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Bulging goldfish, please help!

Posted by wolfee TN (My Page) on
Sun, Sep 6, 09 at 18:06

We bought our house 2 and a half years ago and it came with a koi/fish pond...it's 8 X 12 feet, 3 - 4 feet deep, has a filter and a pump, two waterfalls, and we now have about 30 goldfish and one koi, fish were already here and we've seen 3 or 4 brand new baby fish each year. The previous owner told us the goldfish were 20 cent feeder fish from petsmart, they are all rather big now!

One goldfish started turning white last year...turned all white. I looked that up and it seemed sometimes they just do that! This spring this fish started to put on some weight... and now is absolutely bulging and I fear he/she will burst! Looks bigger every day! It shows no typical signs of dropsy, from what I have read, as there is no pinecone effect. Fish swims around just fine, acts hungry and active. Has turned a luminescent white/yellowish color, thought maybe it was a pearl scale fish since it has that pearl shiny look... but it started as a goldfish, turned white, now is huge...started getting fat in the spring. Left side is a bit bigger than the right but both are extremely swollen, looks like it's swallowed a couple golf balls.

Since we moved here, we've fed the fish some koi and goldfish pellets, two kinds, both float, both are eaten within a few minutes. Don't feed over the winter. Have introduced peas since reading they are good for the fish, they love them most of all. But the way this one fish is expanding ever day, I'm really worried it will burst and just don't know what to do about it. All other fish seem perfectly fine and the fat one swims right along with the rest of them. Any suggestions for me??


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Bulging goldfish, please help!

Nothing too uncommon about goldfish turning white. I see it most often in the third year.

Nothing uncommon about fish becoming plump, even bulging.

I've no experience with peas. Inquire on GWs Ponds forum.


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RE: Bulging goldfish, please help!

Thanks for your reply, albert 135. Nice to know it's not as uncommon as I'd thought! However, searching on the net, the only fish I've seen with the same symptoms as mine have been dead fishes :( It is getting bigger and rounder every day. I took some pictures and posted them to an album on Webshots if you'd like to see:

Here is a link that might be useful: webshots album


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RE: Bulging goldfish, please help!

FYI: new discussion of bulging over at the ponds forum with a link to someplace, I didn't look into it further.


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RE: Bulging goldfish, please help!

Sometimes goldfish will bulge due to an internal tumor, but it
is usually more of a lop sided look.


 
 

 

 


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