fish with a slightly big stomach

Question
QUESTION: Mmm... i'm not sure if i understood the instructions, haha, sorry.  My tank is a 5 gallon tank, and the tank for the fish had no label for him, only on the receipt and it came up as shubunkin.  But my fish has whiskers and looks nothing like pictures of shubunkins do, so i'm kind of thinking he is a koi, i just don't know what kind of koi though.  It's only just my one fish though and he is about maybe 3 inches long or so.  I don't know what kind of filter it is or anything or what any of the levels are.  I don't have anything to test it with and my mom said not to bother with it as i might cause a problem adding the chemicals and changing things.  And i only just got him at the end of October, so i just changed the water about 2 weeks ago.  How often should i change the water?  And i had only changed about maybe a third of the water.  But i've been watching him recently and he still acts basically the same to me, he doesn't do anything strange really.  But everytime i've been feeding him, his stomach gets really big and takes a long time to get more normal looking.  I'm not quite sure how much to feed him because i've heard you feed them as much as they can eat in 5 minutes and he sure eats a lot... especially if it is peas, he loves them.  But just yesterday and today, his um, poop has been sometimes short and brown, but i've seen it twice where it has been long and a whitish-clear looking color.  So i've been reading, and some websites say he could be constipated, so i just fed him some kale and peas, although he only eats the kale if i squish it into the peas so he doesn't notice.  But they said to feed a lot of greens if that happens.  But other websites say he could have an internal bacterial infection which sometimes is fatal, but you don't know if it's happening or not because there aren't symptoms of infections like that.  So what should i do?  Because i don't know what is wrong with him and so i don't know how to fix it, but i've kind of grown attached to him like he's a little brother to me :  )  although i don't even know if he's a girl or boy.  I just mean he's like a little kid!  And he has lost a couple scales on both sides, but i don't know if it is from a parasite or something or if it is from the one decoration in the tank that has sort of pointy leaves and such.  I don't know if that has anything to do with his stomach, i just thought i'd add that in.  Can you please help me?

ANSWER: Hi Natasha;

He is probably overeating. If he had a bacterial infection he would probably act sick. I think it's just an irritated digestive system from overeating. Koi and goldfish are natural gluttons so it's pretty common. We just have to keep them on a light diet so they don't get sick. Feed him lightly twice a day so his belly doesn't become too big and so his water doesn't become polluted. The more he eats, the more waste he puts out. The kale and peas are great to feed at least 3 times a week in place of a regular food meal. Goldfish and koi are mostly vegetarians and the regular goldfish foods we feed them have too much protein. They need more fiber and that's what the peas and kale provide. You can also give cooked shredded carrots, cucumber slices, and cooked green beans.

If he has whiskers, called "barbels", he is indeed a koi. He's going to need a much bigger tank in a few weeks and will need to go into a pond in just a few months. Koi grow to be over 2 feet long. You may have heard the common myth that "fish grow to fit their tank" but it really isn't true and it's cruel to keep fish in too small tank. I have seen fish that actually have permanent deformities in their backbone in order to allow them to swim in small tanks longer than they should. They die of what looks like old age much sooner than they should. Koi and goldfish have a lifespan of well over 20 years. Here is an article about fish and tank size to tell you more;

http://www.firsttankguide.net/size.php

To keep all fish healthy they need at least a 25% water change in their tank once a week, every week. Vacuum the gravel too. Koi and goldfish also need good filtration. A "power filter" that hangs on the back of the tank is good for tanks smaller than 50 gallons. Once he needs a tank bigger than 50 gallons, a canister filter that connects with hoses is the best one to use. Look at the boxes at your fish supplies retailer to find out what size tank they work best on. Get one that's a little bigger than you need because koi and goldfish are very messy.

Fish sometimes lose scales from bumping into things or sometimes from rubbing against the decorations when they itch. Fish can get "itchy" if there are parasites, but also if their tank is dirty. Unless you see other signs of illness it's probably from dirty water. Change his water and vacuum his gravel once a week and he should be okay...for a little while. He needs a bigger tank soon though.

