Any idea what's up with my goldie?

[foxgirl158]

I would like some ideas relatively quickly so I know what to do. My roughly year and a half year old calico fancy goldfish has been laying on the substrate in a specific corner of the tank, and I'm not sure why. When I tested my water on Friday evening everything was normal except for a slight elevation in ammonia. It was just enough to turn the test from yellow, but not quite green enough to qualify as .25 ppm. I did a 40% water change and cleaned the gravel as soon as I could, which was Saturday morning. Something I should mention is that it just turned chilly, and my family hasn't turned on the heat in our house yet. She's laying in the corner directly under the heater.
PARAMETERS:
Ammonia: I'm guessing somewhere around .10-.15 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm
High range pH: 8

She's in a 30 gallon tank with one other fancy goldfish, two platies, and a nerite snail. The strangest thing about this is that she's acting just fine except for the fact that she'll just go to the corner and drift down until she's on the bottom. She's eating fine, swimming fine, and seems to be pooping fine. Could she just be cold? I've attached a photo and video of her. Thanks!
EDIT: I also added 6 tablespoons of API aquarium salt (dissolved in warm water and added in the dechlorinated water that I used for the water change) and took out my carbon filter so it wouldn't absorb the salt.

 

[foxgirl158]

@mjfromga @Byron @WhistlingBadger @JennySolano

 

[Byron]

@mjfromga @Byron @WhistlingBadger @JennySolano

I will leave this for the much more experienced members (goldfish, disease, etc) as any guessing from me is not going to help you. Looks bad, hope someone will have the answer.

@Colin_T @Essjay

 

[Domin3.3]

Could it be that that's just what he wants to do right now? Dunno..

 

[foxgirl158]

@Bruce Leyland-Jones @Fishmanic

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Whilst ammonia will exist, to a small degree, in any tank which has pooping fish, the fact that you have enough to register suggests strongly that your beneficial bacteria aren't up to the job.

To fix this, do water changes with conditioned water, then add some bottled bacteria and some live, floating plants...and not just one or three.
This will give your resident bacteria a boost and the plants should do good things to any nitrogen compounds in the water.
Pond weed would be another worthwhile addition.

'Goldfish' and their cousins will reduce activity when the colder weather hits and enter a state of torpor. The reason for your suddenly inactive fish may be as simple as this, although that ammonia needs to be addressed asap.

 

[foxgirl158]

Whilst ammonia will exist, to a small degree, in any tank which has pooping fish, the fact that you have enough to register suggests strongly that your beneficial bacteria aren't up to the job.

To fix this, do water changes with conditioned water, then add some bottled bacteria and some live, floating plants...and not just one or three.
This will give your resident bacteria a boost and the plants should do good things to any nitrogen compounds in the water.
Pond weed would be another worthwhile addition.

'Goldfish' and their cousins will reduce activity when the colder weather hits and enter a state of torpor. The reason for your suddenly inactive fish may be as simple as this, although that ammonia needs to be addressed asap.

Any suggestions on the best quality bacteria? I have duckweed growing in a bucket, how much should I add? I'll probably test again today, just to check the levels. I'll post results when I get a chance. Thank you!

 

[foxgirl158]

The thing is, she doesn't act sick, she's eating, swimming, and pooping just fine. She just is laying on the substrate under the heater a lot. My line of thought was that she was cold? The tank temp dropped maybe .5-1 degrees over the course of the last couple days because it just got cold where I live.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Any suggestions on the best quality bacteria? I have duckweed growing in a bucket, how much should I add? I'll probably test again today, just to check the levels. I'll post results when I get a chance. Thank you!

I like the Microbe-Lift products; Special Blend and Nite-Out II, but Dr. Tim's and Tetra produce recommended bacterial products as well.
As for your floating plants, as much as you need to cover the surface. As it reproduces, it's growing and 'eating' nitrogen compounds. When you get too much, dump the excess either in another tank or your garden compost heap. (NOT water courses).

 

[foxgirl158]

I like the Microbe-Lift products; Special Blend and Nite-Out II, but Dr. Tim's and Tetra produce recommended bacterial products as well.
As for your floating plants, as much as you need to cover the surface. As it reproduces, it's growing and 'eating' nitrogen compounds. When you get too much, dump the excess either in another tank or your garden compost heap. (NOT water courses).

Problem here is, I don’t really have enough to cover the tank. Might have to buy more

 

[FishHobby99]

I like the Microbe-Lift products; Special Blend and Nite-Out II, but Dr. Tim's and Tetra produce recommended bacterial products as well.
As for your floating plants, as much as you need to cover the surface. As it reproduces, it's growing and 'eating' nitrogen compounds. When you get too much, dump the excess either in another tank or your garden compost heap. (NOT water courses).

What floating plants do you recommend? I bought some duckweed & don’t care for how it looks.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Problem here is, I don’t really have enough to cover the tank. Might have to buy more

What you need to bear in mind is that growing, live plants will eat up all manner of nitrogen compounds, in order to grow.
This is why a planted cycling can be so effective and why live plants are always recommended when people have nitrite or ammonia 'spikes'.

A problem with cold water set-ups is that the choice of plants is more limited and, because of the digging and eating habits of many coldwater fish, growing plants in such environments can be a little more challenging.
That said, basic pond weed and floating plants such as duckweed will still do the job and can be simply placed loose in the tank. Fish may eat pond weed, but it is usually relatively cheap.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

What floating plants do you recommend? I bought some duckweed & don’t care for how it looks.

I'm partial to Salvinia auriculata, but I'd also recommend Pistia stratiotes, water lettuce.

 

[foxgirl158]

@Fishmanic @Essjay @WhistlingBadger @emeraldking can one of you guys move this to the emergency section please? She hasn't gotten any better and I want more opinions on what might be wrong. Thanks.

 

[foxgirl158]

Thank you to the mod who moved it!
(edited to fix punctuation)

@Fishmanic @Essjay @WhistlingBadger @emeraldking can one of you guys move this to the emergency section please? She hasn't gotten any better and I want more opinions on what might be wrong. Thanks.