Goldfish Depressed?

[gadzooks]

I have a pet goldfish whom originally had a friend, but that fish died. I think I've had this fish for like two or three years now I don't even remember anymore.

Either way, the goldfish is obviously injured. His tail sticks up and he's unable to get the proper bottom floating. It is in an open top 5 gallon aquarium.

This is like the Terri Shiavo of fish. The fish has nothing left to do. If I bought a new fish friend, I think this one might get picked at, however at the same time the fish has been in this weird state for months now... Swimming awkardly but not dying either, still enthusiastically eats food.. It's just unable to do much more. I think it got hurt when I was cleaning the tank, via the net.

So, ultimately my question is..... What's the best thing to do? It's not exactly fun to have a sad looking fish that does nothing but stare into space at the top of the tank, in your room, at the same time, I don't know if I should just kill it...... I realize the hipocricy, as I do eat meat, and have even caught and killed fish. I guess it's different when it's your pet, and its different because i feel like this particular fish is suffering.

[N8DOGG]

First thing to do is get it out of that tank....goldfish need tanks of 20-30 gallons to EACH fish. They also need a lot of up keep to thrive. Very good filtration and a lot of water changes. You had your fish living in a sespool of its own waste for 2 or 3 yrs! You forced that fish to live in those terrible conditions and it will not live its full life because of the sever damage done by living in a such a small tank. If you can not provide the proper house for it just do water changes every few days. Then when it dies, stick with a betta.