You really should have a test kit just for testing ammonia. He is a very messy type of fish and the presence of ammonia can alert you that you need a make a water change, cut back on food, get a bigger tank sooner, etc. An established aquarium should have "zero" ammonia in the water. I understand what your mom says about the complications of adding chemicals to the water but you shouldn't do that anyway (except water conditioner for water changes). You are only going to test the ammonia. You aren't adding anything to the tank itself. If you detect ammonia, you should change water to correct it, not add chemicals.  

Let me know if you need more help...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again, haha.  I'm sorry.  I just wanted to ask you a few more things...  I did change about a 1/4 of the water though earlier, so i did that.  I did feed him less than usual, but he really won't eat the kale unless hidden in the peas, and sometimes it comes out so he won't eat it.  I can't seem to get the pieces small enough so he doesn't have to endure the taste too long, hence the hiding them in the peas, haha.  Thankyou for telling me what other kind of vegetables i could give him.  If it is okay to ask, how do you know how much to feed a fish?  Do you just have to make a guess over time to see how much they'll eat?  And you said light so i don't even know what light would be compared to normal... so i just gave him about 1 and a 1/2 peas with small pieces of kale.  Is that good? And i don't know what you call it, but it's a like a little white treasure chest thing and it's supposed to take out the ammonia i think, i have been keeping one of those in the aquarium.  Will that work for now until i can get a kit to test the ammonia?  Sometimes though, during the day, he'll just stop and lay on the bottom of the tank, not very long and not very often... but i read that if they lay on the bottom of the tank it might not be a good thing because it might be flukes or something.  But he doesn't end up laying on his side, he just lays on his stomach, and he doesn't even do it very often.  If it doesn't get very dark in our house at night, could he be doing that during the day because he is just sleeping?  I don't mean to ask so much, i just love him and don't want anything to happen to him.  And this is my first fish also, so i don't know much as it is.  So sometimes he'll also lay against the air pump, or between the air pump and the glass, but he doesn't gasp for air or anything, he just seems to like the spot.  Is that an okay thing for him to do?  Nothing is wrong right?  But also there is like a spot on his lower scales and it looks like, well you know how like if you were eating something sugary and sometimes the sugar gets stuck to you?  But it's not little pieces of sugar looking stuff, it is like a small flake of it, almost like a small piece of fish food, but not.  It's almost the color of his scales so it is almost unnoticeable, but i like to watch him up close a lot so i did spot it.  Is it something to worry about?  It doesn't look like the pictures of ich and it's not even really white looking... it is sort of like a pale brownish-whitish coloring, sort of... it is light thought so it still blends in with the scales.  Also, oh my gosh i'm so sorry.  Thankyou for helping me though if you can.  Sometimes he'll make his mouth extend or something, and he like stretches his gills like if he was yawning or something, hahaha, but then like a covering sometimes comes down over his eyes, but i read that fish don't have eyelids... so what could he be bringing down over his eyes?  He doesn't do it often, just sometimes, but i'd still like to know what it is if you don't mind helping me.  I'm really happy for all the help you're giving me, i like being able to help my little friend, so thankyou!

Answer
Hi Natasha;

I think the amount of food he gets is just fine. He needs to have a regular basic flake or pellet too for a little protein and other vitamins that are added. When you give him the flakes or pellets only give enough for him to totally eat from all areas of the tank within 2 or 3 minutes. Feed that amount twice a day. You can give him veggies for 3 meals a week instead of the flakes or pellets. This should give him a balanced diet. OR, give a little veggies and a little less than normal amount of flakes or pellets twice a day if you want him to have both at every feeding.

The little treasure chest may help with ammonia that could be building up but ammonia being detectable in your aquarium is not normal. Your filter should be taking care of it so there isn't any at all, ever. That's why it's important to test for it in tanks with messy fish. The "yawning" can be a symptom of high ammonia. As fish yawn they will sometimes roll their eyes into the sockets for a second so it's normal for him to do that. The reason for the yawning may not be normal though. It's often an attempt to clear the gills or mouth of an irritant. Ammonia burns the gills and irritates so it's the first thing we usually look for.

The little spot could be simply a freckle or something. If it gets bigger it may be an injury or a parasite or something. Just watch to see how it goes. I hope I was able to answer all your questions...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins