hiya

could anyone advise me how much salt i should put in a fish tank that holds 38 litres of water, i am having a problem with parasites and have been told this might help matters

j

hi there,ive never ever put salt in my fish tank,always brought any treatmants for fish in pet store
mandy

Between 1-3g per litre.

http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/info/diseases.htm

I think you should use sea salt (this is also sold at aquarists) rather than table salt which has something extra in it?

thankyou thats very helpful,

also something else i would apriciate your help on...i have a fancy goldfish that has been suffering with swimbladder for over 3 weeks now shes floating at the top of the water on her side, i have tried all the treatments including feeding peas etc but to no avail she is not going to recover the problem is because she is egg shaped and floating on her side her belly has been sticking out of the water and has become bloody looking its very sad and i am not sure what to do with her do i let her die naturally or do i take her out to let her die (don't like the thought of that very much) would a vet be able to help her die?

j

The kindest way to euthanise is to put in the freezer. The cold slows their whole system down, they go into a coma and die peacefully.
Edited to add:-
All might not be lost Jacky, have just been on a goldfish forum and copied and pasted this advice. The fish in question went on to recover!!!

Swimbladder disease is *usually* caused by constipation and/or feeding unsoaked dry foods like flake or pellets. Therefore, the first course of action is to fast your fish for 4 days and then feed with peas, very lightly boiled, de-skinned and mushed. She will eat them if she gets hungry enough!

If this does not work, the second treatment to try is an antibiotic food, as SBD can soemtimes be due to internal infections. The best medicated foods can be obtained from Goldfish Connection (see the 'links' page in the left-hand column, or can be bought at aqua centres

It won't actually hurt your fish to be upside-down for a while, though it is probably will not be very comfortable for her. The only real problem would be if her tummy is sticking out of the water because this will dry her skin. If you can, rig up a little netting just under the surface to hold her so her tummy is covered. If you can't do this, then rub a little plain Vaseline (petroleum jelly) over her tummy to prevent it drying out.

Hope this helps. :)

I'be had swim bladder problems with tropical fish but have never really been able to cure it. Interesting, I've never seen it in goldfish in the pond! Whether the greated area of water reduces the incedent of it??

Best wishes, John

The kindest way to euthanise a fish is to place it in a bucket or something similar, in a solution of clove oil & water {minimum 2 drops per litre & shake the mixture very well to emulsify it}. Cover bucket & leave it for 10 minutes or so.

her tummy is not looking very good looks a bit pussi i have tried peas and she does eat them but is still constipated i will give her another few days see how she goes but her tummy must feel very uncomfortable, with the freezer silly question but do you put her in there in water?

j

Take the fish out of the water and flick against a door frame holding the tail. Over with in seconds few and no suffering :)

oh chloe :)

<<<<<with the freezer silly question but do you put her in there in water?>>>>>>>

Yes, put in a dish of water. If there is blood Jacky it's got to the infection stage, have never known one of mine to come through even with antibiotics when got infection. Sorry. :-(

thanks harriet i'll have to do it tonight then, 

not looking forward to that at all feel ill just thinking about it but its the kindest thing to do

thankyou for all your help

j

I know they're only goldfish but I really feel for mine when anything's wrong. Broke my heart when I had to put little Georgina in the freezer as I'd bonded with her, but couldn't bear to watch her suffer any longer. She had swim bladder too. Oh listen to me! behave yourself woman! It is sad though.

Swim Bladder- Swim or air bladder problems sometimes occur in freshwater fish.  I have personally seen this is fancy goldfish such as Orandas, Ryunkins, and Shubunkins. When the bladder is effected, the fish will experience equilibrium problems. Sometimes, the problem is not the bladder but other problems which directly affect the bladder. Diseased and inflamed internal organs, improper water conditions or nutrition, and wounds received from fighting with another fish can also effect the equilibrium of the fish. Constipation is also known to affect a fish's swimming ability!  Symptoms:  The fish has problems swimming correctly.  They may appear to be standing on their head, or floating to the surface and struggling to go down to the bottom, or possibly even have problems removing themselves from the bottom.  At the later stages of the disease, the fish could lose its balance and swim upside down.  Treatment: There is no specific treatment for this dilemma;however, you can try isolating the fish to a quarantine tank in which the water is shallow(this provides relief for the fish). Add one teaspoon of salt per gallon of water. Some individuals will feed thawed out frozen peas and this purges the fish's system and has been noted to help many fish. After 1-2 weeks a return to the main tank with deeper water may be tried. The best advice I can give is to maintain proper water conditions, feed your fish a well balanced diet, and possibly try feeding your goldfish sinking foods rather than floating types.  They won't inhale so much air this way.   The pellets if soaked in water before feeding will expand before the fish eats them and this has helped a lot. Good luck with this!!  ohh and An old cure was Epsom salts.
i read this from the net it might be useful

