What's wrong with the goldfish?

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catriona

Registered Member
Jul 16, 2005
1
0
0
My daughter has a goldfish that is just sitting at the bottom of the 10 gallon tank. It does get up and eat, but mostly it sits at the bottom of the tank.

We've had the tank set up for over a week, didn't know about having to cycle the tank, so we are in the middle of doing the water changes and checking the amonia levels which still are not under control. The last check, the level was between .25 and .50.

The tank has an airator and a filter going, a bit of gravel at the bottom, a piece of driftwood and a couple of plastic plants. She feeds it flaked Tetra Goldfish food twice a day. The water temperature has been around 70 degrees and when doing water changes, we match the temperature and declorinate the water.

The goldfish was a feeder fish she 'rescued' from the LFS. She originally had two fish, but the one came down with ich, which we treated and after the second treatment, we found it dead.

Other than the tank cycling problem, I am besides myself to figure out what is wrong with this fish. I assume that it is stressed out because the tank has not cycled, but my daughter is very concerned, since the other fish died.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

Kissofthegorami

Broke College Student
Feb 24, 2005
613
0
0
41
Boston,MA
Feeder fish will often just die. They are of poor genetic stock and have been mistreated from birth till u purchased it. Goldfish are ill suited to a 10 gallon anyways. Have her try 4 guppies in a ten gallon (they will have babies) or a dwarf gourami, or a betta. You could also add 3 panda or 4 dwarf cory catfish.
 

biged24

biged24
Sep 29, 2005
8
0
0
42
california
goldfish problems

You should check to ph in the tank. The best tester kit is the tubes with liquid additives. It should come out to 7.0. Also when getting chemicals to fix it get ph up and ph down and don't over do it. Adding to much chemicals can dilute your tank water and I would suggest a water change. You also might need some bacteria starter to get Your tank going. I have 4 fancy goldfish and one of mine is at the bottom still. I was checking all of my balances and everything was fine. Until one day I saw that it had ich. Little white spots, parasites that infest in the gills and the skin of the fish. I heard that if You raise the temperature to 84degrees the parasites wont survive and also of the spots show up treat it rite away with ich treatment.
 

biged24

biged24
Sep 29, 2005
8
0
0
42
california
Kissofthegorami said:
Feeder fish will often just die. They are of poor genetic stock and have been mistreated from birth till u purchased it. Goldfish are ill suited to a 10 gallon anyways. Have her try 4 guppies in a ten gallon (they will have babies) or a dwarf gourami, or a betta. You could also add 3 panda or 4 dwarf cory catfish.
A gold fish can live in a bowl for quite awhile. A 10 gallon will do fine.
 

mvigor

Aquarium Hobbyist
Mar 24, 2005
622
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Lunchlady land
www.vigorfamily.com
Contrary to popular belief, a goldfish that survives for 2 years in a bowl did not live "quite a while"...it lived about 1/12th it's potential 25 year lifespan, surviving, stunted, and finally giving in to the continued expansion of its internal organs inside a body that was chemically inhibited from growing due to the concentration of it's own pheromones in the water it was kept in.

Also, it's very unnecessary to fool around with your water PH numbers at all.

A feeder, or comet, goldfish can grow up to 2 feet in length, so needs at LEAST a 30 gallon tank eventually. A fancy (egg shaped) goldfish will do fine in a 20 gallon tank.

Right now your tank hasn't cycled and the ammonia will continue to spike high until the good bacteria take over. Change half the water every day until the ammonia level suddenly drops back down to zero.
 
Last edited:

khombre

58
Jul 18, 2005
1,081
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Quezon City, Philippines
hey there..

i also think that 10g is small for the goldfish..
but with regards to the problem, i also think that its due to the water conditions... poor water conditions can stress and exhaust a fish so that is probably why it just sits around doing nothing..

i say go on with the water changes
how frequently do u change the water? and how much water do u change?
try to get ur ammonia and nitrite levels down..
and maybe u can lessen the feeding a bit
gud luk :D
 

wataugachicken

The Dancing Banana
Jul 14, 2005
5,451
1
0
Charlotte, NC
You should check to ph in the tank. The best tester kit is the tubes with liquid additives. It should come out to 7.0. Also when getting chemicals to fix it get ph up and ph down and don't over do it. Adding to much chemicals can dilute your tank water and I would suggest a water change.
unless your ph is completely off the scale (above or below), or it changes daily or throughout the day, you can pretty much leave it alone. Almost all common fish will do fine in any neutral-ish Ph level. a stable ph is the most important thing, adding chemicals may drop it for a day or two but then it bounces right back and THAT is what will stress the fish and cause health problems.

khombre is right about feeding - goldfish are little piggies and will eat everything you give them, but don't let that trick you into thinking that they're starving all the time. that's just a goldfish's brand of mind control. a tiny pinch once a day should be fine.

otherwise (and i don't know how old your daughter is, it may not work) tell her that the goldfishie really missed his friends and was sad, but you got her a whole group of fishy friends instead. white cloud minnows are cheap, pretty, and don't need a heater or maybe a school of small tropical (read: they need a heater) tetras (6-7) and a snail would be better choices. switch out the water, rinse the gravel, and start from scratch with a water change routine. depending on how much waste they put out, one 50% change once a day may not cut it. if you do a water cahnge and your numbers for ammonia or nitrites are still above .50, do another one until you're below .25. that will be safe for the fish.
 
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