Floating goldfish

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mutack

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Nov 9, 2003
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I've had two small goldfish in my 3 galloon eclipse system for over a month. One of the goldfish is perfectly fine, but for the past couple of weeks the other seems healthy but has a buoyancy issue where he can't help but float to the surface of the water. When I approach the tank, he swims around as if nothing's wrong, and eats normally too. When left alone, though, he just lays on his side at the surface, moving around from time to time. His breathing is at a normal rate. You can see him struggling to stay down in the depths of the tank at times, but he is unable too. What do you think the problem is?
 

Cearbhaill

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Mar 22, 2003
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Lots of goldfish are food sensitive- some float when fed wheat products, some just tend to float no matter what you do.

First that tank is way too small.
Two goldfish in 3 gallons is abuse- recommendations go from 10 gallons per goldfish up to 30 gallons per goldfish. Toxins in the water can definitely contribute to floating problems, and with 2 fish in 3 gallons you can just about guarantee that the water is full of waste.

Second do you soak the food prior to feeding? It helps some of them.
A day or so of feeding them shelled peas usually clears up the floaters- try that to determine if it is food oriented.

Floating problems are not necessarily swim bladder problems- there is no clear answer, but digestive troubles are the current thinking.
Here is a great link on floaters
 

Matak

Out of the blue!
Jun 18, 2002
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If I feed dried food to my neons, they will gulp air with the food and become bloated and have difficulty staying down, a funny sight to see! I hope it is something as harmless as this.
 

mutack

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Nov 9, 2003
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Well, I starved the fish for two days, and he didn't float at all - he was totally fine! At least I've narrowed the buoyancy problem to diet. I noticed that before I was feeding him Cichlid flake food (leftover from a while ago when I had an oscar), so today I started feeding him official goldfish flakes- BUT he started floating back to the top today with the goldfish flakes too!!!
What the hell is going on here?
 

Matak

Out of the blue!
Jun 18, 2002
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If it mean anything, my neons bloat float when I feed them flake food or dried grubs, but don't when I feed them pelleted food. Does this help?
 
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