My Goldfish/Fish tank ordeal.

Question
Hi. I have a 5 gallon Marineland Corner 5 Hex eclipse tank. I have had a oranda goldfish and one medium fantail in it since November. I never had any problems until they started flipping over constantly and floating at the top. I looked the symptoms up online, figured out they have flip over disease, and I quickly through away their commercial fish food, started feeding them de-shelled peas, and freeze dried brine shrimp. The peas worked the freeze dried brine shrimp constipated them again and I immediately through it away. I bought anacharis plants and removed the tank decor, I have plenty of stress coat stuff that takes the ammonia out of the water as well, I do frequent, partial, water changes, only when needed, and I went out and bought romaine lettuce, a cucumber, and emerald entree frozen food, but they wouldn't eat any of it. $100+ dollars later, (I need to replace the light and buy more chemicals etc.) I finish stabilizing the tank yesterday and the filter breaks, the tank was a cloudy mess. I'm broke at this point and my mother orders a filter online without mentioning it to me first. She didn't think to overnight ship it and now it is not supposed to come until April 28th. The Oranda didn't make it and the Fantail is holding on. I did a complete tank change and treated the water today, for the most part he has been doing well, I put the plants in and I left the hood off. I would have went out and bought a new filtration system already but I do not want to waste my moms money. My goldfish is now gulping at the surface and I know its due to lack of oxygen. I was wondering if there is anything I can do to keep this poor fish from suffering for the next few days until the filter arrives that won't cost me too much money. I'll buy whatever I need to but if there is a temporary 'fix' so to speak I'd rather try it first. Is there anyway I can put more oxygen in the water?

Answer
Hi Margery,
I'm sorry to hear all the trouble you've gone through with your aquarium and the unfortunate loss of your Oranda. :(

You can buy an airpump and airstone to produce bubbles and therefore agitate the water surface to help introduce oxygen into it. Since there is no filter currently and the aquarium is rather on the small side, I'd definitely try to change 50% everyday on the aquarium until you can settle the current situation. Water changes will help introduce a tremendous amount of oxygen into the water as well.

When goldfish develop the all-too common swim bladder disorder or 'flipover disease'. The most common reason behind it is blockages in their digestive tract due to overfeeding or more likely not feeding the right foods. Fancy goldfish are -very- suceptible to this problem especially due to the fact that their body shape causes their organs to often get 'crammed' together and issues like this are more likely to develop. Feeding smaller more frequent meals seems to work better with their often delicate digestive system. Many of the popular goldfish flakes and pellets are often made of poor ingredients and very little wholesome ingredients like whole shrimp, fish, or vegetable matter.

So I'd recommend looking for a goldfish flake or pellet (id go for flake because pellets are a bit bulky)like Aqueon Goldfish flakes for example.. But still try your best to supplement with romaine lettuce, green peas, some zucchini, algae wafers, anacharis plants, spinach ect... If you can buy cooked or raw shrimp (the kind in your grocery or in petstore) and finely chop it up it is an excellent addition to their diet. A balanced varied diet is most important for maintaining good digestive health in the delicate systems of fancy goldfish.

Also, as you know goldfish produce high amounts of waste and a five-gallon can become polluted in less than several days so good-size water changes must be kept in consistent routine. I'd recommend at least half of the water taken out two or three times a week. High nitrate levels due to water left too long in the tank has been found to worsen swim bladder problems.

The one important thing to remember is Swim bladder disorder is not really a disease requiring special medication... but rather a condition due to environmental or diet issues.

So pay special attention to water changes to both help keep the water clean and oxygenated and help it stabilize until your filter comes in. And work towards a good balanced diet with your remaining Fantail.

Isn't it crazy how things can get out of order in an aquarium so quickly? It can be quite easy to disrupt the balance of the tank but I'm quite sure you will be able to get things straightened out soon and your Fantail a happy healthy creature again.

I do wish you the best!

If you are interested, this has been the best goldfish info website I've ever known -

www.thegab.org

Karen~