I have had 2 goldfish for some time. Lately one lost its tail and is now swimming upside down. Any help?

Question

It is not dead.. It's well, living and eating (I only have to feed her close to its mouth so she can catch it as she swims at the top of tank and can't push itself down as it has no tail...

Answer 1

Fish swimming upside down can often be the result of Swim Bladder Disease (SBD). The swim bladder is an air sac in the body of the fish that regulates bouyancy, and allows the fish to rise to the top or to go to the bottom of the tank with minimal effort. The swim bladder is located on the ventral (belly) side of the fish, and when it becomes too full of air, the result is the fish flipping upside down so the air is now on top and not pressing against internal organs.

SBD may be viral, bacterial, or dietary. The tail loss is most likely coincidental, but may have caused a secondary bacterial infection. Bacterial may be treated with TMP Sulfa (also called Sulfa 4 TMP) or Erythromycin. You should be able to find one or both at a well-stocked pet supply store.

Personally, I would try treating the dietary aspects first. Goldfish, especially ornamental, are prone to swim bladder disease caused by bowel impaction due to their shape and the pressure placed onto the bowels. There is a feature known as the pneumocystic duct, which connects the esophagus and the swim bladder. Impactions would, in turn, block the pneumocystic duct. This would prevent gas from escaping the swim bladder.

There are a couple ways that you can go about treating SBD at home. The first is to thaw a few frozen peas and feed them to your goldfish. This is a practice done by several vets that I've worked with. The fiber aids in bowel movement and can help move the impaction along.

If this doesn't work, trying fasting the fish for 3-5 days. This will allow the digestive tract time to clear and empty, and will allow the swim bladder to return to its normal state.

If these do clear up the SBD, then it was most likely an impaction. To most effectively avoid this happening again in the future, I would suggest switching to a wet food instead of flakes or pellets. Because the food is already wet, there isn't expansion that occurs within the fish. You can do this either by soaking the food in water before giving it to your fish, or switching to a frozen, gel, or live food. There are gel foods available that you squeeze into the water and the fish eats the gel. I use gel diets on fish that are isolated because they're easiest and cleanest, but give a mixture of live and frozen food to my other fish.

Best of luck, and feel free to contact me with further questions as they arise.

Answer 2

Swimming upside down? Or floating upside down.. My fish just died.. I dont know why its fin was gone but it was dead. Fin gone, up at the top of the tank floating upside down.

Answer 3

Your fish may have fin rot a cheep med from the pet store will help
the fish

Answer 4

maybe it dead and first it will float second it upside