Update on my fish, another question. Why spiting out food?

Question

Okay, I posted three days ago about my fish that he had a swimbladder issue, wouldn't eat and sat at the bottom all day. Now,the fish improved greatly hes swimming and being very active. Now heres the problem. Everytime I place food in the tank he comes to the top and places it in his mouth, then he spits it out. It's like he cannot swallow his food. I just dont get it, I have no clue if he has eaten anything for like 10 days now, because he constantly spits it out. His mouth has nothing stuck in it. So if anyone has any answers, please answer back. I already researched on the internet and he said he might not be hungry but I can't see how that is possible, seeing as he does come up and places it in his mouth. I have no idea whats up with him. He looks extremely healthly, not like hes starving or anything.

Sorrry I forgot, he's a goldfish, 7 years old. Yeha, I did the frozen pea thing when he the swimbladder problem, but he wouldn't eat it, and when he did start placing food in his mouth again, he would just spit the pea out. I can't even believe he is still alive a week ago he looked so bad he had redness on his belly, so we gave him medicine, then the medicine stressed him out so his eye started to bulge. We set up a whole new tank for, and like 3 days after that it's like he got jumpstarted and just started swimming like crazy. He still won't eat, so i'm worried that he's going to starve himself.

Answer 1

Try feeding him frozen brine shrimp of minced beef heart. I have never had a fish that could resist it.

Answer 2

Goldfish tend to spit out their food more often. They usually swallow up the whole thing U give them, then they spit the food out for 3 or 4 times. But they are gonna eat the food after all that. Don't worry about the fish, they are just testing their food, or doing some simple mouth exercises.

Answer 3

Have you tried feeding him something other than his normal food? Fish, like humans, appreciate variety in their diets.

Depending on what kind of fish he is, he might benefit from some frozen foods (brine shrimp, tubifex worms, bloodworms, beefheart).

Did you try feeding him shelled peas when he first started showing signs of the swimbladder problems?

EDIT: You did thaw the pea out first and you took the shell of, right? Fish can't eat frozen peas, and they can't digest the shell. That's odd that he wouldn't eat the pea, though. Even my meat-eating frogs enjoy their peas once a week.

One of the common side effects of swimbladder is pop-eye. I'll give you two source links for you to read up on.

Moving him into a new, un-cycled tank could be asking for more trouble. Make sure you keep an eye on the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. You want your ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm by the end of your cycle, and you want your nitrates at less than 40ppm (less than 20ppm is ideal, though). If you have $14 (plus tax) to spend, go to Petsmart's website and look up Aquarium Pharmaceutical's Freshwater Master Test Kit, print out the ad, and take it to your nearest Petsmart (they match their online prices in-store). Otherwise, you'd end up spending close to $29 without the ad.

Have you tried any other food yet?

Good luck with the little guy. I hope he starts to eat again.

Answer 4

For one, trust me, fish spitting their food out is normal. I have an oscar that will (slightly annoyingly) just waste half his food like that and I don't even give him much anymore and he still does it. Also some fish can be picky if it's a food they are not used to yet.

I think they often manage to eat more then we think they do. If they get hungry they will often pick around and find it.

Answer 5

I tell ya what saved my goldfish when they became sick with the dropsey illness. Wal-mart's nightcrawlers. It took them a couple of days to think about eating em', then a couple of more to figure out how to eat em', (by then that worm looked pretty waterlogged, so I took em' out and replace em' with a new one)
another day to swallow that big snake looking worm, then a week later my fish was ready to go back to the outside pond.
I saved 3-4 Fancy Goldfish this way. Hope it will help you.

Answer 6

Fish are a very picky animal, they don't like their food too big for them to eat (at least some of them. . . lol). Try to pinch the food flakes into smaller bits, it could be that your fish is having a hard to grabbing hold of them, and then swallowing (hehe no duh! lol) But anyways, I hope this works, try it out. Good luck!

Answer 7

Some fish do not do well in captivity, so it takes them even up to weeks to start feeding.

Answer 8

fish spitting their food out is normal

Answer 9

what kind of fish is it, he may be more aggressive at feeding if you give him live food like feedr guppies.

Answer 10

try feeding it food that are smaller

*what kinda fish do oyu have anyways?