Help me please

I have never had any luck with goldfish, but my little fish 'fishy' has seemed to survived living with me. ive had him for nearly two years, for the first year he looked completely normal but in the last year he seems to have a bent spine, he is now nearly a right angle. His deformed shape has not hindered him at all for the past year, he can still swim around and feeds normally. This morning when i went to feed him, he was floating on his back, and I thought the worst had happened and he had died, but he then flipped over and was swimming again, although he did keep flipping back over. he seems to have perked up this afternoon and hasnt done it again, although I do think that perhaps the end might be near. Does anyone know what the problem might be?

 

I'd be a little concerned about your water quality - looks cloudy.

 

Can't really help you in this department but I wish you the best and I hope he pulls through. Poor little guy. Are your parameters in check?

 

Honestly, I would prepare myself. Looks like the worst case of scoliosis I have ever seen.....a thing that we vertebrates have to deal with on occasion. He will live for awhile, but what he has is painful and hard to deal with. Mobility will decrease over time as the nerves are compressed to a point where the musculature will not be able to work properly. So, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you will know the time to put him down. If you do not already know, the best way IMO is to bag the fish and put him in the freezer. He will just go to sleep. I have had to do that a few times with my fishies.

Sorry about this. Never a good thing.

 

Oh dear, I am not a professional fish keeper, this little fella is my 7 year olds pet, he loves him dearly...... the water isnt cloudy just bad camera lens, its all scratched etc..... he seemed to have perked up this afternoon and is swimming around fine, and is still doing his crazy wiggle when i feed him, do you think he is in pain now? when its time do I fill a bag with water and put him in it, then just put it in the freezer overnight? thats going to be touch but i dont want him to suffer

 

Well, I just went through a fusion surgery because one of my discs was bulging pretty nicely. But NOTHING compared to this fish. The disc around those vertebrae must be stretched to the limit on one side and crunched on the other. I couldn't imagine the back pain this little guy must be going through. I know morphology is different between us, of course, but wow. This is incredible!!!! I am actually surprised he can still use his tail. If it were me, I would prepare my little one and offer another little fishy.

The bag trick is a good one. You just get a gallon zip lock bag, put the fish in it with a fair bit of water so it can breath and put it in the freezer. In a few hours, it will be in fishy heaven.

Gold fish are tough are they not???!!! They live through the wildest of conditions, both physical and environmental.

 

what do you feed the fish? a deficency in vitamin c has been known to cause scoliosis.

 

Oh WOW

There MUST be a better way to kill off a fish faster? I know stepping on it seems like cruel murder but wouldn't that be that fastest way? I would think freezing it would be like a human falling into a lake through ice.

No matter how you put ANY animal down, it is going to be hard. You just have to always remember your REASONS for doing it are genuine.

 

thanks for all your help, i will do it tonight after little one is tucked up in bed.

 

ive heard of a lot of people using this method but in my opinion, there are faster, less painful ways to die. i once research this subject and found that the most common way to put you fish under is to put him down the garbage disposal or overdose of Finquel which is a Anesthetic you can pick up from most national chain pet stores. the latter is probably less messy and i for one could never put nemo down the garbage disposal