FireFly

hello
a friend of mine has a fish tank with a goldfish that is just laying on the bottom. she says its been like this for 6 months.. poor baby.. she said she feeds him flake food and i made sure that she wasn't over feeding. her tank is clean and has a power filter hooked up to it. there is other goldfish in the tank and they are fine. any ideas on why he would sit on the bottom? i was thinking maybe swim bladder disease but that makes them float right? other then him sitting on the bottom, he looks beautiful. no missing scales and his fins are nice and clear. his eyes, mouth and gills are clear as well. he seems relatively happy besides laying on his side. he does still eat and "hobbles" his way to the surface for food.. then lays back down again. can he be saved? i wish she told me 6 months ago. thanks in advance for any help =)
take care
Jeanine

Lucy

Hi
Poor goldie, don't you wish they could tell us what is wrong?

First some questions. This will help others help you.
What size is the tank?
How many other fish and what kind are in the tank?
Does she test her water? If so, what are the readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

We can go from there. Good luck.

FireFly

hi yes i did forget some vital information .. its a 75 gallon tank with 5 goldfish in it. they are about 7 inches each.. they are pretty um.. "beefy" looking.. they are very hardy. however, i called her and she said her tank its dirty.. lots of uneaten food on the bottom. so im sure she is over feeding.. makes me mad *grrr >_<* it wasn't terrible looking when i seen it. so now we are working with a dirty overfeed fish tank. im sure that helps alot. now i feel like a idiot. i do have a question though.. what would make the other fish fine and this fish sit on the bottom? im going to clean her tank and properly show her how to feed and maintain the tank. it irritates me that people think they can just toss a fish in a tank and feed it and be done. thats not the case especially with goldfish.

FireFly

o i forgot.. they are a black moor.. an oranda and 3 fantails.. one of the fantails laying on the bottom =)

Lucy

You're a good friend, FireFly. I hope your friend listens and maintains her tank better.

My guess would be the ammonia is high given what you said about the uneaten food. But you did say other than lying at the bottom, it shows no other signs of ammonia poisoning.

Giving the tank a good cleaning (gravel vac, water change, rinse the filter media in used tank water) is a good place to start.

lilsoccakid

as lucy said, i would start with an immediate water change (40-50%) and use a product called PRIME for water changes, which will neutralize ammonia.

also try to keep the amount of food fed to the fish at a minimum.

try to teach your friend about the aquarium nitrogen cycle, as this is very important for healthy fish