How Can I Save My Goldfish?

I've had a goldfish for five months now and he hasn't grown at all over the last three months. He came with fin rot and it comes back every few weeks. My other goldfish I got with him died a few weeks ago with swim bladder disease. Right now my goldfish has spent most of the last five days at the bottom of the tank, only swims around when I spook him, and is taking slow, deep breaths like he may be struggling. I bought fin rot medication last time it got bad (60% of his tail was just gone), but it didn't do a lot. He still has some white spots and he's a little bit bloated. I'm 15, I don't have a job, and my mom doesn't want to spend more money on goldfish medicine. I took the fish in for a friend who unexpectedly won them at a carnival and it was either me or a bowl so I took them. Right now it's the one fish (the size of about 2 quarters, and again, not growing at all) and one mystery snail in a 20 gallon tall aquarium, I do 50% water changes every 3-4 days, but I don't have a proper test kit anymore. Is there any home remedies I can try? I'll do what I can. I've posted about him a few times, but things keep getting worse.

 

Can you get us pictures?
I'm assuming it's a common goldfish

Also, my goldfish (mostly commons) get brought inside for the winter where they're sadly stuck in a 20 gallon until the spring and they don't really grow for the whole time they're inside for the winter so I can see why he wouldn't be either

 

I don't know that much about goldfish, but he could be a little oxygen deprived. Goldfish prefer long tanks. If that's part of it, try adding an air stone. If you have a long tank I'd move him to that too. If the tank isn't cycled, it could also be ammonia/nitrite buildup. If that's the case, then daily water changes are needed, although it should definitely have cycled by three months. For bloating, I would give him blanched peas, cut up into bits. If there are decorations, maybe he tore his fins on them and it progressed into fin rot. Try daily water changes for 1/3 of the tank. Also check to see if your filter is powerful enough. Since goldfish are very dirty you'd need a pretty powerful filter, and it may be struggling to process all the waste which would lead to poorer water quality. Of course, your friend could have just won a poor quality fish who was already sick and unlikely to recover. It was good of you to give him a proper home though!

 

hI there,
sorry to hear your fish is sick. most goldfish that come from carnivals and things are overbred and often diseased comet fish. from what it sounds like, your fish may have ich. ich is a small parasite that usually comes with carnival / pet store fish, and it looks like lots of little white spots on a generally tired seeming fish. it can also cause some difficult breathing, which would make sense here.
basically, ich parasites can swim around the tank and attach to your fish, where they then bury until the skin. they grow there until they eventually explode and a “packet” of them will fall to the bottom of the tank and reproduce again. the exiting of the parasite from the skin is what causes the white spots.
ich cannot be killed while it is under the skin. the only way to remove the parasite is to get it to all exit the skin (which it will do naturally through it’s short life cycle) and kill it before it reattaches.
from what I know, id suggest:

1. replace a good portion of the tank water, if not all of it. if you can get access to a tank starter kit (basically a bottle full of good bacteria), then replace all the water and dump in the fresh bacteria. API is generally a trusted brand.

2. try to clean out any gravel that’s on the bottom. this is where any fallen “packets” will be. clean both the gravel and water regularly (which it sounds like you already do).

3. raise the tank temperature to 80° or so, and make sure to monitor it (thermometers are easy to get). add an air stone or other airator, as warmer water contains less oxygen.

4. salt the water. this seems counter intuitive, but around 0.03% salt water in your tank is great at killing parasites. make sure to use non iodized salt or aquarium salt if you can afford it. DONT FORGET TO REMOVE THE SNAIL!! salt is super fatal to snails, so please keep him somewhere else for the time being. don’t forget to throw some flakes or something in there for him to eat. he should be fine in a bowl or whatever is handy while you do treatment.

5. again, if you can afford it, API medications are wonderful. API does sell a “ick cure” for around 5 dollars if there’s a fish store nearby, if not it’s on amazon. I don’t have any experience with it, but i’ve had good results with their other products. another good one is known as “melafix” and it’s an antibacterial additive that will also help with skin/fin regrowth.

if you can’t test your water, you might be able to bring a water sample in to a local pet store and have them test it there. they usually have test kits available and the people at my local store tested mine for free. I hope your fish makes it, and good on you for stepping up to care for it. good luck!!

