Veiltale Goldfishes.

Question
Hi

I have a cold water tank with veiltale fishes in. We have three small new
arivals (2 inches or so long at most), and one veteran who is much bigger.
He/she has a very droopy tail, and seems to float awkwardly at times. We
tried swim bladder medication but it seems to make no difference. When I do
a half water change, he often floats upside down, but if I just touch his
tummy he swims away, but compared to the new tiddlers, he has less control
of his swimming due to the nose down floating and his very drooped tale.

Is this something that can be treated? He must be 7 or 8 years old, as we
have had him at least 7 years (he was the sole survivor of three after a mishap
with our neighbours looking after the fish while we were away. Caused by
holiday fishfood it seemed :-(

Answer
Hi Craig,

Oh yes, I know how those mishaps can be. I once got home from a two week vacation only to find the gravel in my tanks were completely covered with flakes - the entire bottom was pink! There were lots of casualties but lots of survivors too. Live and learn, and now I always pre-measure food for my fish sitters! I guess that to a non-fishkeeper, the amount of food fish actually need seems inconceivably small.

The only thing I can suggest to you is that you try an alternative diet, one that does not include dried foods (or very few dried foods) and see if the problem is simply malnutrition. There is an article here I'd like you to read, it talks about the ideal goldfish diet - plants, mostly:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm

However this site has a list of vegetable foodstuffs:
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/food.html

Try cutting out flakes, and dried pellets. Instead, feed a majority of vegetables - which can be blanched to break down their tough cell walls - such as squash, zucchini, and spinach. Peas without the shells are beloved by goldfish. I would make this 50% of the diet along with aquatic plants such as Elodea/Anacharis, if you can find it, since this common "pondweed" seems to be a favorite of goldies! They also like duckweed and other floating aquatic plants. However if you don't have access to live edible plants, vegetables will do and are certainly better than dried foods. So, 50% vegetables and plants, what else?

Well, you can feed frozen foods such as brine shrimp and daphnia, which have laxative properties because the crunchy shells of the crustaceans provide roughage. You can also offer mysis shrimp and bloodworms as a treat, but these foods are a little high in protein - and goldfish do best on a diet low in protein. You can also try foods such as cocktail or salad shrimp, mussels, and clams - but make sure they are not salty if canned, and not oily either.

In time, try pellet foods that have been soaked a couple times a week. You can soak them in vitamins (such as VitaChem which is a liquid vitamin solution made just for fish) or water. New Life Spectrum makes fantastic food for cichlids, and they started making some goldfish food - give it a try! You can also offer flake a couple times a week, but make it a vegetable or algae flake. Spirulina flake is a fine choice. You can also try goldfish flakes by Tetra. They make algae crisps, too, and the best part about these two foods is that they come in small sizes, so you don't have to buy a whole bunch at once, and it stays fresh! Remember, fish food gets stale after about two months.

I hope that helps. I truly believe a change in diet will perk up your goldfish. I also encourage you to do big water changes regularly (even if it seems to make the condition worse) because goldfish are notorious for producing lots of waste, which needs be diluted weekly. Four goldfish need a fairly large tank to keep their water clean, I wouldn't put them in anything less than 55 gallons myself.

Good luck!
Nicole