Goldfish with swollen stomach???

[Blossomhill]

Any ideas what it could be?

We have only had this one 3 weeks. The one before that died after 4 weeks.

Not sure what to do really....

pregnant?

over fed maybe?

sorry, don't know alot about fish but after having them die one after another after another i got one last one and a live plant to go with and it did the trick.
a year later it's still happily swimming around the bowl !!

sounds like dropsy...poor thing probably on its way out. when you set up the tank, did you let it 'mature' for a few weeks? or put special bacteria in? gold fish are not as hardy as they used to be as they are very over bred, especially 'fancy'ones.

Blossomhill,I am NOT pulling your leg here, and I'm not suggesting you do this, but its a funny story none the less...

Our friend's dad used to wind her goldfish because it used to gobble up air with its food. He would take it carefully in his hand in the bowl, and give it a little squeeze, bubbles came out of it's mouth..!!!!

I didn't see it personally but dp did!! It was left in his care once and he thought it was dying cos of its swollen stomach and inability to keep upright in the bowl, but once this dear old man came to pick it up he poo-pooed any suggestion of death, and winded it! It lived long after that and was 4 yrs old at the time!

I think the 'winding' thing was just temporarily fixing an over bloated swim bladder. I believe that one thing that can cause this is over feeding. So if this may be an option cut back on food - every other day is plenty.
Otherwise, if you have a tank with a healthy filter and good water quality, (any other fish in the tank? Are they OK?) then maybe try changing fish shops - some keep their fish in much better condition than others.

Constipation or swimbladder. Constipation from overfeeding or pellet food. Give it some peas with the outer skin taken off.

Swimbladder from dirty water. You can buy medicine very cheaply. Watch for funny sideways or upsidedown swimming - they're classic symptoms.

More info on the above on this thread.

MM, we had this as well- when we changed shop we managed to keep one alive [shcok]

But constipation is an issue- if its swim bladder treat quickly, they die horribly from that poor things (can't feed on their sides)- mine won't eat peas, but will a tiny bit of apple.

Plants also do the same thing as peas etc- its just about fibre really.

Over feeding- you can get blocks of food that gradually dissolve for the right amount over a time epriod, maybe that would work? Asda does them