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ernie_m_gw

Indegestion?

ernie_m
13 years ago

Foolish me, with the water temps in my pond in the 50's I thought I would try feeding my hungry fish who all made it thru the cold cold winter. However, several fish had a bad reaction I believe is due to the food getting stuck in their bellies.

There one who is still sick. Droopsy (who doesn't have droopsy but has such a weird fat body shape she looks like she does) is a 3 year old goldfish. I have her inside now in my fish tank. The tank water quality is very good.

Droopsy is seemingly not in peril, seems content, stopped clamping, and can swim normally at times. However, when she does stop swimming she has so much gas in her that her rear end rises and she ends up resting "nose down" at the top of the water.

I believe the problem is gas as last night I observed a string of poop stuck coming out of her vent, and there was literally an air bubble trapped in the casing!

I got some supplies and cooked the fish some dinner from a recipe I found on the Goldfish board, basically baby pees mixed with diced sardines in gelatin, with some Acidophilus too. Acidophilus is supposed to reestablish better bacteria in her gut. And the recipe is so simple I may switch to it now.

The fish LOVE this and Droopsy does her best to get some too, though she doesn't have the best coordination right now.

Does it seem like I am on track?

Comments (5)

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    13 years ago

    A strong reminder not to feed your fish too soon. Most fish will do fine on any algae that exists in the pond until temperatures are high enough. Mine have been nibbling on the sides as temps were warmer for a few days but stopped as it got cold again.

    Hope yours don't suffer any additional problems.

  • ernie_m
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Droopsy farted!

    Last night Droopsy still had a long thin string of poop stuck out her vent, she was vertical nose down and had drifted aside the filter inlet tube. I swear she had a WTF look on her face.

    This morning I didn't see her stuck anywhere, checked the top for a floater but nooooo... she was schooling with the other fish! She is swimming normally now, though perhaps still a bit bloated, but that is hard to see as she's normally fat & bloated anyway.

    Thanks sleepless for your concern.

  • sleeplessinftwayne
    13 years ago

    I'm glad Droopsy is doing better. From my reading, I have been given to understand that food ingested when they are too cold simply rots in their gut. They don't have a stomach. I don't have any expertise in digestive systems but this sounds like indigestion and constipation from He//! Algae along with peas, spinach, water cress and various other greens stimulate movement in the gut so blockage doesn't happen.

  • ademink
    13 years ago

    lol...ernie you're hilarious!

    good to see you up there in ft wayne sandy!!! :)

    our temps got high enough i did a 10 day medikoi food run. today was the last day and iffy w/ temps dropping so low the last few days but i think they're ok. the pond is 16K-20K gallons so i think that the water hasn't cooled off too much.

    you have to feed that medicated food 10-14 days so i couldn't stop on day 8 or 9....so we shall see!

    glad Poopsy...er Fartsy...I mean Droopsy is better now! :D

  • ernie_m
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Poosie, I like that!

    Over the weekend she had a few setbacks, I'd come in and see Droopsy swimming weird, as soon as she slowed then UP came her backside, or at times she was stuck nose down again. It came and went a few times, check again 2 hours later and all is good, 2 hours after that and UP POOPSIE. By Sunday she was all back to better.

    But geeze, I had 2 fish left in the pond, ShyBoy (another 3 yo goldie) and JesusFish (who's 2 inches at best, species is unknown as he came as an egg in some plants from Florida and was born in my plants-only pond) and ShyBoy was in trouble laying over. I don't think it was food as I have not fed him since the "incident" 2 weeks ago. Perhaps it is the wild temperature extremes the pond is going thru, perhaps the bio filter needs to reestablish.

    Anyway, ShyBoy is now in a warming bucket awaiting transfer to the inside tank till the pond stays steady at 60. I'll probably move JesusFish in too tonight. He's black on top, very hard to see so night fishing with a flashlight may be the best way to catch him.

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