Goldfish issues
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2020 23:01 pm
Hi everyone,
I am desperately seeking advice as to how I can help my poorly goldfish, so after months of looking about online and speaking to people I have joined this forum in the hope that someone can help. I apologise now for the long post but I don’t know how else to explain the problems we’ve been having.
I have a single goldfish. He’s just a bog standard goldfish, the type people win at the fair (I didn’t win him at the fair, someone else did who didn’t look after him and so he ended up with me). I’ve had him now for six years and up until maybe Christmas time he was what I would class as healthy and very active.
Around that time he seemed to really slow down. He became very lethargic, looked quite bloated and he would often stay in one place, bottom of the tank, and generally seemed really unhappy. I did a heap of research and it seemed that it was likely he was constipated and/or had swim bladder issues related to this. I followed some online advice and stopped his food for a few days and offered him peas. He soon went back to his old ways and was fine. A month or so later it happened again. I tried the same thing but this time he refused to eat. I noticed he didn’t seem to be eating or passing anything at all, and would go extended periods without moving at all. During my research I realised that he was now in a tank much too small for him after growing into a big lad in six years. He was at the time in a 20 litre tank.
I bought a 60 litre tank with a filter, heater and put an air stone in there too. I transferred Michael over hoping it would lead to him improving but I’ve not seen that happen yet. In fact things got more complicated. I’ve had the water tested at the local pets at home store and was told the levels are all fine, if anything slightly too clean but that would make sense as I still haven’t seen him eat or pass anything. He must be though as how on earth would he still be alive otherwise?
He is now the sole goldfish in the 60 litre tank, with appropriate levels as far as I know (this is the first time I have ever monitored that after learning about it online). I swapped to a sinking pellet food to avoid too much air swallowing. I tried peas again. I have added aquarium salt as per the instructions to try and help him. He has not improved at all. The tank was second hand and I cleaned it when I got it home, but he has since developed cotton wool disease. I got a treatment (Internet anti fungus and finrot) and treated the tank. The disease cleared up within 24 hours and the most startling thing was that my fish seemed to come back to life for a good few days too. He started moving around a lot, very active, not distressed at all. Then sadly after maybe five days he went back to lethargic Michael, back in the corner on the gravel. I STILL haven’t seen him eat or pass a single thing. The cotton wool disease has also returned so I did a 30% water change and then retreated this afternoon. Back came the active fish!
I have absolutely no idea if I’m doing right or wrong but I really don’t want to give up on my fish. He’s really awesome and it’s breaking my heart that he’s struggling. I am really hoping to learn more about how to keep him healthy and would love to know if there’s anything more that I can be doing for him. I’m sorry this is long and that I am such an absolute novice at this, I just want to try and help him have a happy and healthy life. Thanks to anyone who can offer up any advice for me.
I am desperately seeking advice as to how I can help my poorly goldfish, so after months of looking about online and speaking to people I have joined this forum in the hope that someone can help. I apologise now for the long post but I don’t know how else to explain the problems we’ve been having.
I have a single goldfish. He’s just a bog standard goldfish, the type people win at the fair (I didn’t win him at the fair, someone else did who didn’t look after him and so he ended up with me). I’ve had him now for six years and up until maybe Christmas time he was what I would class as healthy and very active.
Around that time he seemed to really slow down. He became very lethargic, looked quite bloated and he would often stay in one place, bottom of the tank, and generally seemed really unhappy. I did a heap of research and it seemed that it was likely he was constipated and/or had swim bladder issues related to this. I followed some online advice and stopped his food for a few days and offered him peas. He soon went back to his old ways and was fine. A month or so later it happened again. I tried the same thing but this time he refused to eat. I noticed he didn’t seem to be eating or passing anything at all, and would go extended periods without moving at all. During my research I realised that he was now in a tank much too small for him after growing into a big lad in six years. He was at the time in a 20 litre tank.
I bought a 60 litre tank with a filter, heater and put an air stone in there too. I transferred Michael over hoping it would lead to him improving but I’ve not seen that happen yet. In fact things got more complicated. I’ve had the water tested at the local pets at home store and was told the levels are all fine, if anything slightly too clean but that would make sense as I still haven’t seen him eat or pass anything. He must be though as how on earth would he still be alive otherwise?
He is now the sole goldfish in the 60 litre tank, with appropriate levels as far as I know (this is the first time I have ever monitored that after learning about it online). I swapped to a sinking pellet food to avoid too much air swallowing. I tried peas again. I have added aquarium salt as per the instructions to try and help him. He has not improved at all. The tank was second hand and I cleaned it when I got it home, but he has since developed cotton wool disease. I got a treatment (Internet anti fungus and finrot) and treated the tank. The disease cleared up within 24 hours and the most startling thing was that my fish seemed to come back to life for a good few days too. He started moving around a lot, very active, not distressed at all. Then sadly after maybe five days he went back to lethargic Michael, back in the corner on the gravel. I STILL haven’t seen him eat or pass a single thing. The cotton wool disease has also returned so I did a 30% water change and then retreated this afternoon. Back came the active fish!
I have absolutely no idea if I’m doing right or wrong but I really don’t want to give up on my fish. He’s really awesome and it’s breaking my heart that he’s struggling. I am really hoping to learn more about how to keep him healthy and would love to know if there’s anything more that I can be doing for him. I’m sorry this is long and that I am such an absolute novice at this, I just want to try and help him have a happy and healthy life. Thanks to anyone who can offer up any advice for me.