Romeo Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Gidday, My GF's got a goldfish she got about 4-5 weeks ago, he's always been fat. But today we were changing his water and noticed that his scales appear to be a little distended behind the gills. You have to really look to notice them, but I've heard that the scales issue could mean it's something a lot worse. He's really lively, he's always darting around chasing the other goldfish (Not in an aggressive way, just hanging out or rubbing himself against the other one). She feeds him these tiny sphere shape floating pellets she got from a fish seller, about 6-10 every day (for both fish) and they seem to be shredding the oxy-weed she puts in (fresh bunch every week). Not sure if their appetite is increasing because she has a heater in there keeping it to about 16c. It would be nice to know she's just over feeding them but please let us know if it could be anything a bit more serious. We've been doing 20-40% water changes + vacuuming the gravel every week and theres an oxygen stone in there. It's a 10L tank and the fish are about 4-5cm long. This tank is just a stop gap .. we're getting a bigger one soon I don't think there's a blockage, he seems to make a lot of "waste". Thats pretty much all there is to know. Anyways, here's some photos... BEFORE: AFTER: Cheers, Romeo & Jo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Sounds like Dropsy to me. Goldfish do tend to make alot of waist though. Here's some info on the disease. Dropsy Symptoms: Bloating of the body, protruding scales. Dropsy is caused from a bacterial infection of the kidneys, causing fluid accumulation or renal failure. The fluids in the body build up and cause the fish to bloat up and the scales to protrude. It appears to only cause trouble in weakened fish and possibly from unkempt aquarium conditions. An effective treatment is to add an antibiotic to the food. With flake food, use about 1% of antibiotic and carefully mix it in. If you keep the fish hungry they should eagerly eat the mixture before the antibiotic dissipates. Antibiotics usually come in 250 mg capsules. If added to 25 grams of flake food, one capsule should be enough to treat dozens of fish. A good antibiotic is chloromycetin (chloramphenicol). Or use tetracycline. If you feed your fish frozen foods or chopped foods, try to use the same ratio with mixing. As a last resort add at most 10 mg per liter of water. Also, if unkempt conditions are the suspected cause, correct it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 I'm pleased to hear the tank is temporary as goldfish are very messy and fast growing. They will need at least 150L. Looks like a normal fish to me. Are you sure it is a "he"? At this time of year, and the warmer water, it may be a she filling with eggs ready to spawn in a couple of months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 looks normal fat goldfish from the photos dropsy usually shows as all the scales on the body sticking out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolliolli Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 I also don't think it looks like dropsy, easiest way would be to look down top on the fish and see if it has a pinecone look. Usually if a fish has dropsy it doesn't last very long and acts quite depressed, yours sounds like its happy enough so i wouldn't worry too much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted August 30, 2008 Report Share Posted August 30, 2008 Don't know anything about goldfish but just looks like a 'fat' fish to me. As the others have said dropsy will show with a pinecone effect when you look down on the fish. Any fish I have had with dropsy also don't swim around much or eat and yet still get larger and larger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 How's the fishy doing? Love his/her colour. Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brookey25 Posted September 12, 2008 Report Share Posted September 12, 2008 Aww.. what a cutie!! Glad to hear you're getting a bigger tank. I have recently rescued a sick fantail and have had him in a 9 1/2 litre tank for the past month. Being a fish owner previously, I can tell you that once you upgrade to a bigger tank, you'll realise how much less work a larger home takes to maintain. Sometimes I feel like all I seem to be doing is siphoning loads of waste out of my tank! Anyways, I haven't had much experience with Dropsy, but I would say from looking at those pictures, that your fish looks pretty happy and healthy to me! I'm not sure what could be causing the gill problem.. but I'd say just to keep an eye on it.. make sure it doesn't get any worse. It could just be a sign that he's a little overweight.. as after reading this post... I'd agree that I've noticed the same thing in my own Fantail.. and he's beefed up since I've been feeding him his favourite food - bloodworm. He COULD be bloated due to constipation, which is really common.. so keep a regular eye on him to see whether he's going to the toilet and doing healthy poos. Constipated fish tend to do stringy poos.. or little short ones. The BEST thing to do, regardless of whether he's constipated or not.. is to defrost a frozen pea once a week and feed to him without the skin - just the mashed up inside part. Most fish love them.. they're excellent for bladder problems.. and constipation.. or just great to clean out the digestive tract. I do this for my fish regularly.. kind of like Medamucil for your fish Let us know how things go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piggyvir Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 your fish looks exactly like mine, except mine is double of your size !!! Mine has been living happily with a big big big belly for 3 years already and I only have problems with them recently after changing to a new tank.. I have been over feeding - I used to feed them 3 times a day ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeh_buddy Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 if you think it may be dropsy adding some epsom salts will help the retained fluid to pass through its organs, personally I think it maybe a female who is filling with eggs. Alternating its diet with some de-capped peas will help it to keep regular if it is constipated, just like Brookey25 said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romeo Posted October 21, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 UPDATE The little goldfish is happily back down to normal proportions. He's also grown out of his black spots, he's almost entirely gold now! As soon as we took the Oxygen weed out he started to lose weight, so we think maybe he was eating that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Good to hear Romeo :bounce: Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 It looks like an oranda or oranda cross so that is their body shape. The scale protrusion for dropsy is pretty obvious and it usually gets worse not better so good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAuckland Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 hi...pls let me know what you feed them..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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