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My Little Don is Dying?? Urgent!!

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  jolly_face1 
#1 ·
Don Corleone is a little goldfish who lives with Pilly a bigger, older and healthier goldfish.
He was fine this morning. He has been eating a lot since last week I got him. Sometimes he even seems to eat more than the Pilly. I thought he eats more because he is growing boy. He was perfectly fine this morning. I didn't give him much food as hi tummy was little bigger.
I came back this evening and noticed Little Don is listless and flosting sideways and his sides are distended and there is blackish cast to his belly. He seems to have a big bladder. I am thinking he ate too much. But I am not sure if it is a disease.
Is their anything that I could do to make him come back to normal life? I don't want him to die :(..
Zia
 
#2 ·
I'm no expert or anything (I'm new to all of this aswell) but it sounds like he has eaten too much and it bloated.
One of mine ate to much the other day and spent the night on his side but when he wanted to swim about he would just flip himself back to normal.

Do they float at the top if they are constipated? I have been told that feeding the fish a pea without its shell on helps with constipation.

What kind of food do you give your goldfish?
If your tank is new then have you checked to make sure that the water is ok for the fishes to live in?
 
#3 ·
Thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate it.
yes he is floating at the top but he is just gasping and totally restless.
I give him fish flakes. The other bigger fish also eats the same stuff.
I think the water is fine. I used ph balancer and equlibrium and changed water 4 days ago. I cleaned filter yesterday too. The other fish is very healthy and shows no sign of illness.

I read about the peas thing but according to what people say I shouldn't feed him for 3-4 days at least and then try peas. if he lives by morning may be he lives :(..
 
#4 ·
You do not say what size tank your fish are in. Goldfish produce aLOT of waste and need larger tanks than most people realize. It would also help to know what ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are. To get those results water test needs to be performed by you or local fish store. Many stores will test your water if you bring them a sample. You may not need PH adjusting chemicals. Most fish will adapt to somewhat differing Ph values as long as change is gradual. Were it me I would get a sample of water to have tested. Then I would perform a fifty percent water change using no chemicals other than a good dechlorinator. It could very well be that Don is just constipated but I would want to know were it me, that water quality or lack thereof, was not playing a part as well. I hope your fish gets better.
 
#5 ·
In adittion to what has already been said, it sounds like swim bladder disease. If you go to the disease sticky there is a lot of good info on it.

Goldfish in particular are prone to this. A way to help is by feeding sinking foods rather than flakes or anythig that floats. By feeding him sinking foods you are eliminating the possibility of him taking in big gulps of air when feeding form the surface.
 
#6 ·
Why not take the fish t the store and see if he is big enough to have some slime scraped off him to see if there are any parasites or flukes on him and at the same time get them to test some of your water?

At the same time as my fish was on his side at the top of the tank another one of my fish became unwell. he was big enough to have a slime sample taken and looked at under a microscope, he had flukes.

I treated the tank for flukes and the other fish stopped floating around and now looks healthy. I think he might of been aggitated by the flukes and so wasnt moving.

Worth a try anywayz.
 
#7 ·
Thanks everyone for your replies. Don is no more :(..
He already had too much food or air because he used to bully other big fish to eat all extra food. I am so sorry I couldn't save him. I took help from one of my neighbor who is fish expert and she said I shouldn't feed him anything.
May Don Rest in peace :(
He was so active.
 
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