:dance2:
I'm so relieved! We've had two goldfish for 6 months now, and we thought we lost one for sure. On my way out at around 3pm, I discovered that "Ralph" was lying on his side in a corner of the tank, breathing slowly. Lila, his tankmate, looked fine. We quickly put Ralph in a salad bowl with some clean water set aside for water changes, and then tested the water in the tank. All the parameters were normal.
We worried that he had swallowed a rock or something, but he's only 2 1/2 inches long, and there is no way we could tell. He just couldn't right himself.
I went online to see what help I could find, and all indications pointed to swim bladder. He had eaten dry pellets a couple of hours before I found him, and perhaps too much - I don't know. He's always been the more sensitive of the two.
I continued to watch him and change a couple of cups of his water every hour to give him fresh oxygen, and by 11pm, he had righted himself, but still couldn't swim.
I was afraid to go to bed, but got up around 3am to check on him - he was moving. By 6am he was swimming! At 8am, he ate part of a pea, and I knew he was going to live.
We're all so happy- my kids really thought he was a gonner.
The sweetest thing happened when we put him back in the tank. Ralph swam behind a big rock and sat at the bottom. Lila immediately swam over and sat next to Ralph, touching fins.
They sat together like that for an hour ...I'm not kidding! Who said there's no such thing as fish love!!!
All day long yesterday they were inseparable, following each other's every move.
I'm so relieved! We've had two goldfish for 6 months now, and we thought we lost one for sure. On my way out at around 3pm, I discovered that "Ralph" was lying on his side in a corner of the tank, breathing slowly. Lila, his tankmate, looked fine. We quickly put Ralph in a salad bowl with some clean water set aside for water changes, and then tested the water in the tank. All the parameters were normal.
We worried that he had swallowed a rock or something, but he's only 2 1/2 inches long, and there is no way we could tell. He just couldn't right himself.
I went online to see what help I could find, and all indications pointed to swim bladder. He had eaten dry pellets a couple of hours before I found him, and perhaps too much - I don't know. He's always been the more sensitive of the two.
I continued to watch him and change a couple of cups of his water every hour to give him fresh oxygen, and by 11pm, he had righted himself, but still couldn't swim.
I was afraid to go to bed, but got up around 3am to check on him - he was moving. By 6am he was swimming! At 8am, he ate part of a pea, and I knew he was going to live.
We're all so happy- my kids really thought he was a gonner.
The sweetest thing happened when we put him back in the tank. Ralph swam behind a big rock and sat at the bottom. Lila immediately swam over and sat next to Ralph, touching fins.
They sat together like that for an hour ...I'm not kidding! Who said there's no such thing as fish love!!!
All day long yesterday they were inseparable, following each other's every move.
