Tank size: 75 gal
Tank age: 9 months (fish in for 6 months)
pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <10
Temp: 72F
Fish symptoms: Goldfish is laying at bottom of tank and is lethargic. No signs of clamped fins or external injuries (that I can tell). Images attached.
Water changes & Frequency: 30% water change once a week
Media & chemicals: currently using API aqua essential during water changes. Hang on back filter with sponge, carbon and bio rings.
Tank inhabitants: two 4 year old shubunkin goldfish and one 4 year old sailfin pleco and roughly 7 pest snails (see more details below)
Recent Additions: tried to add Amazon frogbit, however snails made fast work of eating all that I had. This was about 3-4 weeks ago.
Exposure to chemicals: no exposure to any other chemicals other than API aqua essentials.
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Hello! I’m hoping someone may be able to help me out with my one goldfish who has been at the bottom of the tank for a while. For context, about a month and a half ago I did have a nitrate spike in my tank. I try to keep my tanks at no more than 10. But when my issues in this tank started it was at 80 (Many factors came into my play with this spike, the two major ones was that I was unable to have any water changes preformed for a month and had a huge chunk of live plants die). Since then I have gotten it back down to below 10 and have been closely monitoring it. At first this seemed to be doing the trick as my lethargic bottom dwelling goldfish started swimming around, doing their food dances and acting normal.
But then the larger of the two started getting lethargic again and was hanging out at the bottom of the tank. My water testing showed that my levels were normal (I use API freshwater liquid tests [my norms are pH: 7.6/7.8, ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0 and Nitrates: =/<10 ]) so I thought that maybe he had a swim bladder issue as his fins aren’t clamped and I don’t see any external issues (But I 100% could be missing something). So I did switch up their diet as if was constipation causing the swim bladder issue. But it’s been a couple weeks now, and there’s no improvement nor decrease in his health. He will swim up for food and eat, especially with the bug bites as it’s his favourite, and he will swim around near the bottom from time to time. But then afterwards he’s right back laying on the bottom. Typically right under the heater or behind the driftwood. When he goes down he does go head first, not like vertically. But almost like the weight of his head is pulling him down. I have tried to check inside his mouth and I don’t see any rocks or sand in it. My other goldfish for the most part is acting normal. He will occasionally lay at the bottom of the tank beside the other. But he doesn’t seem stuck there like how the other one is. He will swim around at the top of the tank and do his normal food dances. But he will at feeding time nudge the other goldfish if he hasn’t already come up.
In this tank m there are two 4 year old Shubunkin Goldfish, one Sailfin pleco and roughly 7 pest snails. But I am in the process of trying to rehome the pleco, so the tank isn’t as overstocked. When it comes to the snails I try to keep their numbers low so durning water changes I’ll pick out as many as I can find and only leave a couple behind. Then I just put the rest into a 20 gal with the precious ones.
Originally when I got them for the first 3ish years they were in a 30 gallon tank with a second sailfin. It’s only been since this February that they have had the upgrade. But I did try to have the tank cycled the best I could prior to adding the fish and I added them one at a time over the course of a month. At the time of purchase I was told that the 30 gal was more than enough space for all four (I have since learned how horribly wrong that is). However negotiating with my homeowner eventually allowed me to have the 75gal. Which is still pushing it for the goldfish, but is better. In this region large goldfish aren’t very popular, as were in a bad area for easy-ish ponds. So when I was initially looking into it I wasn’t able to find a suitable home for the goldfish. But my end goal is to get them into a pond, whether I can make one or find someone who has one.
Sorry for the info dump, I just wanted to include as much as possible! But yeah I’m hoping that there’s something I can do to help get this guy back to normal. I haven’t dosed the tank in any medications as I don’t want to cause more harm than good. But if need be I do have the 30 gal still set up with some mollys in it that I can shuffle around so I can make it into a temporary isolation/hospital tank. On hand for medication I do have pimafix, melafix and some aquarium salt. However I can head out when the stores open up to get anything else that may be needed.
If any additional information or photos are needed let me know and I can do my best to get those.
Thank you in advance!
