Goldfish Dying

Avel1896 said:

Yes I do.
Please post clear oxerall pics of your tank and closeups of your fish.

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I believe I fixed it with the attachment of the files.

foxgirl158 said:

30 gallon tank with a good carbon filter

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Wait.... you mean you house 3 goldies in 30 gal. ???
Poor goldies. They should (must) have 30 gal. per goldie...

If you're absolutely sure of your parameters and waterchanges, the reason why your fish is is so bad state is stress, because of serious lack of space to escape other fishes harassment.

Avel1896 said:

Wait.... you mean you house 3 goldies in 30 gal. ???
Poor goldies. They should (must) have 30 gal. per goldie...

If you're absolutely sure of your parameters and waterchanges, the reason why your fish is is so bad state is stress, because of serious lack of space to escape other fishes harassment.

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These three have been together for over a year. The reason they are in a 30 gal is because they were originally outside in a water trough because my mom thought that they would keep it clean and "eat the algae". I bought the tank with my own money when it became cold because I didn't want them to freeze outside. I have never seen harassment from any of them towards anyone else, and they seem happy. I'm sorry I can't provide more for them, really I am, but I'm sure there are worse conditions for goldfish to live in. I don't meant to sound argumentative, but I am doing the best I can for them and I'm really torn up about Pudge's death.

Goldies are pond fishes used to low temp.
Seem happy doesn't mean at all are happy from fish point of view and needs !
How large is the trough ?

Tank size has nothing to do with this. Small fish in a small tank, as long as the water is kept clean it's not going to cause fish to stop eating and die. It's not the best for them but it didn't cause this.

20ppm nitrate did not cause this.

It's impossible to say but when fish stop eating and lay on their side and die, it's usually poor water quality or an internal problem. Fantail (double tail) goldfish have more internal problems than single tail goldfish due to their body being shorter and squished up.

At this stage just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. This will dilute any disease organisms that might be in the water and reduce the chance of the remaining fish getting sick.

Make sure the fish get lots of plant matter in their diet.

Monitor their poop and if it is white and stringy, that is a problem.

The trough is 400 gallons, without a filter or any way of aeration with the exception of rainfall. I am a younger teenager, and a novice fish keeper. I cannot get a bigger tank, so what can I do to help my remaining fish in the conditions that they are currently in?

Colin_T said:

Make sure the fish get lots of plant matter in their diet.

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Thank you Colin. What type of plant matter do you recommend I give them? I am currently fasting them for three days because from what I've been reading I have been overfeeding them by a lot, which I know can cause swim bladder. Once the fast is done, I am planning on giving them steamed peas to help their stomachs.

Still no pics ?

foxgirl158 said:

The trough is 400 gallons, without a filter or any way of aeration with the exception of rainfall. I am a younger teenager, and a novice fish keeper. I cannot get a bigger tank, so what can I do to help my remaining fish in the conditions that they are currently in?

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We had a member, Deanasue, who knew a lot about goldfish and she said fantails need 20 gallons for the first fish, then 10 gallons per additional fantail fish. So if you have 2 remaining fantails, the 30 gallon tank is adequate.
She also said that single tail goldfish like comets need 100 gallons so if you have those I recommend putting them in the outdoor trough. If it is 2.5 feet deep or more, they can survive freezing but you would need to keep a hole in the ice to allow for gas exchange. Most people use a floating heater to keep a hole in the ice.

Naughts said:

We had a member, Deanasue, who knew a lot about goldfish and she said fantails need 20 gallons for the first fish, then 10 gallons per additional fantail fish. So if you have 2 remaining fantails, the 30 gallon tank is adequate.
She also said that single tail goldfish like comets need 100 gallons so if you have those I recommend putting them in the outdoor trough. If it is 2.5 feet deep or more, they can survive freezing but you would need to keep a hole in the ice to allow for gas exchange. Most people use a floating heater to keep a hole in the ice.

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My two remaining are both double tails, but not butterflied like my deceased one. Thank you for your tips

Avel1896 said:

Still no pics ?

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I will upload pics when I have a few minutes to get some good ones

Food does not cause swim bladder problems. I kept fantail goldfish years ago and used to feed them extremely well (3-5 times a day) and they never had swim bladder problems. They were fed as much as they could eat during a 15 minute period. They got a variety of different foods and none of them ever had a swim bladder problem.

Swim bladder problems are caused by inbreeding, poor quality fish, deformities, and infections. Fantail goldfish are short bodied fish and their guts are squished up. This includes their swim bladder and intestine. This increases the risk of them having health issues.

Goldfish regularly take in air when eating dry food that floats on the surface of the water. The air travels through their intestine and eventually gets farted out. However, if they have a lot of air in their gut, it can cause them to float around and gives the appearance of a swim bladder problem. To find out if this is the problem, you simply stop feeding dry food for a week and give the fish frozen or live food. If the problem resolves itself when dry food is removed from their diet, then air in the intestine is the problem.

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Duckweed is a small floating plant that goldfish love to eat. You can grow it outdoors in ponds or containers and add some to the tank each week. or you can grow it in the tank. However, the fish sometimes eat everything in the tank s having some outside gives you a back up supply if this happens.

You can offer them peas, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, broccoli, spinach, etc. Just make sure they are free of chemicals and rinse them before use. You can try offering these foods as raw, partly cooked or boiled.

Do not feed onions or onion relatives (spring onion, shallots, leeks, garlic), and no potatoe.

Thank you so much @Colin_T. When the fast gets done I will start them on that right away, and I will also do the water change. Thanks everyone for your advice!

Here is a picture of my tank from around a month before the fish died. I was unable to get any pictures tonight.

The tank size is fine for those fish. As they grow they will need more room but they have 12 months before that happens.