 

Can you get us pictures?
I'm assuming it's a common goldfish

Also, my goldfish (mostly commons) get brought inside for the winter where they're sadly stuck in a 20 gallon until the spring and they don't really grow for the whole time they're inside for the winter so I can see why he wouldn't be either

He is actually a fantail...his tail was much fuller but he lost it due to fin rot and it hasn't grown back...he's really small and the only fish so I don't think tank size has stunted his growth

 

I don't know that much about goldfish, but he could be a little oxygen deprived. Goldfish prefer long tanks. If that's part of it, try adding an air stone. If you have a long tank I'd move him to that too. If the tank isn't cycled, it could also be ammonia/nitrite buildup. If that's the case, then daily water changes are needed, although it should definitely have cycled by three months. For bloating, I would give him blanched peas, cut up into bits. If there are decorations, maybe he tore his fins on them and it progressed into fin rot. Try daily water changes for 1/3 of the tank. Also check to see if your filter is powerful enough. Since goldfish are very dirty you'd need a pretty powerful filter, and it may be struggling to process all the waste which would lead to poorer water quality. Of course, your friend could have just won a poor quality fish who was already sick and unlikely to recover. It was good of you to give him a proper home though!

I don't remember the exact name of his filter so I'll try to find it later, but I drop the water about an inch or so for my snail which creates more aeration than normal. The O2 bubbles are reaching the bottom of the tank and over a third of the swim space. He does have two decorations, a fake plant and a little fake tree thing, but the leaves of the plant have curved edges and the tree thing is a round cylinder too. That's why I didn't really think it'd be them, I made sure not to buy anything rough or sharp. I'll take them out just to be safe and I'll try the peas and more water changes, thank you!

 

hI there,
sorry to hear your fish is sick. most goldfish that come from carnivals and things are overbred and often diseased comet fish. from what it sounds like, your fish may have ich. ich is a small parasite that usually comes with carnival / pet store fish, and it looks like lots of little white spots on a generally tired seeming fish. it can also cause some difficult breathing, which would make sense here.
basically, ich parasites can swim around the tank and attach to your fish, where they then bury until the skin. they grow there until they eventually explode and a “packet” of them will fall to the bottom of the tank and reproduce again. the exiting of the parasite from the skin is what causes the white spots.
ich cannot be killed while it is under the skin. the only way to remove the parasite is to get it to all exit the skin (which it will do naturally through it’s short life cycle) and kill it before it reattaches.
from what I know, id suggest:

1. replace a good portion of the tank water, if not all of it. if you can get access to a tank starter kit (basically a bottle full of good bacteria), then replace all the water and dump in the fresh bacteria. API is generally a trusted brand.

2. try to clean out any gravel that’s on the bottom. this is where any fallen “packets” will be. clean both the gravel and water regularly (which it sounds like you already do).

3. raise the tank temperature to 80° or so, and make sure to monitor it (thermometers are easy to get). add an air stone or other airator, as warmer water contains less oxygen.

4. salt the water. this seems counter intuitive, but around 0.03% salt water in your tank is great at killing parasites. make sure to use non iodized salt or aquarium salt if you can afford it. DONT FORGET TO REMOVE THE SNAIL!! salt is super fatal to snails, so please keep him somewhere else for the time being. don’t forget to throw some flakes or something in there for him to eat. he should be fine in a bowl or whatever is handy while you do treatment.

5. again, if you can afford it, API medications are wonderful. API does sell a “ick cure” for around 5 dollars if there’s a fish store nearby, if not it’s on amazon. I don’t have any experience with it, but i’ve had good results with their other products. another good one is known as “melafix” and it’s an antibacterial additive that will also help with skin/fin regrowth.

if you can’t test your water, you might be able to bring a water sample in to a local pet store and have them test it there. they usually have test kits available and the people at my local store tested mine for free. I hope your fish makes it, and good on you for stepping up to care for it. good luck!!

Thank you so much, this is incredibly helpful. I do clean the water and gravel regularly and I still have some beneficial bacteria from when I started his tank. I also have an extra heater so that won't be a problem either. I'm supposed to have some money coming in within a week or so so as long as he makes it till then, I should be good to buy the medications and aquarium salt. Thank you again!

 

any update on the little guy?

 

any update on the little guy?

He's alive and more active, but still struggling sometimes...he still rests on the bottom a lot more than normal, but he's also back to darting around his tank whenever I walk in to feed him so I do think the temp. rise and aquarium salt helped, I haven't tried medications yet but I will if he doesn't continue to get better. Thank you for checking on him

 

How is he now ?

 

How is he now ?

He hasn't changed. He'll dart around the tank when I walk in the room, but if I'm in there for more than five minutes, he'll go down and rest on the gravel again and he always appears to be taking longer, slower breaths than normal. He's also not an aggressive eater like a lot of goldfish are. Unless his food falls right in front of him, he won't make much of an effort (he's never eaten at the surface). I don't know what else to do--his scales are cleared up so I don't think it's fin rot or anything like that. He's just not growing or getting better.