Please help! Oranda goldfish has huge belly, with red spots

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chabbles

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Oct 7, 2017
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Hi. I would like to get some help or advice what to do for our sick goldfish. its an orange and white oranda, she's been with us for over 1year. we only have 2 goldfish, 1male and female, with a 20-gallon tank.

she normally has swim bladder issue before (swimming upside down for days), and we normally we feed her green peas for 2-3 days,then she swims back normally. also, that only happens when she is about to lay eggs..

But recently, her swim bladder issue stays for more than a week now. And she has red bloody spots on her belly.. So we fed her green peas only, every night, for 4-5 days, the only improvement is that her belly seems to slim a little, but after 2 days, her stomach is bloated again.

we have a 20 gallon tank, and we change the water and clean the aquarium every week.

we read some forums online, and tried to put sea salt in the tank to help her ease the bloatness.
sadly, we don't have a water kit to test the water parameters.

since she got sick, we removed the big decorations, we left only small glass beads for the other goldfish to play.. and we dont have plants in the tank.

and there's nothing changed in her behavior, she still likes to eat, or whenever someone went near the aquarium, she still follows like she's waiting for food.

p.s. here I upload her pictures. thanks.

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How much water do you change when you change it? What do you mean by clean? How much salt did you add? When you say sea salt do you mean the kind you use for salt water tanks, or the kind you eat that is labelled "sea salt"?
 
Thanks for your reply.. We do 80% water change weekly,. we wipe/ scrub the aquarium glass when we clean it using a soft sponge, because the remains of the green peas stick to the sides of the aquarium that look like small dust, it makes the aquarium cloudy. We added 1 tbsp sea salt (its the only salt we can buy from our local pet/fish shop; the label says "100% natural sea salt, with potassium iodate, but its not the one we used for cooking). We just started adding salt this week. Then after 2 days we changed 30% and added half a tbsp salt again.. I don't remember the website where I've read this salt treatment.. We just decided to try this to ease her bloating, as what we have read on other forums... Before this, just last week, my sister added an antibiotic, Amoxicillin, only half of the powder of amoxicillin mixed with aquarium water in a small cup, then we add it to the aquarium.. Her red spots healed after a day, still she's swimming upside down, but the red spots came back after 2 days,. So we decided to try this salt treatment.. (also, about the antibiotic treatment, we also read that from one of the forums online)..
 
Any sort of antibiotic treatment needs to be completed following the directions on the package. Usually that means re-treating regularly for a set time period--one dose is not going to be enough to resolve the problem, even if the fish starts improving. This is the same as if your doctor gives you antibiotics--you have to take ALL of them, even if you feel better after 2 doses.
 
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For the salt, it sounds like the stuff that you bought is what is used to make brackish or marine conditions. I wouldn't recommend it and table salt would be better (it is the exact same thing as "aquarium salt"). Epsom salt is better for bloating that table salt, though.

As for the amox, I agree with the above. Personally, I would recommend retreating with the amox and completing a full course. If the redness went away with antibiotics it is likely bacterial in origin and not likely due to ammonia/nitrite poisoning. But knowing your water parameters would help make that more clear.
 
Thank you for all your responses. We will do your advice, will repeat the antibiotic treatment and will stop using the salt we previously used.. We'll look for other pet/ fish stores here where we can buy epsom salt, there's only 1 or 2 stores here that has fish supplies.. Thanks again.
 
You can get Epsom salt from a drug store or grocery store, it's not a fish-specific product.
 
thanks.. I'll check the drug stores, but in grocery stores here, they only sell rock salt used for cooking.
 
Hi. I just want to give updates about Bubbles, our goldfish that got sick.
We repeat the Amox treatment for another week, everyday we fed her green peas at night and pellets in thw morning and her swollen belly and red sores were gone,. Still she swims upside down..
she's active, swimming around and follows someone who gets near the aquarium, sometimes her eyes blinks if you stare at her for too long,..

not until last night, she didn't eat much, its like she's not in the mood to eat... she still recognizes me, like her eyes are moving whenever she see people near the aquarium.

but today, she just floats and swims slowly upside down, and her eyes didn't move when I get near the aquarium, its like she dont have energy.. i also noticed her left eye has some whitish spot, it looks cloudy...

and when i tried to feed her dis morning, its like she didn't see the food, she's not eating...
and her breathing is slow...
I don't want to think..... but do you think she is dying?
 
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