Hi. Please help!

Tank Parameters:
Nitrates - <5
Nitrites - <.1
Ammonia - 0
Ph - 7.9
Tank Size - 30 gallons. It's been running for two years.
Filter - AquaClear 300
Water is changed 3 gallons on a weekly basis.
2 Orandas in the tank - both are three inches long
Water Conditioner - Prime
No meds in tank
Feedings - morning is HBH Goldfish Nibblets, small sinking pellets
- evening is Omega One Super Veggie Kelp Flakes
Body looks normal

Five or six days ago, my one Oranda started spending a lot of time floating on his stomach. I thought it was air so stopped feeding the tank for two days, increased the temperature to 76 F (from 74F) and then fed with a couple of pea halves. I had to leave town for a couple of days so the tank wasn't fed at all during that time. When I got home tonight, he seemed fine (when I checked on him briefly) until I gave him 1/2 a pea and then he started floating stomach up again. What should I do?

Thanks so much for any help,
Karen

Karen, is the fish swollen at all?

Any thoughts as to why your nitrites are high being the tank is 2 years established?

Do you know if this fish is a female or male?

In the meantime I would do a 30% water change, test the tap water and post those numbers.

It could be a case of SBD or female problems........either way we should start with the basics....water.

Hi! According to my test indicator, the nitrites couldn't be any lower. Less than .1 (which is what I have) is their lowest reading.

I'm not sure if it's a male or female. Doe males have big spots on their front fins? Mine doesn't. Perhaps she's a female?

Also, she turned belly up less than a minute after I gave her half a pea. It took her about 30 minutes to recover and now she's swimming normally. I thought peas were supposed to help with SBD after a couple of days of fasting (which is what I did). I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks for you help!

I'm just adding this posting so I can get email notification of replies.

Karen, often fasting followed by feeding peas can help with SBD. But there are many things that cause SBD. One being a bacterial infection. If you can feed her a medicated food for 10 days may help to control it if it is one. That may be something to try.

Are your tests drop tests or strips? If they are strips you really need to get more accurate drop tests that are exact readings. STrips only give a guideline and can be misleading on the results, which can cause problems.

I'm using drops not strips.

I fed her another pea (1/2 at a time) this morning and she was just fine. I also did a water change. Do you think I should just keep trying the peas or should I go out and get a medicated food?

Thanks Laurie!

I think that it would be okay to continue with peas because she was okay with the pea this morning.
I would give the peas some more time before buying medicated food. (just my guess though.)

Karen what brand of drop tests don't have a 0 on them? I am curious.

As far as the peas vs med food. It is up to you. If you want to leave the fish on the peas, I would recommend a 2 day fast first then follow with a couple days of peas only. You can do this as a bi weekly maintance treatment or even do a weekly one day fast followed by a day or 2 of peas.
If you want to see if the SBD is caused by an underlying bacterial infection using the med food treatment is ok as well. If it is fact a bacterial infection causing the problem it won't go away and can worsen at different times causing permenant damage.

It is up to you. Let us know how things progress. Good luck with him.

NutraFin doesn't have zeros on their tests.

I will get some medicated food. Thanks so much for your help!

Karen

Ah I see, I would recommend when it is time for new tests to make sure you go with something that has 0's on it. That way you know what is going on and not an "estimate".
Aquarium Pharms has a master test that has everything and is pretty reasonable for all tests.
You are welcome, keep us updated.