Help! What Contaminant Could Cause Swim Bladder Issues?

[McTurtle]

I moved Frank my goldfish to my work this morning. He had his 20 gallon tank all set up and some filter media from an established tank in the filter. I also added Prime to the water when I set it up. I put him in the tank around 9:30 am and by 5:00 he was having issues swimming and gasping at the top of the tank off and on.

I took him back home with me tonight and put him back in his old tank. He seems back to normal.

I brought some of the tank water home with me and there is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates and the KH is 8 drops which is the same as the tank at home. I don't have a gH kit so I can't test that.

The strange thing is that the Betta I had at work developed a similar problem, but it occurred over a month and I thought it was constipation. The goldfish is not constipated. I don't think the betta actually was either.

Any ideas what could be in the water that would cause a swim bladder issue? The water is plain old Edmonton tap water, but it is going through some potentially old pipes and probably sitting in them for a while.

I would really like to take Frank back to work as he was adopted as the office mascot, but I can't see myself lugging 20 gallons of water to work. He's got another week at home to get over the stress and for me to figure out the issue.

Any suggestions would be most welcome!

[Kalost]

is there sufficient surface agitation for O2 levels?

what is teh pH of the water? Edmonton water should be around 8-8.2 goldfish need 7.2-7.6. A goldfish in an alkaline tank will display some of the following symptoms.

• excess slime
• gasp at the surface
• death

Maybe that water at home is lower pH. Do you have driftwood or anything in the tank at home? That lowers pH. But a constant pH is better than trying to buffer your pH.

0 nitrates means teh tank is not cycled. How long was the old filter media in teh 20 gal without a bio load?

But im no expert. GL maybe someone else has ideas

Edited October 31, 2013 by Kalost

[cullymoto]

Goldfish will tolerate water with a ph of... Battery acid, so long as its stable.

Sounds to me like the phenominon of too much prime in the water.

I know that for betas if too much prime is added to the water they act like there's no oxygen in the water and they don't swim well until the prime / safe breaks down.

It's pretty challenging to accurately dose that stuff in a small volume.

You don't mention if you have an air supply or something to put air into the water like a h.o.b. filter. You just mention there is a filter. There should be something there to ensure that there is adequate oxygen in the water.

Hope that helps little frank out.

[McTurtle]

There is a HOB filter. It is rated for a larger tank and should be providing a lot of oxygen. It's much larger than the one on my tank at home. I don't rember the model off the top but I will add it in later.

I was thinking Prime might be the cuprit, but I added about just under 5 ml for the 20 gallon tank since Edmonton water has had ammonia spikes I usually double dose. He doesn't have a problem with that dose at home.

It could be that he doesn't like the filter current... But it's not that strong.

The water might be a few degrees warmer. 23C vs 21C. Not a huge change either.

[cullymoto]

Like i said earlier, goldfish are near bullet proof. I don't think temp would be the prob.

Maybe current, tossing him around a bit but so long as he doesn't get stuck to the intake there's no problems with current.

Since its an h.o.b. you've got plenty of o2 in the water.

Best bet is to cut back on the prime in my opinion.

5ml is the dose for 50 gallons. For 20 gallons that should be a dose of 2ml. And only added when your putting fresh (chlorinated) water in. I wouldn't worry about an ammonia spike at all if youre running an established filter. Certainly not for a goldfish either, a scaleless fish would need special considerations due to ammonia.

I keep coming back to prime overdose... If it was a swim bladder infection it wouldn't come and go like that. Swim bladder infections tend to be fatal.

My friends had a goldfish for a few years. (Not how one cares for a goldfish, but it makes a good example) never once fed it, never once changed the water, never once added a dechlornator. They had it in a 1gallon tank, originally with 5 goldfish in there. One ate the rest, survived several years more eating algae only. Absolutely 0 maintenance, filtration, aireation, tank sitting in direct sunlight in a window. No temperature regulation.... Nothing. They gave it away eventually, that fish now lives in a restaurant tank in lloydminister.

These little guys will survive the apocalypse, right beside the cockroach.

[McTurtle]

HOB is a Whisper EX45. I put some gravel and plants in today. Looking at the plants there does seem to be a fair amount of current in the tank. Maybe I can dampen it a bit., but he was nowhere near the input.

I'm going to wait until next Tuesday to reintroduce him to this tank.

Should I change out the water? I think the Prime breaks down over time, so maybe I don't need to?

[cullymoto]

Correct, prime is only effective for 24 hours give or take. Should be fine, in time.

[McTurtle]

Well, at long last Frank has made his triumphant (I hope) return to his new home.

His tank has gravel, plants etc and has been up and running for two weeks without him.

I put a piece of filter material in front of the HOB outflow to break the current and he seems pretty happy. It's only held on with an elastic so I'm going to have to find either more elastics or another more secure method because I'm sure the current elastic won't last forever.