Weird young fish

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Hum I have a shubunkin lil guy (this springs batch) at my daughters in the 70 gal tank along with 5 other goldies (this springs batch also) who has gone nuts. He'll swim upside down spiral to the bottom swims funky and then chill on the bottom of the tank. Then he'll be just fine after a couple days. He's been doing this this past week 1/2 my son says. Any ideas as to why he would be doing this and not the others in the tank??? He's about 2" long and as my son says obese. I almost had my son "take care of him" but then he was acting normal again like the others...
 
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I think it sounds like it could be "swimmer's bladder". You might read up on it and see if it sounds like what your son is seeing. Kim
 

Neo

Nick
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I have a fish that has had similar problems off and on and tried forever to figure out what it could be and finally I found some people say that it can happen if a fish is constipated so we got some canned peas and smashed them up fed the fish and the next day he was totally normal again with a LOT of fish poop in the tank :). Could have been a coincidence but all I know is that fish is now 7 years old and still going in the aquarium today.
 
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These folks are on the right track. Is this a single tail fish or a fancy double tail? Double tail I assume. This fish do have a tendancy to have problems with thier swim bladder that causes them to float upside down or want to bottom sit. It is frequently caused by constipation or by eating floating food. It is usually better to feed a fancy goldfish sinking pellets. As noted, peas, smashed a bit and removed from the skin ideally, is a great food to help them through this.
 
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yup I told my son to try the small pellet food I had but it floats (they were using a flake kind) and he was like I dont think he knows it's up there and son had also told me that the fish would get better when he "forgot" to feed them for a day...(not amused there with that statement) but I knew someone on this site had said something to the effect of what my fish was doing once and knew you guys would know what I was talking about! Thanks gonna try the frozen pea thing...thinking maybe since they are in the 70 gallon tank instead of the small pond over at the other house that they no longer have algea to munch on and that might be the problem with him. It's funny though that the goldies dont have that problem (yet). Son also said he was the one who seemed to eat like a pig and was fat and figured the other fish are going to get mad at him since I told him to not feed them for a few days then do the pea thing. I dont have another tank to just put him in.
 
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Oh I cant remember if he is a single tail or fancy tail I just remember he was the only shubunkin looking one, along with 5 of the goldfish kids who survived not being eaten by their parents/other fish, before I brought the big kids over here to my new pond. I didn't even know they were in there until I went to drain it!
 
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Usually a fat goldfish is a fancy double tail of some sort. They are far more prone to swim bladder issues. It could be something it struggles with for life. These fish also tend to be more affected by nitrate levels than single tails. At least this is what I have experienced in my tanks.
 

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