Fancy Goldfish looks ill

Hello, my fancy goldfish seems to be ill and i’m not sure what the problem is. I have a 10 gallon tank with 1 common and 1 fancy goldfish (yes i know this is not ideal but my mom won’t let me get a bigger tank). There is also a filter and airstone in the tank. I’ve had the tank with these 2 goldfish for a year and my common has had 0 issues, but my fancy golfish has had problems with swim bladder disease, but i’ve been able to fix him by feeding him some peas. However, this time, my fancy goldfish will not eat any peas and i’m mot sure if it’s swim bladder disease affecting this time. I change 50% of the water every 2 weeks including vacumming the gravel and water each time i change the water. After conducting a water change there is 0-5 nitrate, 0 nitrite, water hardness of 250 ppm, water alkalinity of 70 ppm, and 7.4 pH. I normally feed my fish once daily enough for them to finish within a few minutes. The symptoms of my fancy goldfish started about 2 days ago when he started being very inactive and recently in the past day has just started floating around everywhere, but still breathing fine. All help is appreciated as I feel so terrible for my fancy goldfish, so please let me know anything. I can also send more pictures and/or videos if needed over some other social medias. Thank you.

 

He's just going through puberty. Nothing to worry about.

 

Hello, my fancy goldfish seems to be ill and i’m not sure what the problem is. I have a 10 gallon tank with 1 common and 1 fancy goldfish (yes i know this is not ideal but my mom won’t let me get a bigger tank). There is also a filter and airstone in the tank. I’ve had the tank with these 2 goldfish for a year and my common has had 0 issues, but my fancy golfish has had problems with swim bladder disease, but i’ve been able to fix him by feeding him some peas. However, this time, my fancy goldfish will not eat any peas and i’m mot sure if it’s swim bladder disease affecting this time. I change 50% of the water every 2 weeks including vacumming the gravel and water each time i change the water. After conducting a water change there is 0-5 nitrate, 0 nitrite, water hardness of 250 ppm, water alkalinity of 70 ppm, and 7.4 pH. I normally feed my fish once daily enough for them to finish within a few minutes. The symptoms of my fancy goldfish started about 2 days ago when he started being very inactive and recently in the past day has just started floating around everywhere, but still breathing fine. All help is appreciated as I feel so terrible for my fancy goldfish, so please let me know anything. I can also send more pictures and/or videos if needed over some other social medias. Thank you.

At the stage he appears in the picture he likely isn't going to live much longer - when they start going on their side like that it is never good (and there isn't much of anything you can do to help besides keeping them from getting nibbled on by the other fish and off the filter). I know it is a hard thing to hear, but I have seen it several times with weaker goldfish that just seem to be unable to keep going - it can be genetics, it can be a number of things.

I would start doing water changes more frequently to help keep the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in check for the remaining fish. With it being a smaller tank I would being doing 30-50% twice weekly to make sure there are no buildups of any parameters that could cause issue for the fish - goldfish are extremely hardy, they can often handle a lot higher parameters than the average fish. They can grow big even in a ten gallon tank as long as they have the clean water and food to do it.

You can supplement fresh veggies for regular food to help keep their fiber intake up (broccoli florets, romaine lettuce, spinach, skinned zucchini or other squashes) and prevent bloat.

 

At the stage he appears in the picture he likely isn't going to live much longer - when they start going on their side like that it is never good (and there isn't much of anything you can do to help besides keeping them from getting nibbled on by the other fish and off the filter). I know it is a hard thing to hear, but I have seen it several times with weaker goldfish that just seem to be unable to keep going - it can be genetics, it can be a number of things.

I would start doing water changes more frequently to help keep the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in check for the remaining fish. With it being a smaller tank I would being doing 30-50% twice weekly to make sure there are no buildups of any parameters that could cause issue for the fish - goldfish are extremely hardy, they can often handle a lot higher parameters than the average fish. They can grow big even in a ten gallon tank as long as they have the clean water and food to do it.

You can supplement fresh veggies for regular food to help keep their fiber intake up (broccoli florets, romaine lettuce, spinach, skinned zucchini or other squashes) and prevent bloat.

Thanks for the response, I was afraid I would hear this, but I understand. I just feel so bad for this fancy goldfish as his death is really all my fault. If only I fed him peas a few days ago when he could still eat, I probably could’ve avoided this incident and also if i just would’ve done water changes more often.

 

Thanks for the response, I was afraid I would hear this, but I understand. I just feel so bad for this fancy goldfish as his death is really all my fault. If only I fed him peas a few days ago when he could still eat, I probably could’ve avoided this incident and also if i just would’ve done water changes more often.

Something like this isn't the fault of the person taking care of the fish, I've had goldfish at work in good water (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <15 nitrate, stable ph and other levels) up and do this when they were eating perfectly fine the day before (if I wasn't there to pull them into a safety net to let them die in peace, they would get sucked against the filter grate and pass). It's mainly genetics if something internal goes wrong, but when they lean like that it is most likely going to end in death and all you can do is try to make the fish comfortable and secure so it is able to pass on its own.

 

You could try to give him a bath in Epsom salts as it eleviates constipation and swim bladder issues. Keep the lights down for him while he’s in the bath and keep your tank water perameters pristine. Also you could add some sea salt to the tank it really benefits Goldie’s and if he’s having trouble it will most likely help him. Good luck... I’m hoping he’ll pull through. Stranger things have happened.

 

Something like this isn't the fault of the person taking care of the fish, I've had goldfish at work in good water (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, <15 nitrate, stable ph and other levels) up and do this when they were eating perfectly fine the day before (if I wasn't there to pull them into a safety net to let them die in peace, they would get sucked against the filter grate and pass). It's mainly genetics if something internal goes wrong, but when they lean like that it is most likely going to end in death and all you can do is try to make the fish comfortable and secure so it is able to pass on its own.

Yeah, you’re right a lot of stores do a lot of selective breeding with fancy goldfish and it may be that the one we got had poor genetics. It would definitely explain why she developed swim bladder disease on multiple occasions, although I was usually able to feed her peas to help her out, but sadly could not this time. Our fancy goldfish sadly passed away this morning, but not without comfort and a proper buriel. May Clyde rest in peace.

You could try to give him a bath in Epsom salts as it eleviates constipation and swim bladder issues. Keep the lights down for him while he’s in the bath and keep your tank water perameters pristine. Also you could add some sea salt to the tank it really benefits Goldie’s and if he’s having trouble it will most likely help him. Good luck... I’m hoping he’ll pull through. Stranger things have happened.

Thanks for responding, I regret to inform that Clyde (it was a she, I accidentally said he/him in my original post) could not pull through this one. I feel that her death was partly due to poor genetics, but also my failure to take more care of her. May she rest peacefully forever.

 

Yeah, you’re right a lot of stores do a lot of selective breeding with fancy goldfish and it may be that the one we got had poor genetics. It would definitely explain why she developed swim bladder disease on multiple occasions, although I was usually able to feed her peas to help her out, but sadly could not this time. Our fancy goldfish sadly passed away this morning, but not without comfort and a proper buriel. May Clyde rest in peace.

Thanks for responding, I regret to inform that Clyde (it was a she, I accidentally said he/him in my original post) could not pull through this one. I feel that her death was partly due to poor genetics, but also my failure to take more care of her. May she rest peacefully forever.

I'm sorry you lost her, you did what you were able to do. I'm sure she appreciated the life she had.