sepulchre

Well, the healing vibes seem to be working, thank you! I don't have all those tests. We got our fish & tank about 8 months ago so we're just getting our feet wet, pardon the pun. We put Kitty back in the tank which we had just done a thorough cleaning of and she seemed a little more active. Then yesterday we got some aquarium salts and added the perscribed amount, first disolving it in some replacement water. After that she seems Much better and is eating and seems to have less of a buoyancy problem. She still goes and sits on the bottom (she has chosen her own little spot) but she doesn't remain there for very long at all, usually only a matter of seconds, and cruises around more like normal. She not fully back to her old self but I do believe she's on the road to recovery. She still goes up and gets a mouthful of air now and then but nothing like before and certainly not as frantic seeming; it's more a caual looking act. George and Spot do this too but it's funny - I almost think they're just imitating her. They always have to some extent which is cute because she's much smaller than they are. I tried again to feed her some peas to get her bowels moving. She'll take a mouthful but then spits it out. I guess she just doesn't like them. But the boys sure do! Btw, I have absolutely no idea how to determine the sex of a Goldfish. Our names for them came about very simply: Kitty is a calico (thus "Kitty") so she became a girl for us. The guys actually act like guys. As you might imagine, Spot has a light colored spot on his side. My wife decided George just looks like a George and there you have it. Thank you for the replies. I imagine we will eventually collect all the test equipment to gather the data Helen asked for. And if can get this silly computer to stop acting up we may be able to get a video. It is my hope that by then it will show three healthy fish in a comfortable environment. Thanks again!

Hello, We have 3 fish - Spot, George & Kitty. They're all beautiful fan tails. But Kitty has a problem. About a week and a half ago, maybe even two weeks she started just sitting on the bottom. She's the smallest and normally the most active, always coming to visit when we got near the tank, but she just sat. I did some reading and took her out and into a separate bowl where she fasted for two days. Then I cooked some peas, took the hulls off and fed them to her (I cut them up a little first). But she turned her nose up at them. I believe she's constipated - I haven't seen her poop in some time. I read that feeding them food that sinks is a good idea because with floating flakes they sometime get some air with the food and that's not good, could be a cause for swim bladder problems, which btw is what I believe her problem is. Well, she didn't eat the peas and was getting sort of frantic in the bowl, though it was plenty large and not confining. So we put her back in the tank. Now she sits for awhile and then tries to swim around but it's obviously difficult for her and she darts up to the surface and take gulps of air (to help her buoyancy?). The bubbles come out and she sinks back to the bottom. And she won't eat either. We are distraught. Our kitty is having a hard time. What can we do? I do hope someone can give us some advice. I tried on another forum but no one answered for over a week.