Updates on Baluku

Hello There! It’s been a couple of weeks. So its time for some updates on my pearlscale goldfish – Baluku. In case you don’t understand what Baluku means, it means a bump. And how do you use this word?

Used in a sentence: “I have a baluku on my forehead because I walked into a glass door.” – Taken from The Smart Local

So as you can see, Baluku does seems to have a bump on its head, therefore the name for it. 😂🤣

So, we brought Baluku to vet some 2 weeks ago. With the hope that it would recover from possibly swim bladder issue. I read from some articles that goldfish with swim bladder problem will last a few days, weeks, months and maybe even years. But most of them won’t survive long.

Beecroft Bird & Exotics Veterinary Clinic located at Upper East Coast
I, myself. was surprised that there is a vet for pet goldfish. So we decided to bring him down to get some advise.

This is the radiograph taken for Baluku. This is really cute.

And a sponge was attached to Baluku to aid him swim. Unfortunately, we were told that he’s got cataract on his left eye, and that means, he’s kinda blind. And worse was, it will never regain its eye sight. 😢

On the first day after the sponge was sew onto him, he could only float on top of the tank.

Then on the 3rd day onward, he was able to swim freely in the tank. Watching him swim around the tank and not on his side was a happy thing for us.

We were given antibiotics for him. And this whole vet thingy, came with a hefty price tag; $340.
Initially, we were thinking of leaving him at the clinic to receive injection, but it costs more than what we can afford – $40 per night + $50 per injection. So we decided to bring him home. And gave him water treatment with the antibiotics given.

About a week later, the sponge came off and he’s back to the original state. When we found him, he was at the corner of the tank. But now, he’s more active. But… still on his side. There are a couple of times, I saw him trying to swim normally which last for a couple of seconds. I know, he is trying his best. We are too.

A short clip on his road to recovery. We hope.

Enough of that. I saw there are many shrimps in my goldfish tank too! And I am pretty sure, they are striving pretty well. But the thing is, I think I have monster goldfish.. they were biting my plants away which means, I need to head down to local pet store to get more plants for my shrimps. Else, they do not have hiding place.