My Friends Goldfish Is Ill

[FishLover4+1]

she says it is hardly swimming and when it does it swims backwards.
earlier i went round and it was lying on the bottom of the tank, when it moved it darted around madly and then settled again. i put in a bit of aquarium tonic salt (the dose on the packet, 1/2 tsp per 4 litres)
apparently its fins and the left side of its body are spotty and its eyes look like they have a pulse!!!!!!!
plz help!!!!!!

 

[fluttermoth]

Big water change, with dechlorinated, temperature matched water, ASAP.

How big is the tank, how long has it been set up, is it cycled?

 

[FishLover4+1]

its from the fair, it isnt kept in declorinated water. (whenever i got one from the fair it lived in declor. water and they all died in about a month) the tanks tiny and i would like to say its been fine since may

 

[KCB]

Does your friend have a filter? Have they tested the water recently?

 

[FishLover4+1]

its a fair fish i used to keep them with filters etc but they all died, this one has suvived since may without all that

 

[fluttermoth]

It's almost certainly ammonia poisoning. All you can do is big water changes and get some kind of filtration in there ASAP. Do you have a spare filter and some mature media you could donate?

No fish can live out their lives happy and healthy with no filtration. It probably needs a bigger home as well; a large plastic storage box would do for the moment.

 

[FishLover4+1]

Shes dun a watr change ....

 

[KCB]

How much water did she change? If ammonia has been building up all this time then I would think it would need at least 90% of it replaced with dechlorinated water.

 

[fluttermoth]

Of course, it may already be too late and that too much damage has been done for the fish to recover

 

[GoldfishLove919]

Goldfish should never be bought without the understanding of the work that it takes to keep them.  The first thing you need to do is make a water change with dechlorinated water.  It will do no good if the water doesn't have conditioner in it.  I recommend Prime brand water conditioner, it's what I use on my fish, inexpensive, and one bottle lasts for a long time.  It also works great.  Dose the water with Stress Coat X from API brand too, it's what I do with my fish whenever they're ill to destress them. I'd put in some aquarium salt too, then look up the disease that the fish seems to be suffering from. 
 
Maybe it's time for your friend to pass the fish on if it isn't working well for her.  I sell my unwanted fish via Craigslist and they go to great homes which really want them.
 
What color are the spots?