Doc, I've read a lot of the info on flip over. I'm really upset becasue my 6 yr old, 11inch, oranda is suffering terribly from flip over. I've fed him peas and epsom salt as suggested but to no avail. He's been like this for at least a month. He absolutely can't right himself. I hold him to feed him by hand and he tolerates it. It's not clear to me if surgery is the only other next step. PLEASE HELP!!!

Jessica

Flipover is a common condition in Goldfish and usually is a combination of three things:

1. The way the fish is made with a deep body and a large air sac.
2. High nitrates in the system
3. Loss of weight perhaps from too small feedings or not enough times per day, sometimes intestinal parasites can cause the weight loss. Rare.

Sometimes you can take air out of the air bladder and correct the problem but usually the air sacs refill very quickly and invert the fish again.

Sometimes feeding peas and epsom salts will make a temporary cure but I've never heard of resolution of this via this method.

Finally, surgery is not a bad choice. The success rate is pretty good (> 50%) and the surgery itself is pretty simple.

Here's a good article on Flipover Disease.

Here's where you can read about the surgery.

Good luck

Dr. Erik Johnson