# Goldfish Help



## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

Hi my gold fish is swimming sideways. I think it has ether buoyancy problems of the swim bladder thingy. Should I fast him for two days and then feed him peas for two days. Any advice at all would be appreciated.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

I'd do the fast and the peas. It worked for my Mr. Klaus who had swim bladder.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

Thanks he is already fasting and I think it has to do with the fact that he gulps air when he eats the flakes. So if he gets better I'm getting him new food.


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## Millie & Daisy (Mar 7, 2015)

Hey, I kept goldfish for a while and have a few tips. First of all, don't feed him flakes as his main diet. Those float on the top and cause a lot of air to get sucked in. Get goldfish pellets. Especially if you wet them a little beforehand, they will sink to the bottom and your goldie will love searching for them. In case you haven't already noticed, goldfish love to suck up gravel. In reality, they're looking for food and sucking up tiny algae particles, bugs, etc. that are on the gravel. I called mine vaccums! They will find them without a problem most of the time. Also make sure that you feed some frozen food. It comes in packets of small cubes, usually of blood worms or brine shrimp. Just plop it on the tank and it will melt on its own, and your fish will have quite the time devouring it. Again, this eliminates the air sucking problem. 

Peas are great as a fish laxative. I wouldn't fast him too long, though, as goldfish are veracious eaters due to the fact that they don't have a stomach and constantly have food passing through them. Also, sideways swimming is more closely associated with swim bladder than with constipation. Try giving him a salt soak in iodine-free sea salt or pickling salt (be very careful, as it can be tricky). There are some tutorials on Youtube on how to go about this, but my favorites are by far from the Solid Gold channel. If you're uncomfortable with this, you can just buy some aquarium salt and add it to your tank per the directions. Also make sure to do frequent water changes.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

I'm only doing the fasting for one day and I did go and get some salt. Let's hope this works.


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