Re: beloved fancy upside down
#313
There are two causes for this condition and they aren't related even though the symptoms are identical.
1, Dietary, gas becomes trapped in the fish's gut and makes the fish buoyant the causes are many - gulping in air with the food when feeding at the surface, a diet which is to low in fibre, the fish are fed to infrequently and so on.
This condition is easily fixed by feeding small amounts often, pre soaking food or using non-floating food, using fresh greens, raising the temp a little (18 - 22C) and by using epsom salt at 1 level teaspoon per 4 gall for really stubborn cases.
2, Genuine swim bladder problems, fancy goldfish are prone to problems with their swim bladders more than other fish due to their body shape, the swim bladder is a paired organ in carps and sometimes one side can remain under developed or the whole bladder can be in the wrong place. A young fish may even appear fine but as it grows and develops the problems also begin to develop. This is a physiological problem and CANNOT be treated with potions of any sort. Only surgery could correct this type of problem and that is out of the question in almost all cases (I have heard about this being done successfully on a large and very expensive koi). Disease is often cited as a cause but unless the fish is showing symptoms of a disease it is a most unlikely cause.
The swim bladder is controlled by muscles which allow the fish to expand or compress the bladder and in fancy goldfish these muscles are generally quite weak when compared to standard fish of a similar size. If they are forced in to using these muscles due to being kept in deep water it can lead to this sort of problem and this is treatable.
Keep the fish in water which is very shallow (enough to cover the fish with an inch or so to spare. This will allow the muscle time to heal and the fish return to good health, but this is only in a tiny minority of cases.
Having read the entire thread I noticed that this has gone on for a month now and so it only seems sensible to rule out a digestive problem after this long has passed. If air was trapped in the gut so would partially digested food be and this would begin to rot and almost certainly kill the fish by now.
I would forget adding a myriad of chemicals to the water and simply raise the temp a little to promote healing and try the fish in very shallow water for a few day.
If there is no improvement then other things will have to be considered because a month upside down, unable to feed properly and possibly with some discomfort and certainly very stressed - isn't really much of a life.