# Goldfish... dying, really bad swim bladder disease, please please help.



## Amberxxx

Hi there, my goldfish has had swim bladder (well, I think its swim bladder disease anyway) for quite a few months now, hes a fancy tailed goldfish and has been going between swimming upside-down to swimming normally. But the last few days its been really bad, hes been totally stuck on his back and now his stomach + groin is turning blood red... its slightly worse today than the photo shows as this photo was taken yesterday:

http://tinypic.com/r/axih6w/5

I've been feeding him peas for a week now, he still manages to eat them upside-down. I moved him into a far smaller tub to try help him feed better and swim slightly easier. I change him every other day into a bucket full of water to give him a little more freedom as I hate seeing him in the tiny ice-cream tub. I see him try and fight against the swimming upsidedown but he cannot help it anymore. I would love to know why he's turning red in those places also as it almost looks like he's tearing.. its that red. :-(
He cannot be constipated as hes eatting the peas and passing them in his toilet so I don't know what to do now.

He has lived with his goldfish friend in a small plastic tank with tap water and some coloured gravel for the rest of his life and lived on flake food for the whole of his life, I do not have a filter in the tank I clean it by hand once every few days. He's lived like this for about 9 years now and his friend is fine but for some reason this terrible disease has struck him hard.

Is there anything else I can try for him as its so upsetting to see him like this, especially because hes fighting so hard against it :-(
Thank you so much.


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## FishMatt

Step 1Feed the fish a couple of peas. This sounds weird, but it is believed the peas encourage destruction of the impaction.

Step 2Avoid feeding the goldfish for several days. Fish can survive without food for up to ten days or even longer, so this is not as cruel as it sounds. Sometimes this is enough to break up the impaction.

Step 3Aspirate the swim bladder periodically. This involves sticking a needle into the fishes swim bladder and removing some air. This is a well known treatment.

Step 4Take the fish to a knowledgeable vet and have a partial pneumocystectomy done. This is a partial removal of the swim bladder. There are vets who perform this surgery, as extreme as it sounds.

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## FishMatt

This was pasted from Ehow website.


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## Amberxxx

Thanks but i've tried starving him and there doesn't seem to be an impaction as hes passed all the flake food feces and peas are now passing straight through him so it looks like what I was hoping was some kind of impaction/constipation is not :-(

I don't think I could face sticking a needle in him... I haven't read that treatment ANYWHERE else it sounds quite dangerous and distressing for the fish.

Surgery also my father is not willing to pay for, I am a student and have NO money at ALL so I can't afford any kind of treatment for him. My dad has been helping me look after him but whenever I suggest taking him to the vets or popping into the vets with a photo he just laughs and says I shouldn't be so stupid and that hes past help. But I hate seeing my fish like this when I know there must still be something that could be done for it!


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## emc7

Wow, that looks really bad.I guess you could try dropsy remedies like an epson salt bath, but if he looks to be suffering, it may be time to consider euthanasia. Bloat that is due to organ failure is incurable.


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## lohachata

i don't think it's swimbladder..not with all the redness..
try metronidazole...


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## pinetree

It looks like it has a pretty bad bacterial infection. Do you have access to any antibiotics like metronidazole and kanamycin? Or any food with antibiotics in it?


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## Amberxxx

Thanks so much to everyone who replied and all your thoughts and advice on treatment.

I went to a aquarium today armed with photos of my goldfish and they told me its dropsy not swim bladder at all! Which is quite upsetting since all this time I have been treating him for swim bladder when he's had a far more horrible disease. They've given me some medication for him but they actually tried to talk me out of buying the medication as apparently it is a "waste of my money" now that he is this sick. I'm treating him with the meds now and praying that he'll improve and pull through or just pass away peacefully now so that he doesn't have to suffer much more.


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## Fishy:)

Im really curious: is he better? Let me know


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## shaycorl

This is also known as a FB disorder and there's a way to treat it just browsed over internet and you can try this too as well, Feed the fish a couple of peas. This sounds weird, but it is believed the peas encourage destruction of the impaction. feeding the goldfish for several days. Fish can survive without food for up to ten days or even longer, so this is not as cruel as it sounds. Sometimes this is enough to break up the impaction. Here's the link http://www.ehow.com/how_2099626_treat-swim-bladder-disease-goldfish.html


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