FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Hi,

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with my goldfish? I noticed that my goldfish wasn't active and always stay on the surface of the tank so I have put some "multi cure" into my fish tank. Two days later, my goldfish's situation has worsen. Its white body is turning orange and it's fins and tail looks as if it has rotten. Sometimes there is white fluffy growth on its body but the white fluffy things/slime would disappear after I did some water change.

He is now always floating on top of the tank and doesn't swim around. However, I noticed that after some water change. He will be active again. I don't know what's going on but I have been doing water change everyday so that it will be active again. but I don't know whether it is wise or not to do water change daily?

by the way, I had tested the water, everything is fine. ammonia = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate = <20

Can anyone please help?

http://www.amnet.net.au/~foolim/xiang.jpg

Sounds liek swim bladder problems. Best thing to get rid of that is to feed them peas.

What sized tank is this guy in. Gold fish need massive amounts of space. General rule of thumb is 10-20+ gallons of space per inch of fish in a 55 gallon or larger tank. So a 2" fish would need a 55 gallon tank to himself.

White fluff sounds like poor water quality, how often do you do water changes? And how much do you change? How long has the tank been fully cycled for? (Ammonia and nitrIte both had time to rise then fall and nitrAtes are present).

Peas can usually help clear out internal issues. Take some from the freezer, roll them between your fingers till they pop out of their skin, then smush slightly and feed. Hold off on feeding the other foods and instead feed a pea or two for a few meals a day. Goldfish love their veggies. Keep in mind it may poo a bit more, so keep up with the water changes.


Oh, and as for doing water changes daily. There's no problem at all if it's a small amount. 10-20% Much more or too aggressive of a gravel vac and you risk reducing your bacteria population and may throw the tank into a minicycle.


^_^

Hi, thanks to all your replies. I normally do water changes once a week. but after the gold fish is sick i do it daily. I have a 10gallon tank. my goldfish is getting worse, it is turning upside down and breathing heavily. Do I need to put any medication?

Even if the fish does pull through, it's going to be sickly and ill its entire life unless you get it in a larger tank. 55 gallons or larger is your starting point right now.

Whats the water temp? What type of filtration do you have and is there an airstone?

Goldfish, especially ornamental ones have been bred over the years to look a certain way. This ends up resulting in deformities. In many cases the swim bladder (the organ that keeps the fish balanced) gets compressed. The fish are then sold by stores that do not inform the new owner of the fishes requirements (again 55 gallons, 210 liters), and the fish ends up in a small tank. The old saying that a fish doesn't outgrow its tank is true. What happens instead is that the fish ends up stunted, it stops growing properly on the outside. The fishes insides keep trying to grow but there is no where for them to go and they press up on each other. This causes all sorts of pain and trouble.

From the very beginning fish need lots of room. You can't just think 'oh I'll get a bigger tank when they grow bigger'. It just doesn't work (I've had to go through this myself with some fish I rescued from my boss!).

Now the reason I asked about the filtration and air is that sometimes the water doesn't move enough, and therefor cant hold the right amount of oxygen for the fish. This often happens in higher temperatures, and when the tank is cycling or going through a minicycle. If you have a HOB filter make sure there is a lot of splashing going on. Airstones help break the surface of the water allowing for the same splashing, and thereby the same gas exchange and increased oxygen levels. The heavy breathing may be a sign of too little oxygen in the water.

The daily water changes may be stressing the fish more than helping, especially if there is a loss of bacterial population causing a minicycle. Make sure you're only removing water on the daily changes, and that weekly changes you only vac a small portion of the gravel.

Is the "white fluffy growth" still present? That would be a fungus of some sort and can be treated by medications. The turning upside down is either a swim bladder issue (feed mushed peas) or simply the fish dying.

Goldfish can live twenty years or more, but they need proper care and living space, and that won't happen in a 10 gallon tank.

^_^