Very poorly fantail

**karen m** · 11-18-2010, 01:56 PM

Hi to everyone, I am new to this forum and have just registered for some advice, however I will be setting up an indoor aquarium after Christmas so I promise to come back and talk to you all.

Today I have a problem with a beautiful Fantail Goldfish that lives in my garden pond with another fantail and about 20 Koi, We have had this fsh for about 6 years and he was bred for outdoor living i.e. always been kept cold since birth. His body, without fins is about the size of a very large egg, so he has grown somewhat since he was about the size of a small egg when we bought him.

This fish is and always has been an extremely poor swimmer hence my girls calling him 'Waddle', he swims rocking side to side. We noticed that 2 days ago he was swimming upside down and if he rests he turns on his side, we are wondering if this is a swim bladder problem, but although Koi if put in a new deeper pond will sometimes jump out to right their swim bladders, this fish cannot do that as he just cannot jump even when well also he is not in a new pond he has been in this particular pond since July. No other fish are behaving odly or ill and we really need to do all we can to save Waddle therefore, I would appreciate it if you could offer me some advice. I have asked on our regular Koi site but have not really had any luck with replies, they can be a bit Koi only orientated.

Thanks in advance
Karen

**Brhino** · 11-18-2010, 02:12 PM

it does sound like a swim bladder problem. The first thing you could try is feeding him some shelled peas (microwave them until they're squishy) to help clean out his system. If that doesn't work, it'll be hard to do much of anything else unless you have a separate fish tank you can isolate him in for treatment.

**karen m** · 11-18-2010, 03:07 PM

I do have another tank where I can put him but I am a bit worried about keeping the temperature down as he is in water which is 6 degrees Celsius at the moment and colder at night. I have just put some peas in hot water to thaw them and will try feeding him hopefully the koi won't eat them all as they are now supposed to be on a starvation diet, I think I will have to catch him, tank him and feed him there.
Thanks for your reply it's really appreciated.

**Brhino** · 11-18-2010, 03:20 PM

hmm. I hadn't considered the ramifications of the swim bladder problem combined with the fish shutting down their digestive systems as the water gets colder. I'm not so sure it's a good idea given that fact. I only have experience with goldfish keep indoors, but there are several people on here that stock goldfish ponds, so hopefully one of them can give you a more relevant opinion.

**mermaidwannabe** · 11-18-2010, 03:27 PM

You can transfer some of the pond water into the tank so he can make a smoother transition. Then keep the tank cold by floating ice cubes on the surface or orienting an electric fan in the direction of the tank. Keeping the light off will keep the water from heating up.

OR -- you can try gradually acclimating him to water that slowly gets warmer by stages, so he'll get accustomed to it over time. It can still be quite cold, just not as cold as the pond. In an indoor tank, the water will become warmer than in an outdoor pond, but it might help to run the AC if you have it, which would keep the entire room cool. You might need a warm jacket to enter it, but the fish will stay cooler in his tank. There are lots of ways to keep a tank cooler.

I brought my goldfish indoors for the winter from an outdoor pond, and since they're being housed in our metal pole shop, the water stays pretty cold. Maybe you can put the tank in a garage that tends to stay cold all the time.

Meanwhile, let's hope the swim bladder problem resolves itself.

Best of luck -- mermaidwannabe

**karen m** · 11-19-2010, 07:16 AM

Thank you all so much for the advice,

I live in England so do not have air conditioning, to be honest it's blinking freezing here at the moment and I do have a garage I can put the tank in so I think that's the way to go. I did scoop him up last night into a floating tub and fed him some peas but not sure how successful that was as it is pitch black when we get home at 5pm so did it by torchlight. We will try again tomorrow (Saturday) when we have some daylight, I am sure he will be fine till then as he seems ok apart from being upside down.

I will let you know the outcome as I am sure this weekend will either see some improvement or it will be time to help him to the other side, if there is one for fish.

fondest regards
karen

**mermaidwannabe** · 11-19-2010, 02:29 PM

Over here, we call that the "rainbow bridge".

-- mermaidwannabe

**Brhino** · 11-19-2010, 02:33 PM

it should be noted that goldfish with swim bladder problems can go on to live for a long time, even if they may be sideways or upside-down swimmers. It's up to you, but if the swim bladder problem is the only issue the goldfish have, euthanasia may not be required.

**HarryB** · 06-21-2011, 11:47 PM

I am probably too late with this reply as it has been quite a while but i thought i would post this information as it sounds like you are quite fond of the fantail goldfish and may still be the owner of some. It is very common for fantail goldfish to obtain swim bladder problems which in turn cause inverted swimming. The biggest cause can be overfeeding, this causes strains on the swim bladder when the fish becomes full and the fish cannot control its buoyancy (the reason for this is their ornamental shape where their body is squashed it means their organs are all crammed in to a space smaller than it should be). This is often a temproray problem and once the fish digests the food it will return to its normal swimming state, but on some occasions it can become a permenant problem due to damage and unfortunatly it leaves two choices, have an inverted swimming fish that may struggle to feed and move or put it out of its misery.

Hope this gives you some extra knowledge for future reference :)

Harry