Goldfish help!!

[netibiza]

My daughter's goldfish is just lying on the bottom of the tank, and when I wiggled my finger it just sort of floated to another place before sinking - it didn't tryto avoid my finger or anything. I've heard that they can drown, is this one dead, and if so why isn't it floating on the top of the water.

[k8bailey]

I don't think they can drown but they can die on the bottom of the tank, check to see if its gills are moving before u dispose of it

[Thunderbird+]

It sounds to me like swim bladder trouble try this site and scroll down to number 4 on the list of F A Q's

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/FAQhtm#equillibrium

[maggie01]

You can buy something to put in the tank for swim bladder problems. You may be lucky but I don't think many of them survive this problem. I had two which had it at different times and although they seemed to recover after treatment, they died a short time afterwards. You could try not feeding it for a day and then just giving it cooked peas without the shell. It is supposed to help them. Hope yours survives.

[moomoojaj]

When did you last change the water?
Water quality is the utmost impotant thing when you keep fish in a tank/bowl. After all you do not keep fish, you keep water quality.
You should change the water every other day if the fish is in a bowl, due to the ammonia build up after they have done their pooing an weeeing.
When you add water from the tap you should add a de-chlorinator to the water so that the water is safe for the fish. Contact your local fishkeeping shop for further advice.

[netibiza]

Thank you all - unfortunately the fish died, but it's companion is still ok. The water had filmy strings (like ectoplasm) in it - never seen it before, and yes the water had been changed the day before yesterday - I also changed it immediately when it died so the other one wouldn't catch anything hopefully.

[graham999]

You can tell if your fish is alive by looking at his gills this is the way the fish breaths. The fish could have one of the following problems. One is what is called Swim Bladder this is where is fishes bouyancy tank is out of order and the fish can't move to the surface without a struggle. If so you can try putting the fish in shallow water to rest the bladder for a couple of weeks.The other could be poor water quality you can buy a P H kit form any aquarium shop and aajust the p h to about 6.9 this will suit the goldfish. Another thing to remember is not to use any spays such as air freshener og polish in the room as it will find its way into the tank and will kill fish.
hope this is of help.

[netibiza]

OMG - I have been using a new air freshener spray rather heavily in the house and that room, now I feel guilty. Have just replaced the goldfish with another identical (to my eyes anyway) one so daughter won't possibly know. Will definitely not polish or spray in there now.