Tank age: 9 months (fish in for 6 months)
pH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: <10
Temp: 72F
Fish symptoms: Goldfish is laying at bottom of tank and is lethargic. No signs of clamped fins or external injuries (that I can tell). Images attached.
Water changes & Frequency: 30% water change once a week
Media & chemicals: currently using API aqua essential during water changes. Hang on back filter with sponge, carbon and bio rings.
Tank inhabitants: two 4 year old shubunkin goldfish and one 4 year old sailfin pleco and roughly 7 pest snails (see more details below)
Recent Additions: tried to add Amazon frogbit, however snails made fast work of eating all that I had. This was about 3-4 weeks ago.
Exposure to chemicals: no exposure to any other chemicals other than API aqua essentials.
—-
Hello! I’m hoping someone may be able to help me out with my one goldfish who has been at the bottom of the tank for a while. For context, about a month and a half ago I did have a nitrate spike in my tank. I try to keep my tanks at no more than 10. But when my issues in this tank started it was at 80 (Many factors came into my play with this spike, the two major ones was that I was unable to have any water changes preformed for a month and had a huge chunk of live plants die). Since then I have gotten it back down to below 10 and have been closely monitoring it. At first this seemed to be doing the trick as my lethargic bottom dwelling goldfish started swimming around, doing their food dances and acting normal.
But then the larger of the two started getting lethargic again and was hanging out at the bottom of the tank. My water testing showed that my levels were normal (I use API freshwater liquid tests [my norms are pH: 7.6/7.8, ammonia: 0, nitrite: 0 and Nitrates: =/<10 ]) so I thought that maybe he had a swim bladder issue as his fins aren’t clamped and I don’t see any external issues (But I 100% could be missing something). So I did switch up their diet as if was constipation causing the swim bladder issue. But it’s been a couple weeks now, and there’s no improvement nor decrease in his health. He will swim up for food and eat, especially with the bug bites as it’s his favourite, and he will swim around near the bottom from time to time. But then afterwards he’s right back laying on the bottom. Typically right under the heater or behind the driftwood. When he goes down he does go head first, not like vertically. But almost like the weight of his head is pulling him down. I have tried to check inside his mouth and I don’t see any rocks or sand in it. My other goldfish for the most part is acting normal. He will occasionally lay at the bottom of the tank beside the other. But he doesn’t seem stuck there like how the other one is. He will swim around at the top of the tank and do his normal food dances. But he will at feeding time nudge the other goldfish if he hasn’t already come up.
In this tank m there are two 4 year old Shubunkin Goldfish, one Sailfin pleco and roughly 7 pest snails. But I am in the process of trying to rehome the pleco, so the tank isn’t as overstocked. When it comes to the snails I try to keep their numbers low so durning water changes I’ll pick out as many as I can find and only leave a couple behind. Then I just put the rest into a 20 gal with the precious ones.
Originally when I got them for the first 3ish years they were in a 30 gallon tank with a second sailfin. It’s only been since this February that they have had the upgrade. But I did try to have the tank cycled the best I could prior to adding the fish and I added them one at a time over the course of a month. At the time of purchase I was told that the 30 gal was more than enough space for all four (I have since learned how horribly wrong that is). However negotiating with my homeowner eventually allowed me to have the 75gal. Which is still pushing it for the goldfish, but is better. In this region large goldfish aren’t very popular, as were in a bad area for easy-ish ponds. So when I was initially looking into it I wasn’t able to find a suitable home for the goldfish. But my end goal is to get them into a pond, whether I can make one or find someone who has one.
Sorry for the info dump, I just wanted to include as much as possible! But yeah I’m hoping that there’s something I can do to help get this guy back to normal. I haven’t dosed the tank in any medications as I don’t want to cause more harm than good. But if need be I do have the 30 gal still set up with some mollys in it that I can shuffle around so I can make it into a temporary isolation/hospital tank. On hand for medication I do have pimafix, melafix and some aquarium salt. However I can head out when the stores open up to get anything else that may be needed.
If any additional information or photos are needed let me know and I can do my best to get those.
Thank you in advance!
