3 seems more reasonable, and that daphnia is so gentle on their guts, anyways. imho

I read something over at GF connection that said their medi-gold is so great cause your goldfish will eat it, unlike crushed-up medicated koi food, which apparently was the only choice before medi-gold. Maybe you could find a medicated koi food, and maybe you're lucky enough that you fish will eat it??

Medi-gold is for the treatment of bacterial diseases it should not be used as a regular food for healthy fish.
SBD is best treated with twice weekly feeding of peas.Increasing tank temp to between 77 and 79F and keeping at that temp .Heres a link dedicated to treatment of and diagnosing SBD :)Your fish will get used to eating peas

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

Finally there is no cure for SBD it can only be managed.I personally have had a fish with SBD who lived a good life till I had to let him go.

I know what you mean, but I always put in 'napisan' with the GF water before I put the clothes in. Napisan is a anti bacterial solution so it kills any bugs. People use it to wash dirty nappies in. My machine does two additional rinses with clean water so the clothes always come out smelling nice and fresh. It is reported that we will run out of drinking water in 3 years which is pretty scary so everyone here in Ballarat are doing whatever they can to save water. We dont have much of a garden due to us deciding not to as we aren't allowed to water them. I use the siphoning water with all the yucky stuff from the gravel for the plants we do have and just use the clear water for washing.

Thanks Blue for your advice and the link. I will ask the LFS for frozen Daphina as per your post GlassGoldfish. Thanks heaps for the replies

You may also wish to consider feeding tetra delicia daphnia in vitamin rich jelly.It comes in boxs of 16 sachets.Frozen cubes of daphnia tend to contain a lot more than your fish will actually eat.

Yes, I know which one you mean. I've seen them at the local fish shop. I will get that as well. It's apparently very good for them. They also have ones with bloodworms in it. I was thinking of getting that for my Tandanus Catfish He loves blood worms but I was looking for an alternative to my shrimp pellets for extra nutrition as he doesn't like the shrimp pellets very much.

I use the bloodworm and the brine shrimp besides the daphnia.

When my Manny was alive I would just soak his food real good before feeding him and it worked very well to keep swimbladder in check. (he had it *very* bad)
I do it now for every feeding even with the healthiest of my fish.