Goldfish

[Ivana Oswald]

Hi, I just got another goldfish from the pet store and it's staying at the bottom a lot. It seems fine, but it looks like she is resting all the time. I'm afraid she has some kind of bladder disorder.

 

[JuiceBox52]

What sized tank?
How many other fish with it?
Ammonia?
Nitrite?
Nitrate?

 

[Colin_T]

Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

How long have you had the fish for?
How long has the tank been set up for?

If you have only had the fish or a few hours, give it a day to recover from the trip.

If you have had the fish for a few days and it still sits on the bottom, do a 75% water change each day for a week and see if that helps.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If the water is good and there's no improvement after a couple of water changes, let us know and we can investigate further.

 

[Ivana Oswald]

I checked pH it's good. I have the fish three days. I noticed that she's not like other goldfish. When they rest they look like floating but she can't stay in that position, it looks like something is weighing her down. By the way the tank is 24litres and I have plus 3 goldfish and 2 zebras. And thank you for your help.

 

[Colin_T]

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week.

Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt for every 20 litres of water. Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks and see how the fish goes.
When you do water changes, add salt to the new water before adding that water to the tank.

 

[AquaBarb]

Im sorry to say your tank is much too small for the fish you have. 1 goldfish should have at least a 75ltr (20g) tank and a futher 45ltrs (10g) for any additional goldfish after that.

 

[Salty&Onion]

I checked pH it's good. I have the fish three days. I noticed that she's not like other goldfish. When they rest they look like floating but she can't stay in that position, it looks like something is weighing her down. By the way the tank is 24litres and I have plus 3 goldfish and 2 zebras. And thank you for your help.

Your tank is too small for goldfish. Better if you had a 30 gallon, a 114 ltr tank per goldfish as they get huge, they get up to 8" or more depending on which kind of goldie you have. Including the fact that they are very messy fish, as they are from the carp family and they need also a very mature tank to hold in their bioload. I am afraid that your zebra danios (are they?) need a shoal of 6 or more and a 20 gallon tank, ideally a 20 gallon long would be perfect for them. As for your water quality, please give the actual number of pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Us, members need the actual numbers of your results of water parameters in order to say whether your tank is cycled and is no issue with water quality to your fish or is uncycled and is an issue with water quality and is affecting your fish.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Hi! I’m a goldie lover myself. Above information is correct. You need 20 gallons for the first fancy and 10 gallons for each additional one. I have 3 large goldfish in a 75 gallon. One of mine is now 8” nose to tail end. She is 3 years old. As far as the new goldfish goes, can you take her back? She should not just be laying on the bottom all the time. You can try fasting her a couple of days and then feeding her a blanched, peeled pea. This will help if she’s constipated and with swim bladder. The 2nd pic is my big girl. Her tail looks frayed but it’s not. She has black tips on it.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I agree with the above