Sick Goldfish

[andy1974]

Hi, was wondering if anyone can advise me on this matter.
First of all i have very little experience of looking after fish. We have 5 goldfish in a tank that i now have to look after.
My problem is that one of my goldfish keeps lying on one side and seems to have difficulty swimming properly and it seems to be doing this most of the time.
Does anyone know what could be wrong?
I don't know if there's anything else i can look for to try and help diagnose the problem.

please advise

 

[black angel]

hi andy and welcome

to help you more you need to give the size of tank and how many gallons it holds and how often you do water changes etc. do you add dechlorinator and what are you feeding the fish. do you test the water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph?
the one thats sick, is it a common goldfish or a fancy variety? how big are they?
does the tummy area look bigger than usual or lumpy on one side?
usually fish laying over is a sign of swim bladder trouble and has a variety of reasons, some easy to cure and some not.
if you are feeding the fish solely on flake then get sinking pellets so they dont have to keep feeding from the surface.
it may be a bacterial/viral condition or tumour as well which may be harder to treat
what filter do you have and how are you cleaning it out?
using a gravel vac for cleaning the gravel is a good idea as a lot of bacterial infections come from this.
have you seen the fish pass anything recently and if so what did it look like. normal poo is dark in colour and short.
how long have you had these fish and has it always had this problem? for now dont feed your fish for a couple of days and then try feeding them all with boiled frozen peas that have been husked and squashed for a few days and hopefully if its something simple like constipation then it should fix the problem.
also, egg bound females can have this problem as well, and the poo would be clear and zig zag shaped.
sorry about all the questions but the more we get from you then the better the picture of whats going on, thanks.

 

[andy1974]

Hi Black angel and thanks for replying.

Right here goes i'll try and give you as much info as i can.
My tank measures length 61cm, breadth 30cm and height 30cm.
There is a 10cm gap from the waters edge to the top of the tank but i don't know how much volume of water that equates to.
Being honest it's probably my fault that the fish is sick as i wasn't changing the water on a weekly basis but i am now.
when changing the water i would fill a large container with tap water and leave it overnight and then use this to change the water. Nothing gets added to the water and i don't use anything to test the water.
My dad had these fish for about 4 or 5 years and didn't add anything to the water and the ph of the water has never been checked.
They're being fed Aquarian goldfish flake food (one large pinch of food every morning)
All the fish are common Goldfish and are between 10 and 12cm in length.
The fish in question is 12cm in length and seems to be a little fatter on its left side (but i don't know if they're supposed to be symmetrical on both sides) but i don't know if it's male or female.
The filter i have is a "Fluval 2 plus" that was completely cleaned out last Saturday.
I haven't noticed anything strange regarding it's poo but then again as i said i'm a bit of a novice.
It's been acting this way for about the last 6 - 8 weeks. One day it would be fine and the next it would be back on it's side.

Hope i've covered everything.

Thanks again

Andy

 

[black angel]

I work that out to be only 12 gallons, i hope someone can confirm or give me a different gallonage.
if these fish have been in there for 4 or 5 years then i presume they wont be fully grown as they wont be able to grow properly?
at this age they should all be around 10 -12 inches long.
goldfish need around 20 gallons for the first fish and then an additional 15 gallons per fish after that.
i would suggest you either buy water tests for ammonia,nitrite,nitrate and ph or take a sample of both your tap and tank water (each clearly marked) to a pet store and get them to test it for you, asking them to write the values down for each water sample.
i dont know if the fish is sick because of poor water quality or it indeed has a swim bladder problem, but you will need to do more in the way of water changes to keep the water clean. i suggest doing 40% every 3 days and using dechlorinator to temperature matched water.
so for now stop feeding the fish and use the pea method above to see if that helps and keep an eye out to see what the poo looks like.
if one side is lumpy then that could mean a tumour, egg impaction or a deformity on one of its organs. as it comes and goes then i'm going toward egg impaction but could you get a pic of the fish and post it up?
you need a filter that turns over the water 10 times in every hour, so for your tank 120 gallon turnover is needed to keep you from doing all those frequent water changes. when cleaning the filter do it when you are not doing a water change and only rinse and squeeze the sponge out in used tank water to keep the beneficial bugs. do you find the sponge really dirty every time you clean it out?

to be honest, i think you should consider getting a bigger tank, splitting the fish into more than one tank or trying to find a pond as a last resort. that size tank if it is 12 gallons is only room enough for life for a fancy goldfish. This is only my opinion of course and what you choose to do is entirely up to you, please dont feel i'm trying to tell you what to do, i'm just offering advice. good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do.