goldfish floating up

Question
Hi Stephanie,

I have a single goldfish in a 10 litre tank for s few years now. Recently, the fish keeps floating to the top. I have read about the causes, and I think I know what happended. It is the dry food I've feed the fish, causing bladder problems.

I have stopped feeding the fish for several days without improvement, and then started feeding my goldfish on pea (as suggested by another expert) for the past few days now. The fish shown improvements on the very first time when I feed the pea, but from the 2nd day onwards, the fish is floating up again. I did not overfeed and was only feeding once per day and only about 3/4 of one pea each time, but does not seem to help.

Do you know of any medication or any other help? For the past few days, I noticed that the fish has a big lump on the side which is causing it to float upwards, and there is some redness on this lump as if there is some internal bleeding. Is that a really bad sign?

Grateful for any advice.

Thanks very much for your help.

Kind regards,
Paul

Answer
Hello,

Lumps may or may not be a bad sign. If it is a tumour, then it is quite bad. It may just be a symptom of whatever disease he is suffering from though.

I personally have always fed my fish dry food (with moist treats here and there) and have never had any problems by doing so. Most problems are caused by water quality issues.

Instead of feeding it peas, you should try some frozen food. Peas don't have as many good nutrients as frozen food does. Blood worms or brine shimp are good ones.

It sounds like this problem is bacteria related. You may want to try something like tetracycline or triple sulfa, but if he has an internal problem then Maracyn 2 (from the brand Mardel) might be better. It treats internal infection and helps fish who aren't eating.

I hope this helps.

Good-luck,
From Stephanie