I'm going to give up the hobby

[RobVG]

I've had 4 goldfish over the last 3 1/2 years. We watched one die last year and one a few months ago with a perpetual case of the floaties.
Now the new fish we got three weeks ago seems to have brought something with it and gave it to my 2-year-old Oranda. Water parameters have always been good. With the other sick fish we used antibiotics, but they didn't help. It's just too heartbreaking to watch.

 

[gwand]

I’m sorry you feel that way but understand your frustration. If you reconsider prepare a quarantine tank, especially if you purchase fish only from Petsmart, Petco or another big box store. Fish from these stores are frequently sick. We can recommend excellent mail order stores where you are almost guaranteed to obtain healthy fish. The shipping makes it more expensive than the big box stores. But several reputable mail order companies ship overnight for $39 for a small box of fish. If you go this route I still recommend a quarantine period.

 

[GaryE]

Fancy goldfish have wrecked many an aquarists pastime. We're told they're easy, but really, easy means disposable for a lot of people. You don't see many reaching full size, living 30 years or enjoying 25-30 gallons per fish.

I used to overwinter pond goldies at my job, and they are not easy fish. Endless water changes, poop galore, tons of fry and steady tank busting growth... or, with the ones kids would bring in hoping I could save them - deformities that simply gave the fish no chance.

If I felt like giving up, I might explore other types of fish first.

 

[Colin_T]

I've had 4 goldfish over the last 3 1/2 years. We watched one die last year and one a few months ago with a perpetual case of the floaties.
Now the new fish we got three weeks ago seems to have brought something with it and gave it to my 2-year-old Oranda. Water parameters have always been good. With the other sick fish we used antibiotics, but they didn't help. It's just too heartbreaking to watch.

Can you post pictures and video of the fish?
Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.
If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone in landscape mode so the footage fills the entire screen and doesn't have black bars on either side.

The most common reason fancy goldfish (short body fish) float is due to air trapped in their intestine. Due to their size and shape (caused by selective inbreeding) fantail goldfish have a shorter body but their internal organs (including their digestive tract) are the same length as a normal size and shaped fish. Their internal organs get squashed together and their intestine does too. So instead of the intestine being relatively straight, it can be wavy (go up and down).

If fish are fed a lot of dry food and they gulp food from the surface (where dry food tends to float), they can inhale air, which has to travel through their digestive tract before being expelled (fish farts). When the fish has a lot of air in its intestine, they regularly float to the surface when they stop swimming.

To test this you stop feeding dry food for a week and feed frozen or live foods instead. If the fish swim normally after a week without dry food, then the problem is caused by air in the intestine. If the problem doesn't improve, the fish probably has a swim bladder problem and there's no cure for that.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I too understand the frustration. Gary is right--goldfish are actually fairly difficult, especially the fancy ones. I hope you'll poke around and try some easier species better suited to your setup before you ditch the hobby entirely. We'd be happy to make recommendations if that would be helpful.

 

[Innesfan]

To add to the above sound counsel, in addition to lengthy quarantine, providing ample gallons-per fish (the pros say 40 gallons for the first goldfish and 20 gallons for each additional...minimum) and pulling back on dry foods and replacing with live and/or frozen, I'd be sure to avoid freeze-dried foods altogether. For goldfish--and many others, i.e. bettas-- they are the express route to impacted intestines. My goldfish also get par-boiled, skinned peas once a week. And as @Colin_T mentioned, avoiding short-bodied types increases the odds for success. Commons, comets, jikins, wakins, shubunkins etc are all easier to maintain in that regard and make for a lively and colorful display.

 

[Maelstan]

Fancy goldfish have wrecked many an aquarists pastime. We're told they're easy, but really, easy means disposable for a lot of people. You don't see many reaching full size, living 30 years or enjoying 25-30 gallons per fish.


I used to overwinter pond goldies at my job, and they are not easy fish. Endless water changes, poop galore, tons of fry and steady tank busting growth... or, with the ones kids would bring in hoping I could save them - deformities that simply gave the fish no chance. I also play at a online casino https://pokiemonster.com/ that has goldfish.

If I felt like giving up, I might explore other types of fish first.

I understand you 100%. Goldfish are one of the cruelest paradoxes of aquarium keeping: “easy for beginners,” but in fact, one of the most demanding.