dear fish people

B

beabroca

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Feb 25, 2009
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i have a issue....i posted a big huge thing about my big escapade with the new tank. but i think i bought a egg bearing fish! since ive gotten her two days ago, shes acted fine normal but just in her belly area...looks like she might explode. two other fish are always around her, messing with it...i dont want to say her becuase i am assuming by my worry....im not sure what they are suppost to look like when they are bearing but i would like to know if anyone has a picture i could compare?
 
beabroca said:
im not sure what they are suppost to look like when they are bearing but i would like to know if anyone has a picture i could compare?
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Hey Bea, I have some pictures of my fish I can show you for comparison. Mine are probably much bigger.. yours still looks to be a juvenile. See what you think of the belly size of my fantails compared to yours. (Attached below.) My photos come out real bad too... cell phone camera. I think it auto-focuses on the front surface of the glass, which makes the fish look blurry. I get weird color issues too.. they usually come out too blue or too green or just way oversaturated.

I've looked at your photos several times now. I don't think this is a matter of "her" carrying a bulk of eggs... not yet. I have two calico fantails like yours who are both still rather young. The larger one has spawned twice in the last month. I don't know if this is typical or if I'm really that unobservant.. but I couldn't see anything about her shape that looked fatter than before while she was carrying a full load of eggs around, than when she's not. These fish are really all belly and fins, anyway, so it's hard to tell. That's the desired egg-shape form they're bred toward.

The bright red gills worry me the most. That is a clear visible sign of very high stress and maybe an irritation from something in the water (like way too much ammonia which would a lot like a chemical burn sensation for the fish). Are the gill coverings (called operculum) still there or are they gone completely? Are they transparent?

I think the belly does look distended, but all three photos you've shown us were taken showing the fish from the same angle. So it's hard to tell for sure. Its swimming angle looks fine. Does it stay at the top or bottom a lot? Is there any bulge on one side or the other? Notice any swimming problems, like doing a lot of circles, sommersaults, listing to one side or the other, or seeming to veer off out of control?

Let us know more about the fin condition. Are the edges torn or ragged? Can you see any red lines that show where the blood veins are?

Does the fish ever dart around suddenly in kind of a wild or random manner? Do you ever see it actually poop?

I know from your intro post that your tank is new, not cycled yet. That situation wasn't your doing, and I know you're going to do everything you can to get it established properly. (Please read that link you were given in the newcomer thread about cycling a tank. Understanding what you need to do and WHY is very important.)

I'm sure the last thing you want to do right now is return the fish you just bought to the store, but I think you should really consider doing that under the circumstances. Fancy goldfish varieties (like fantails), in particular, are one of the worst fish types you could possibly have in there while you start the cycling process. Because of their body shape, their internal organs inside are very cramped. So these fish are naturally prone to having severe digestion problems which leads to real complicated and life-threatening diseases. They are very sensitive to poor water quality issues (which are nearly unavoidable during different times when a tank isn't cycled yet). And they produce a high volume of waste compared to other fish which is only going to interfere with and prolong the cycle period.

Anyway.. here are the photos you asked to see in this thread. You can see your own fish much better than we can through photos. Let us know how you think the belly on yours looks compared to the ones on my two goldies.

cassandra3.jpg x calico2.jpg x calico3.jpg x calico4.jpg calicos.jpg cassandra4.jpg cassandra5.jpg cassandra11.jpg group2.jpg group9.jpg
 
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thank you for replying, sorry its taken so long to get to you guys, i understand that the redness, on my oranda , is a sign of stress. i have had a problem with ammonia, we are in process of fixing that and i also added some stress coat to them to help these fish get through this. the fish seem to be doing fine , they are active and swimming around fine, i have seen all of them poop and they all eat fine. i think finally the tank is on the upside. we added some cycle to it, which the fishstore said was live bacteria and would help alot. none of the fish have bad looking gills, or rigid gills. just the one that is fatter has the red on it. well hold on let me look...ok, on one side it looks like the gill is disappearing but on the other side it look perfectly fine, is this a problem ? should i *** "more" stress coat on them? or something else....i have so many things that the store told me to buy....ive spent 200 extra dollars over and beyond the tank, stand, accesories and fish. only on chemicals and things that go with them. just please tell me what i need to do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ill take some more pics of the fatter one....the one in the picture does look like the stomach was bigger the only thing that concerned me is this fishes gut is huge...maybe its normal...:) i dont know how to add them here so if someone can tell me ill add them thanks :)
 
oh and about sexing them....im going to use my friends rebel and take some pictures hoping they turn out better and see if someone can help me, i really cant tell....were fish not meant for me...? i love them and thought this would be better...maybe...sighhh i dont know...this really is upsetting me, this is really something i want to do
 
what do you mean by water parameters? boy dont i feel dumb
 
beabroca said:
what do you mean by water parameters? boy dont i feel dumb
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When we ask about water parameters here, we're generally asking about results from a test kit. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH levels are the basics. Most members recommend testing with a liquid test kit like the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Test strips are also available, but are much less accurate than a liquid kit. Test results will help you to know what is going on with your tank, and we can recommend a course of action from there.

If you do not have a test kit, the best advice that I can offer is when in doubt, do a water change. If you are having problems with ammonia, it's probably a good place to start. Best of luck! :)
 
thanks , im getting all these words and things down. ok the paremiters are nitrite 0 nitrate 0 ppm hardness is moderate at 50 ppm total alkalinity /buffering capacity is 120 (ideal range) and ph is 6.8...ammonia is at 1.0 BUT i have put ammo lock in it and it says not to test it for two to seven days for it to go down....let me test it right now...ok right now it is reading .25? still bad? the test kit i have is one with the 5 n 1 and then one for ammonia STRIPS
 
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