Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? 0
Nitrite Level?0
Nitrate level?>20
Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? normal.
Ph Level out of the Tap?
Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 10 gal running for3months.
What is the name and size of the filter/s? Aqua tech 5-15 power filter.
How often do you change the water and how much? 20% every week.
How many fish in the tank and their size? 1 fantail goldfish 3 inches (without tail)
What kind of water additives or conditioners? Prime.
Any medications added to the tank? no.
Add any new fish to the tank? no.
What do you feed your fish? Pro gold and shelled peas.
Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt",
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? Left side of abdomen is getting very bulgy
Any unusual behavior like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..? Floating upside down on the top of the water. Finds it hard to swim down for food.

Comet is almost 2 years old. When it was just bought it developed swim problems within a few weeks. It started swimming upside down sometimes and showed buoyancy problems.We did everything that was recomended like feeding shelled peas, weekly water changes, variety of foods, checking tank water often,etc. Comet grew up like that for a year and a half. During the last few months it started getting sicker and needed to get under a rock to stay down in the water. Then Comet started getting blood spots around its abdomen and blood lines in its fin veins. I took it to the pet store and they asked me to treat it in a seperate tank with fungus clear. They checked the water and told me that all levels were fine. When Comet did not get better they told me to give Anti bacteria medicated fish food by Jungle. Comet is still not getting better. Now he cannot even swim down anymore. It floats on the top and its left abdomen is very distended. It is now getting blood spots on the part of the abdomen that floats above water. We have put in a lot of hard work and care and find it hard to see Comet like this. Can you please help?

Hi there, Fish. Glad you found us here.
Swim bladder problems can be tricky to sort out as there are several possible causes and it is not always obvious which one it is.
I bought a fish that had floating and flipping upside-down probs and I struggled for quite a long time to sort it out.
A common cause can be constipation (but you've been feeding peas and good food) and sensitvity to high nitrates. Sometimes the eggs become impacted. Sometimes it can be a bacterial infection which will eventually lead to dropsy. The fact that the fish is starting to streak makes me fear that this might be already in progress. Are the scales looking at all 'pineconed'?
I don't feel certain enough to advise on treatment and hope a mod will jump in soon.
While you are waiting - go to the sub- forum 'Treatment' in this section and click on Swim Bladder Disorder. This will give you a better sense of the picture.
Fingers crossed.

Thanks Pixiefish,
No the scales are not pineconed. I have been searching on the net for several days now and have been unable to find help. I turn to all of you for help. We love Comet and would like him to live as best as it can.

Well, I really hope one of the mods will pick up soon. You can get amazing help and support here - I just hope it isn't a night where everyone senior is working the nightshift.
It's good that Comet is not pineconed. I'm thinking you should post in 911 instead - that way it might get picked up faster.
You can put a little vaseline on his belly if it is actually out of the water, so it doesn't dry.
Good luck.

Thanks Pixiefish,
I did put a little vaseline on Comet's belly. I hope someone can help before its too late. I just joined today so i could get help. I dont know how to switch this to 911 yet. Can you help?

I wish someone can help soon.

Are there any mods out there today? Im sorry to be a pest but I am trying to get help soon.

How frustrating! There are usually scores of people who'll pile in with answers. This only happens every now and again - it always seems to be when you really need it.
I don't think you can 'switch' it (I think only the mods can move a topic) so I suggest you just go to 911 and start it as a new topic.

Toothless is on but I dont know how to get his attention. He is on chilodiniasis right now.

After thought: are you in the States or somewhere else? There is also an international section.
I'm in the UK and still up way too late - so I'm off to bed and wish you luck. I'll check the board tomorrow to see how things progress.



Pixie

Toothy is a super-expert. Can you PM him? Not sure if you're allowed. Click on his name then once his profile is called up, click on 'send a PM' - they'll let you know if it's not allowed.
Aaaaaaagh!

Yes I am. Been on here for 8 hours so far. Goodnight.


Not allowed to message!!!!!

I'll pm a mod for you

Thanks Shamu!

toothless should have gotten the message by now, he should be here to help u out soon

Thanks again Shamu,
I will be on for a little longer hoping that anyone can help out my fantail.

How 's the fish?
I found myself worrying during the night!
It's probably early am. your time now, and I really hope someone comes by soon.

Comet is hanging there. Whenever it is fed I have to hold it and take it down to the food for it to be able to eat a little bit. After applying the vaseline its res spot seems to be getting better. Thanks for thinking about Comet. It can use all good wishes and prayers right now.

Comet has been having swim and buoyancy problems since we got it almost 2 years ago but it never started being so helpless till we treated it like the pet store person advised. First with Fungus Clear and then with the Anti bacterial food. I wonder if fish feel pain??? Its left side just keeps getting bigger. I just hope someone can help before its too late.

Im surprised a mod hasnt come along yet, hang in there

Jees! I can't believe they diagnosed fungus! Those fish store people can be useless.
I'm not sure how to interpret the fact that one side only is bloating. My fish had buoyancy probs from the moment I bought her, too. It's very upsetting once they start to be incapacitated. Sometimes it's due to bacterial infection and sometimes their swim bladder is actually deformed.
Are you keeping the water changes up? Keep the nitrate reading as low as poss until you get proper advice -nitrate exacerbates SBD.
Any more streaking on the fins? Any new symptoms.

Forgot to ask about the temperature. If it's cold it certainly won't help. Keep the temp in upper 70's.
Also, I'm assuming you are soaking Comet's food before feeding? Don't whatever you do, give unsoaked pellets as you will only increase the bloating.
As far as I know I don't think the epsom salts can hurt. Go to Treatment and click SBD for instructions. I hope I'm not out of line or wrong but I'm getting anxious about the endless waiting.

