Help, my fish is swimming erratically in circles and is not that active

Hey guys, I have 1 goldfish in a 5 gallon tank soon to be in a 20 gallon tank still waiting to find a tank for her to be moved in. I have been feeding her peas for the past few nights. I perform 50% water changes every 3 days to ensure the water quality is good for her and also vacuum the gravel. I cannot test her water yet I am still finding the test its a bit hard to find where I live so I perform frequent water changes instead. I have a filter running that also works as an air pump in the water.The temperature of the water is about 22 C usually the heater is off though since the tank is indoors.My goldfish was swimming erratically for the past few nights so I fasted her one day and cut her food portions by half to reduce bloating and fix that issue, I fed her fish flakes soaked in aquarium water today.However I now noticed that she is swimming erratically now all the time in the day as well and she's just floating and staying there at the top alot or in the corner of her tank under plants (not that active), she's swimming a bit normally sometimes but then starts to swim weird again. I will be performing a water change today to improve her conditions. I do not see anything wrong appearance wise other than maybe she's a bit bloated. But i'm not sure if this is an internal parasite or she's just stressed. could it possible be because I added a pothos plant to break down nitrates because I heard that is good for aquarium environment? Can someone please help me out.

 

Did you make sure to rinse the roots of the pothos really well before adding it?

 

I rinsed the whole plant, there are no roots yet there are just cuttings that are in the water, I will rinse them again right now. And I just made her water change and cleaned her fake plants in aquarium water. She is definitely active now and is swimming fine now I think she may have a intestine irritation thing occurring. Also she is pooping air bubbles because she gulps for air after I feed her even though the food sinks to the bottom she still goes up to gulp and look for more. I think that's making her bloated and causing problems. What can I do to stop that?

 

I would add an airstone to make sure there's enough oxygen in there for her.
I don't think it's the plant, I was only worried about dirt runoff.
If you want her in a bigger space and you don't have a larger tank you can try using a plastic tote instead of the 5g tank.

 

Hi Amnasajjad126,
As your profile states you are still learning of the nitrogen cycle. I suspect that is a good place to start in finding the problem with the goldfish in the 5 gallon?
Daily temperature matched conditioned water changes will help the fish survive this dangerous situation.

 

Yes I do a 50% water change every 3 days the temperature is 22 C or sometimes 24 but usually its off, I vacuum the gravel every 3 days too, is that sufficient or could I do more to help the fish survive till I get my new tank? What do you mean by daily temperature matched?

 

They mean water changes every day with water the same temperature as the tank water

 

The goldfish in the uncycled 5 gallon needs daily water changes of no around 40%. The new water needs to be temperature matched to the tank water . All new water needs conditioner.
In short that is what I meant by “ daily temperature matched conditioned water changes “.

As the bacteria lives ON hard surfaces in the tank STOP deep vacuuming the gravel until the tank is cycled. Just hover over the top of the gravel picki up a few solids.Do not push the gravel vacuum into the gravel as is necessary in a few months time to remove all solids.

 

Oh I don't deep vacuum the gravel, I change the water with a tube pump thing. As the water is being taken out I just move the tube around the gravel and it takes out all big pieces of uneaten food or waste that was stuck between plants. Okay thank you.

 

Moving the tube around in the gravel is a good thing to do in a cycled tank. Until the tank is cycled don’t touch the gravel at all if possible. Don’t clean any glass. Don’t clean any ornaments and most importantly don’t clean, touch or move the filter pads/ cartridges.

 

Okay thank you so much for your help. I will definitely do that.