And I don’t have any peas (does this seriously work?)
If peas will work, do the have to be frozen? I know that canned veggies have a lot of sodium so I’m assuming that’s why no one is saying canned is ok.
Will any other green veggie work? Chopped spinach is the only frozen veggie that I have.
Is there anything that works better than peas (assuming they really do work)? I’ve been up all night so I’d prefer not having to drive half an hour to the nearest pet store that sells fish but I’ll do if they sell something that will work better than what I can buy at the grocery store.
Just so we’re clear, he’s a fancy goldfish and he’s been floating upside down, drifting sideways, and he can’t seem to make it to the bottom of the tank. If he stops swishing his back fins in the middle of the tank, he zips to the top like he just took of his bc belt.
His tank-mates seem to be ok. The biggest one spent a fairly long time sitting on the bottom of the tank in an upright position so I don’t think he has any buoyancy issues. The one with the longer body and shorter tail has spent a lot of time at the top of the tank but he’s not upside-down and he can also stop swimming in the middle of the tank and not float back to the top.
Frozen spinach might work, but I know for sure that peas do. I’ve never kept goldfish, but I have suggested peas to goldfish owners on 3 different occasions. All three reported success.
IIRC, peas will only work if the issue is a result of constipation as opposed to a infection. Either way, you should quarantine the fish temporarily while fixing the problem.
forgive me, but I am not a fish keeper, but how do human veggies help a fish?
Veggies are hardly solely human food - just ask the deer that have been eating my pepper and tomato plants all summer. :mad:
Nothing I’m googling says anyone knows WHY it works, but most sites are agreeing that for some reason, peas help goldfish with constipation.
I did a bit more research and it says that a big cause of this problem is fish eating the food floating on top of the water because as they eat, they also take in a large amount of air. This fish in particular is a huge pig and will eat as soon as the food hits the water. He is also a gulper.
Based on this, it seems likely to me that constipation is his problem. Some things I read said to stop feeding for a day. I’m going to go get some peas and give him that and then not feed them until tomorrow.
I’ll report back on how he’s doing tomorrow - assuming he’s still alive when I get home. I’m at the hospital with my boyfriend right now and my fish is potentially dying at home. My boyfriend told me to go take care of the fish because he’d like to have all his pets when he gets out.
As for the other fish, they seem fine and I am getting the impression that they’re bumping him to try to straighten him out. It almost looks like they’re coordinating their efforts.
So, I got the peas. Anyone want to take a guess as to how difficult it is to fine a plain old bag (or box) of peas in a small town supermarket?
There was 1 brand and it was a steam bag (special feature means special price). The entire rest of the veggie section was mixed, buttered, cheesed, spiced, etc. Apparently people in my town don’t like plain veggies.
So, I got home and warmed up about 15 of them and then removed the outer layer (oddly satisfying, that - squeezing until the meat pops out). I then dropped the little pieces one by one in the tank. All 3 goldfish ate them and seemed to enjoy them.
Now, in the interest in accuracy:
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Carrot (yes, my fish is named Carrot) had been swimming strangely since at least 4am, which is when I noticed it for the first time while adding fuel to the fire (I pulled an all-night homework session). His bouyancey issues seemed to get worse, to where he couldn’t even stay upright for more than a few seconds at a time. This might have something to do with the feeding I gave them right before finding out that food was a likely cause of his issues. I came home with the peas around 2pm and he did seem to be swimming better already - maybe he crapped while I was at the hospital. I fed him the peas and went back to the hospital. When I got back around 7:30, he seemed even better. He was able to make it to the bottom of the tank but he couldn’t seem to stay there. He had no trouble swimming in a straight line or staying upright. I took a nap from 8 until 11 and when I woke up half an hour ago, the first thing I noticed was that Carrot was hovering at the bottom of the tank and then he started swimming gracefully in a little wave (up and down, up and down) with no lilting to one side and with nice even fin movements.
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The other 2 goldfish (Mr. Vimes and Cuddy) still seem to be fine condition and they aren’t bumping into Carrot repeatedly any more either.
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I got some smushy pea baby food and some gelatin. When I’m feeling more ambitious, I’m gonna make the gelatin fish treats and see how they like them. Apparently a flake only diet isn’t the best for them.
This was utterly fascinating. I had no idea. Glad Carrot is doing… swimmingly!
You and me both. It was only the thought that maybe it was normal for goldfish to swim upside-down that got me to research. Normally I would have assumed he was dying.
AFTER I started this thread I found an old Straight Dope column by Jill about the subject.