my poor bloated fish

Question
Hi Trish,
I have a goldfish who's about a year-and-a-half old. He lives in a  ten gallon tank with five other fish. When i first got him, it was for a school project in my Environmental class. I raised him with one just like him in a 2-liter soda bottle, maintaining the dissolved oxygen level, the pH, and controlling other variables. When the project was done (many others had their fishes die off), mine were still alive, so I added them to my tank at home. One is still healthy, but the other is not doing so well. He's been fine for about a year, but he's gotten progressively fatter. Now he's extremely bloated, he can only swim upside-down, and he floats at the top all of the time. I've isolated him in his own goldfish bowl. I'm thinking he may be severely constipated or he might have swim bladder disease. Can you give me your opinion and tell me how to treat him? I've read that a salt bath could help a bloated fish, but I'm not sure how to give him a salt bath...I don't want to make anything worse.

Thanks
Melissa

Answer
Hi Melissa.  The first thing that comes to mind here is that since your goldfish has been in a 10 gallon tank, depending on how big he is, he may be having problems "inside" due to something called "stunting".  It sounds like he has developed swim bladder disease which could possibly be caused by a tank that's too small, or, sometimes it "just happens".

You can try feeding him a couple of peas with the shell taken off and mashed a little bit, and withhold food from him for about 2 days and see if that helps.  He won't starve so don't worry about that.  IF he turns upright after this, you know it's probably swim bladder.  There is no "cure" for this, but sometimes you can get control over it.  I would only feed him every second day if possible. This may help.  A bigger tank would be wonderful.  Goldfish should have at LEAST 20 gallons PER fish with extremely good filtration.  If your fish is now in a "bowl" with no filtration, you need to move him to something with a filter or the ammonia will quickly build up and overtake him.

I would suggest you do some deeper research in to these fish, as the fish and their needs are completely misunderstood.  The best thing you can offer this fish (and any other goldfish you may have in that tank) is a bigger tank.  As I said, ideally, a single goldfish should have at LEAST a 20 gallon tank to itself.  This is because these fish get very big, and they are very messy.  They need very good filtration and regular weekly tank maintenance to keep them healthy.

I wouldn't go messing with any baths, because it does not sound like this is anything other then swim bladder disease and a salt bath really won't help with that.  IF his scales happen to be sticking out, or if the fish looks like a pinecone, then this is something totally different called "dropsy".  This usually comes about from poor water conditions and once the fish takes on the pinecone or scales sticking out appearance, it is usually fatal.  You might want to check this out on the computer also, just so you know what it is I am talking about.

Good luck.  Please get back to me if you have any other questions or need any clarification.

Happy New Year!