Help for stunted goldfish?

[furfinsfeathers]

After some threads I've read, I suspect our "rescue goldfish" are stunted. I got them with tank in a yardsale 3 months ago, rescued from a 20 gallon with water the color of pale iced tea, a 10 gallon filter, owner had started with 8 or 9 goldfish in the tank and these were the only survivors. I just read that stunted goldfish may have drabber colors and one of ours is a lighter orange than what I usually see in pet stores, the other is a very pale yellowish gray with a hint of orange. Both have brightened quite a bit since we got them, started olive drab and weren't even shiny. Have grown about an inch? Are now about 3 or 4 inches long? I also saw in a thread that something about the eyes may indicate stunting? Is it the diameter or do they bulge a bit or what? And other than regular water changes, a good filter and a bigger tank, what can I do to help them? They're still in the 20L, but with a 30 gallon filter instead of the 10 they came with, and will be moving to a 55 with a 100 gallon filter and only one other goldfish later this week. Any foods that will be especially helpful? Feeding a good quality flake (small ammount once or twice a day) and peas and those little red worms (mosquito larvae) about once a week.

 

[cuticom]

When fsih are stunted, the process doesn't reverse itself. Since you say yours have grown then they do have every possibility of being brought back to being strong healthy fish.

Stunted fish have huge eyes compared to their body, my stunted moore looks like he has weights on the front of his head because of the size of his eyes.

Good food and plenty of tank space will definitely help, I'd feed as much fresh foods as possible as well as a good quality pellet, my preference is Hikari branded food designed specifically for goldfish, though Hikari Cichlid Staple works well too.

Keep up with water changes and water quality, plenty of filtration and they should turn into real stunners.

 

[riddle4sphinx]

Vegetables and fruit are really good for goldies..... I've fed mine peas, zucchini, bananas, oranges.... they'll eat anything. Vegetables are better for them because they dont have as much sugar as the fruit does. Those should be used as treats.

My guess is, since they've grown a little so far, they'll probably have a growth spurt when you put them in the 55g. I put some little fancy goldfish in an outdoor pond and they went from being the size of a marble to about the size of a golf ball in about a month (thats just body size too.... tails are huge!) So you're doing everything right, get em a good tank, double the filter, feed them well, keep the water clean, and they'll grow Good luck!