Just read over posts. One thing I find with SBD is raising the tanks temperature to around 79F or 80F I had to do it with a fish of my own. Water Quality should always be kept spot on. Heres a link on swimbladder problems and also what other problems can exist which resemble SBD

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

Hope that helps you

I would also keep up the medicated food as blood streaked fins need to be watched.

Blue! Thanks for responding to my SOS! This is a really good link - I wish I'd had it when my Calypso was ill.


Fish - this looks like promising help. I'll keep popping in.

I sent a pm to another mod for ya,I hope they get it soon

No more streaking on the fins. No new symptoms. The pet store told me to use Fungus Clear because it said it treated swim bladder!!!!I have Comet in a seperate 10 gal tank because it cannot swim down in its original 30 gal tank along with another fantail Nipper. I keep the water clean and change it often. Idont have any gravel in this hospital tank so it cannot hurt itself. The nitrate readings in the 30 gal tank would sometimes go to 30 and no matter all the water changes the nitrate levels in the big tank have been the hardest to keep down. Comets tank is below 10. Any ideas on how to fix the bigger tank?? Nipper is doing fine in there. It misses its buddy Comet.

The tank temp is between 74 and 78. Comet gets sinking pellets called Pro Gold, shelled cooked peas and soaked Anti Bacterial Medicated Fish Food. I have not tries epsom salts yet... too scared to mess anything up without proper advice. Also I have to hold Comet and take it down to the tank bottom to feed.


ps: thanks for the link Blue!!!

Sorry I keep saying "it" because we are not sure if Comet is a male or female.

Hey there. Glad to hear there are no new symptoms.
Could you get the tank up to 79/80? Is there a heater in there?
I thought the link was really good. I was very interested by the idea of the 'weighted jacket' gradually lowering the fish in the tank so that the water pressure would compress the swim bladder and force the air to gradually dissipate into the blood stream. Did you see that? There was another link to describing how to do it.
Also, if this is a bacterial problem then continuing the medi food is important. Sometimes it's not strong enough, though, and other anti-biotics need to be administered. I'll let someone else advise on this.

PS To sex your fish - go to the breeding section where you'll find a couple of diagrams.

No I dont have a heater because we only have 2 fantails. If you think I need one I will go out and buy it tomorrow.

Well, it would definitely help.
Fancies digestion is certainly aided by higher temps, anyway, and as SBD seems to respond to warmth I don't think you could go wrong. You will certainly want to use it in the Winter if it gets cold where you are.

I can cover the ac vents in the room to make it go up to 78 - 80. Will that be enough?

Yup. That should do.

Thanks Pixiefish.

I got to go for tonight. I'll check back again tomorrow for any help.

thats great that ur fishie is doing better , Im sorry the mods have not come yet, im doing the best I can to get their attention, the warmer water might help, u should defianently try it

ok, I finally got a mod's attention for u

Hi there, Fish - sorry you are having such troubles with Comet.

Swimbladder is a tricky thing to treat, especially when it keeps on advancing, and the fish had it for a long time. It isn't even neccessarily something you did - could very well be that his quality of life (or lack of such) before you bought him contributed to his troubles now. He might have been sensitive to nitrates all his life, just nobody noticed it before or knew about it, and he has to suffer now because of it.

If you haven't tried it yet, put a small crystal of epsom salt inside a pea, and feed it to him. Epsom salt fed like that is a laxative, and might at least linder his problems somewhat.

You don't have a picture of the bulging belly by any chance, do you? That could either be Comet being a female, or even an internal tumor. Has the bulging continued since you started feeding him the mediated food?

Oh, and I'll put this into the 911 section - it definetely qualifies...

Thanks Ranchugirl! I will try the epsomsalt in pea today. Yes the bulging has continued to grow. His medicated food was stopped after 10 days 2 days ago. Yes you could be right. I was thinking of malformed swim bladder, egg impaction or a steadily growing tumor. I can try to take a picture of Comet but I dont know how to upload it to the site. Any suggestions???

I gave Comet the peas with epsom crystal in it. As i am new here I cannot post a picture yet though the picture would be able to make things more clear to the pros.

Can you try setting it up on Photo Bucket then posting the link? That might work.

Here is the link to Comet's picture:
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x198/oo...ecamera2069.jpg

that looks strange, the mods will probably know what it is though

Here are a few more links to Comet's picture:
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x198/oo...necamera061.jpg
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x198/oo...necamera060.jpg

Still hoping Comet stays alive till help comes.
View picture at:
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x198/oo...amera2069-1.jpg

Sorry the main picture of Comet on post # 41 got messed up. I have fixed the picture on post # 44. Gosh it is day 3 and still no help yet. I'm sorry but i am very anxious about Comet. I hope it is not in pain or something. It is totally so helpless right now. It makes me sad to see Comet suffer.

Can someone ask a mods help please. I am too new and cannot pm yet.

Yup! I already did. Hopefully Daryl or Toothless will answer soon. What bad luck.

Thanks Pixiefish. u r a lifesaver!!!!

That is some size of swelling. Hows his appetite? From angle of pic it looks like it could be a tumor as it is similer in shape to a tumor. As SBD doesnt cause swellings like that. Internal tumors do distend the body which is what your pic appears to show. Unfortunately with tumors there is no cure all you can do is keep the fish comfortable.

Comet cannot eat by itself anymore because it cannot swim down to the tank bottom. I have to hold Comet gently and take it down to the food and it eats a few bites. I am not sure how often to do this but so far am doing this once a day. Someone plz help so we can know what it is thats wrong with Comet.