Please help, goldfish lying on bottom

[Amazon11]

I have two goldfish who are really ill. My orange goldfish turned white around about a year ago and with in the past couple of months has been lying on the bottom the tank. We didn’t think it was a problem until, he started having what looked like blood on his tummy so we asked a pet store and they said he had fluke. So they gave us medication (can’t remember what it was) Soon we noticed that we had ran out and got I Love Fish Healthy Goldfish. By this time our other goldfish was starting to get white scales but he is still very active.So we went back to the shop and got some different medication.We heard that maybe a air pump would help.So we put one in the the tank.We also decided to change the food from AquaCare goldfish pellets. We started only using goldfish bug bites (which they would sometimes get once in a while) now we are gradually changing the food to Saki-HikarI Fancy Goldfis food.
There is a filter in there and there tank is cleaned once a week.It’s pretty late at the minute so hopefully I will be able to test the water for u tomorrow

 

[dcutl002]

Hello and welcome! Can you please tell us what the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate levels are after you test your water? Secondly, How often do you perform partial water changes and how much?

 

[wisecrackerz]

Also, it would be helpful to know what model of filter you're running, and the total volume of your tank.

 

[Amazon11]

There tank is 30 gallons and they have a MaxI Aqua One

 

[pagoda]

Your aquarium is too small for two large goldies, you could do with at least doubling the size since they are big fish and they are extremely messy...which would skyrocket the ammonia levels

Can you confirm you water parameters...especially your ammonia....and how much & how often you do water changes please

 

[tjpettigrew]

I’ve had very large GoldFish myself (over 14”) and can 100% say that you need to get into the 72g to 100+g range immediately. Then, think about a pond and he next 10-25 years of your life with these beauties (if all goes well).
IMO it sounds like your Nitrogen Cycle is probably crashing or have very high Nitrate levels, I would also immediately get your water parameters tested (API Freshwater Master Kit) or are your LFS.

GoldFish have a rather high amount of waste to deal with and the larger they are, the more there is. I “over filter” my Goldfish tank by 10x the volume (gallons) in gph. 90g tank, 900gph filtration.

Please post some water testing results, also we all love pictures here so the more updates/info and photos, the better.

TTYS.

 

[Amazon11]

NO3(ml/l) 50
No2(ml/l) 0
GH. 8 d
KH. 20 d
CL2. 0.8 (will be putting more tap safe in)
Ammonia 0.5 would u say?

I do a water change once a week 25%-75%. I will be doing another one today so do u want the results after that? We are unable to get a bigger tank sinc that one takes up to much room as it is and we are scared that either the seagulls or next doors cat would get to them if they lived in a pond.

 

[pagoda]

Your aquarium is too small and that will affect the health of your fish long term...and give you progressively uncontrolled water parameters. You will need to increase the number of times per week (50% x 3 times a week minimum) to maintain healthy water until such time as you rehome the fish into a pond or larger aquarium or let someone else have them who can cater for them properly

You can easily buy netting such as a mist net or strawberry netting to put over a pond to stop birds or other predators getting to your fish...just stretch it over the pond and anchor it down with rocks

 

[Amazon11]

Your aquarium is too small and that will affect the health of your fish long term...and give you progressively uncontrolled water parameters. You will need to increase the number of times per week (50% x 3 times a week minimum) to maintain healthy water until such time as you rehome the fish into a pond or larger aquarium or let someone else have them who can cater for them properly

You can easily buy netting such as a mist net or strawberry netting to put over a pond to stop birds or other predators getting to your fish...just stretch it over the pond and anchor it down with rocks

Would the weather affect them

 

[pagoda]

They are coldwater fish so in winter if you get snow or ice put a football into the pond to keep an air hole in there...also a floating football will break up any ice anyway as it moves aound (the fish tend to play with it too)

Warm weather you can keep a pond cool by taking some water out and replacing it with cold water...just as you would with an aquarium but on a slightly larger scale

 

[Amazon11]

They are coldwater fish so in winter if you get snow or ice put a football into the pond to keep an air hole in there...also a floating football will break up any ice anyway as it moves aound (the fish tend to play with it too)

Warm weather you can keep a pond cool by taking some water out and replacing it with cold water...just as you would with an aquarium but on a slightly larger scale

Okay I’ll see if we are able to get a pond Any more advice for the time being though?

 

[pagoda]

Until you can get them sorted out, change the water at least 50% 2-3 days a week, that will help with the mess that they make....small aquarium + lots of waste from the fish = high levels of nasty water quality

So you are going to have to change their water more frequently and in larger amounts until you decide what to do with them

 

[tjpettigrew]

I agree with all above basically. If you can’t do a bigger tank, find the proper person to re-home them to so they can live happy, healthy lives. Do the right thing.