Mysterious feeder goldie death

[Ratlova30]

I had these four goldfish. They were being temporarily held in a 15gal until my pond is finished. Well last week when I was cruising CL I found a free 40gal, so I went and got it and finally got it set up the day before yesterday. I used seeded substrate and the filter that was on the 15gal so that I didn't have to cycle the tank and transferred the goldies over to the 40gal so they could have a bigger home until the pond was complete. Well when I was transferring the goldies over to the 40gal I noticed one of them looked sunken in in the abdomen area. I thought I was just seeing things or maybe she just had a deformity as who knows what genetics $.13 feeders have. Well today I went into the fish room to find her dead. Makes me sad. I got her along with three other feeders from a lady who kept them in a fish bowl and hoped to give them a better life. I inspected her body and there is no visible signs of illness(parasites/fungal) from the outside. She never acted weird prior to her death, she was eating fine. I don't know how long she's been sunken as I kept a relatively dim light bulb in the hood when I had them in the 15gal.

I don't feed live food, their main staple is pelleted food and occasion I feed them frozen beef heart and brine shrimp. Any ideas? None of the other goldies have any symptoms.

Just a note I know a 40gal is too small as I'm sure some of you will mention, a pond is being built as we speak so no worries;)

[jetajockey]

Any ideas?

I think the reason is because it's a feeder goldfish.


They are kept in deplorable conditions, extremely cramped, often malnourished, and very prone to all sorts of illness. All of the really experienced aquarists that I know, that actually use feeders do not buy them from the store for this reason.

[Ratlova30]

I had this one for about 6 months now. I mean if it was going to understandably drop dead wouldn't it had done it sooner, primarily when it was living in a bowl rather then later in a heavily filtered tank? If the goldie died shortly after me getting them then sure that would be the same conclusion I would have arrived at but I've had this goldie for a few months and it just doesn't make sense to me. Would ammonia poisoning have lasting affects for up to six months before the fish decided to kick the bucket. I would think the fish would die or get healthier once moved into a filtered aquarium. And would a sunken in abdomen be the result from ammonia poisoning of bad nutrition 6 months prior?

Not saying your wrong, just have some more questions.

[jetajockey]

I had this one for about 6 months now. I mean if it was going to understandably drop dead wouldn't it had done it sooner, primarily when it was living in a bowl rather then later in a heavily filtered tank? If the goldie died shortly after me getting them then sure that would be the same conclusion I would have arrived at but I've had this goldie for a few months and it just doesn't make sense to me. Would ammonia poisoning have lasting affects for up to six months before the fish decided to kick the bucket. I would think the fish would die or get healthier once moved into a filtered aquarium. And would a sunken in abdomen be the result from ammonia poisoning of bad nutrition 6 months prior?

Not saying your wrong, just have some more questions.

My bad, I thought they were recent additions.

Did you notice stringy poo? There are a myriad of things that can cause a fish to stop eating and/or have a sunken in stomach.

I think some of the effects of ammonia poisoning are definitely permanent ones, and sometimes the stress takes its toll on a fish after some time, but I'm talking in very small time frames, like days and weeks, not months.

[Ratlova30]

No stringy poo, brown and solid and this fish was eating after I noticed the sunken abdomen.