Hi,

I your wanting to put salt in the water to cure parasites you use COOKING SALT
because not table salt table salt has caking agents in it and will kill the fish.
Swim bladder problems are very common in fresh water fish and are vitually uncurable.
The best way to kill a fish is to get some anaesthetic Masuizai from a pond specialist and up the doseage this will put the fish to sleep humanely.
Putting it in the freezer is not very humane.

This advice comes from my partner that specialises in Koi  and runs an Aquatics business.

Briony:-)

The advice above is excellent but if you cannot get Masuizai, mix clove oil with vodka, shake vigorously and add a few drops of this to some tankwater in a bowl and add the fish, cover for an hour to prevent stress and ensure that the deed is done.  The clove is an anaesthetic and the vodka allows it to emulsify with water.  This will not stress the fish, putting them in the freezer is very stressfull and kills them very slowly.  This advice was given in Practical Fishkeeping Magazine by one of the experts.

hiya

thanks for all the advice i took the fish along to the vet in the end as my daughter was too upset about me doing it,  they thought it was probably swimbladder which is very common in egg shaped fancy goldfish and she was very unlikely to recover + she had the infected lesion on her tummy.

thankyou all and we be taking the advise re, feeding etc to prevent this happening again i hope!

j

I've come to this post a little late but here's me two penny worth any way.

I've found the best way to avoid swim bladder problems in fancy goldfish is to feed live food regularly, frozen blood worm, which you can get from you local tropical fish shop is good, I think this why fancies in ponds rarely suffer from it, because they get live food in their diet.

To kill fish humanely you should stun it first by hitting its head against something if its small, or hitting its head with something  reasonably heavy if its large, and then removing its head with a sharp knife,  occasionly the fish can regain its senses if you don't remove the head.

My apologies for being graphic.

Robert.

the only problem with live food is , sometimes you can get a bad batch that has an infection or what ever .. and then the fish can become ill . i first used live food and when my whole pond became ill , i lost most fish , it was bought from a large pond center . so i went to a garden center that sells fish and he took a sample of the food and it came back that somthing was wrong with it :( oh well it was a lesson learnt my lot now get pellets ,they sink and absorb the water and i havent had any swim bladderd fish for quite a few years .

Unfortunately fancy fish have become very popular and the fish farms (foreign ones) are not culling inferior young stock but selling them cheaply before they get any problems with them.  The best ones are kept to grow on to larger more expensive fish.  Small goldfish are also packed very densly for travelling and inevitably this has an effect on their health.  Many of the small fancy fish you see in the shops ( under 3 inches of body length) aren't really expected to live very long.  The best and healthiest fish are kept to grow on and you will see these as very large fancies (6+ inches body length) with correspondingly large prices.  I have found that the 3inch+ fish seem to have fewer swimbladder problems.  Of course if you can find british bred fish (from fish keeping clubs) then you shouldn't have quite so many problems.

Hi,

Iknow its matter of opinion and we accept people have different views but the kindest thing to do is to put your fish to sleep  in our opinion and that is the advice we give all our customers,no hitting them over the head ,freezing them etc.
Even our show koi whether large or tiny or our small goldfish are treated the same .
The anaethetic is widely available comes in a small bottle and is easy to keep for such cases.
We also anaetheise (sp) koi, sometimes goldfish when have to we treat them,then we bring them gently round from the anaethetic.
There is no excuse for hitting it on the head and if you have more than one fish
would be wise to keep some in.

Briony:-)