Inthemts

I have one gold fish in a 7 gal tank. It's a gold fish with long, flowing tail and fins. She's about 3 yrs. old and the body is about 3 inches long. For the last couple of months she stays still for an hour at a time head straight down and tail up, usually up near the surface. What does this indicate?? And now for the last couple of days she has been slowly swimming along belly up, also for long periods at a time. Aside from the above 2 things everything appears normal. Can someone please help me??

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!

try this link inthemts see if this helps at all

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

if the tank is four years old, its probably cycled...have you changed and tested the water lately? and what test are you using?

if we know your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings, we could help more

angelfish220

Sounds like a swim bladder issue, there might be a water issue happening, what are your tank readings?

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore. That sounds like a swim bladder issue. Goldies need big tanks and a smaller tank like that could be contributing to the problem if there is ammonia or nitrites or high nitrates present.

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!
I agree with angelfish and BettaCouple. This sounds like swim bladder, and the size of the tank is likely stressing the fish, making it more susceptible. I have also heard that if goldfish eat pellets (which is often the form that the food comes in at pet stores), they can get air in their stomaches, which can translate to swim bladder problems, as well. If you do have pellet food, try soaking it in a bit of tank water (or better, VitaChem if you can get it) beforehand. This will remove a lot of the air from the pellets.

MissMTS

Sorry to hear about your fish. If you could upgrade your tank to 20 gallons your fish would be a lot happier and healthier. The general rule is 20 gallons for one goldfish and 10 gallons for each additional goldfish. Goldfish are very dirty fish and produce a huge ammount of waste. How often are you doing water changes? In a 7 gallon tank, it is likely that daily water changes are needed.