A couple of my goldfish have enormous distended bellies. I assume they are female and full of eggs but they have been like this for a while i'm not sure if that is normal. They seem healthy and happy swimming around ith the other fish and eating plenty when I put food in the pond. Should I be doing anything about this or do i just let nature take its own course? My fish are quite friendly and will come to the surface when I call them for food so i'm keen to avoid doing anything that might frighten them or make them scared of me. Thanks.
Enormous belly - is this normal?
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Mmathis
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Can you include some pictures? Do their bodies resemble pine cones…..scale pushed out? Yes, they could be egg bound, but they could also be suffering from dropsy.
j.w
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I always just let them be and mine were not egg bound. Some kind of large tumors. They usually do pretty fine that way and can live for years and eat just like the others.
Thank you - I've googled dropsy and it could be that but I'm not sure. I managed to get one of the two bloated fish out of the water yesterday and have a good look at it. I didn't have my phone with me so no picture, but it doesn't have the sticky out scales that seem to indicate dropsy, so it's hard to tell. They are happy and active and eating, and I've checked the levels in the pond with a test strip and they seem OK. The PH is a bit high and I don't have a specific amonia test so I'm going to invest in a liquid test as I understand that's more reliable. I am inclined to just wait and see what happens - and maybe chuck some epsom salts in the pond for good measure.
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I would not put Epsom salt in the pond. The level you would need to use for dropsy would be fairly high and would not be good for any plants you may have.
If you want to treat those fish, put them in a hospital tank, like a plastic tub or kiddy pool, whatever you have that will hold enough water. Treat them in there for whatever time is necessary.
If you want to treat those fish, put them in a hospital tank, like a plastic tub or kiddy pool, whatever you have that will hold enough water. Treat them in there for whatever time is necessary.
Mmathis
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As long as they are eating and seem happy…..
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I had a very beautiful goldfish with the same problem, my favourite with gorgeous fins and tail. Sorry to say it eventually died. I too asked for advice but nothing was forthcoming so I did let nature take its course... but I hope someone on here may be able to help. So sorry for yours
j.w
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I too at first tried to fix them but never worked w/anything I tried so gave up now and just let them live out their lives. Hard to know what's wrong unless they have scales that stick out, then dropsy. If just fat and ballooned up, who knows?
Agree. I've found that most fish issues either happen so fast you can't catch them or they are not much of a bother to the fish until they eventually die, so I just leave them be. We had a fish with some really large tumorish warty things all over. Haven't seen it in a few weeks so I assume it died in the pond.