hi guys, I noticed a couple of weeks ago one of my goldfish started floating upside down. I read a couple of things like I was feeding them to much and that it might be inhaling to much air. So I did some thing like made the flakes float to the bottom and feed them less. So he stopped floating upside down. But now I’m noticing all my goldfish are starting to float to the top and some more then other. Some can swim strait and go somewhere. But some cant really move they just float to the top. All the leves are good besides the ammonia, it was high but much lower now. Weirdly now there all just sit at the top sucking in a lot of the air. Not sure what to do. Please help!!
Goldfish floating
- Thread starter Erica27
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Post a 20 second video of the fish swimming and floating.
Are you feeding dry food?
Do you feed any fresh, frozen or live food?
If you only feed dry food, stop using it for a week and feed frozen (but defrosted) foods and see what happens.
Are you feeding dry food?
Do you feed any fresh, frozen or live food?
If you only feed dry food, stop using it for a week and feed frozen (but defrosted) foods and see what happens.
Gothicangel
New Member
Hi Erica.get a large mug one like a soup mug or a small plastic container.Fill it half full with your exstiting fish water.Put 2 scoops of epsom salts in the water ,put your fish in it for about 30 seconds maybe more but supervise the fish while in the water.it will act a bit strange at first.Take the fish out and return it back to the tank.It should recover if not still keep an eye on it.you can repeat the process again later .make sure the epsom salts have disolved.Let me know how you get on .
Oh and do not overfeed your fish,i only feed mine once per day.
Oh and do not overfeed your fish,i only feed mine once per day.
2 scoops could be a lot of different sizes. A tablespoon in a gallon of treated water is actually the doseage. Leave fish in for about 5 minutes. May be repeated several times a day. I would hold off on this for now though. If they are all doing it, it is probably a water quality issue or a bacterial issue. Do you overfeed? I would fast them for a couple of days. No food. They’ll be fine. In the meantime, do a 75% water change each day for several days. Be sure to treat the water for chlorine, etc. After a couple of days feed them blanched, deshelled peas. See if this helps. If not, let us know. We may want to try Epsom salt then or a bacterial med. As Colin requested, a brief video would really help us figure this out sooner.
Yes I’m only feeding dry food. And for some reason it won’t let me post a video, but I will keep trying!
Strange...never have heard of this meathed but will give it ago! Thank you!!
I normally feed them twice a day normally a small pinch They can all eat the food in less then a minute...sometimes faster.
Hello sorry everyone got the super late responses but I started feeding my goldfish less only once a day and I would make the food sink, but now all my fish pretty much just lay at the bottom and I know that means there stressed. Also on one fish she has a big white spot looks like fungus on him. I never had any problems with them besides the floating ever. Not sure what’s going on?!
what are we looking at in the picture?
check your water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH.
try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Increase aeration.
check your water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH.
try doing a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Increase aeration.
It could be a graze, hole in the head disease (hexamita) or fungus.
Fish fungus is normally white and fluffy and sticks up form the body. It gets into sores/ wounds. It doesn't look fluffy and if the fish has not been injured it is unlikely to be fungus.
Goldfish sometimes get hole in the head disease, which normally occurs in dirty environments. If you do regular water changes and gravel cleaning, and the filter is regularly cleaned, it is unlikely to be this.
If the fish has swum into something or scratched its head, it could be a sore. Under good conditions it should heal up without any problems.
The best thing to do is a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.
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You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.
When you do the daily water changes, you will need to add salt to the new water so the level in the tank remains constant. eg: you fill a 10 litre bucket with water, add dechlorinator and mix it for a couple of minutes, then add some salt to the bucket, let it dissolve and then pour it in the tank.
If you don't want to use salt now, just do the daily water changes and gravel cleans and see if that helps.
Fish fungus is normally white and fluffy and sticks up form the body. It gets into sores/ wounds. It doesn't look fluffy and if the fish has not been injured it is unlikely to be fungus.
Goldfish sometimes get hole in the head disease, which normally occurs in dirty environments. If you do regular water changes and gravel cleaning, and the filter is regularly cleaned, it is unlikely to be this.
If the fish has swum into something or scratched its head, it could be a sore. Under good conditions it should heal up without any problems.
The best thing to do is a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.
-------------------------
You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
If you only have livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), goldfish or rainbowfish in the tank you can double that dose rate, so you would add 2 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres and if there is no improvement after 48 hours, then increase it so there is a total of 4 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.
Keep the salt level like this for at least 2 weeks but no longer than 4 weeks otherwise kidney damage can occur. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in fish from soft water (tetras, Corydoras, angelfish, gouramis, loaches) that are exposed to high levels of salt for an extended period of time, and is not an issue with livebearers, rainbowfish or other salt tolerant species.
The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria but the higher dose rate will affect some plants. The lower dose rate will not affect plants.
After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that.
When you do the daily water changes, you will need to add salt to the new water so the level in the tank remains constant. eg: you fill a 10 litre bucket with water, add dechlorinator and mix it for a couple of minutes, then add some salt to the bucket, let it dissolve and then pour it in the tank.
If you don't want to use salt now, just do the daily water changes and gravel cleans and see if that helps.
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