A friend has asken me for help with regard to his goldfish

[debs01]

Hi,I think I may have goldfish problem again.

Out of the 4 I have,since yesterday 2 of them are on the floor of the pond,laying on their sides and pretty lifeless tho are alive

After moving them inside and following this advice from another friend

I would like to suggest that they may be too cold and as a result they become quite motionless.Also they could possibly have swim bladder problems(lying on their sides).If this is the case then they need to be removed into a bowl with fresh water with a little common salt added.The water should only JUST cover them and the bowl should be small enough that they are reasonably restricted.Within 24 hours you should see a difference.What they have is the equivalent of the "bends" that we humans get and is quite common in goldfish.

Then this

I have brought all 4 back here,and inside.

I have added to new rain water about 1/8 tsp of non iodised plain table salt.

The orange one swims about a bit now and again then flops back to its side.

The shiny gold/black one still on its side not doing much except breathing

Current situation

the orange one was doing so well last night trying to jump out of the 1L icecream container i had it in.I put it into the big bowl with the 2 well babes and it was swimming around when i went to bed after the boat race had finished.At 10am it was dead-well it appears to be,but i thought they floated when they died -but its not I don't want to bury it incase it is still alive but there has been no sign of any movement

The shiny gold/black one is no more improved than it was on wednesday.

I added oxygen shells to the containers last night - have i done the right thing ?

What do I now suggest??

Bit stumped :-?

[debs01]

Still on there sides not doing much. but not dead :-?

[herefishiefishie]

I think the best bet is to set them up in a little tank like 2 ft. Buy a filter, some gravel etc. Let them live in that for the winter. Throw back in pond in winter.

Frenchy

[Alan]

Don't laff.

And for those of you that think you know me, I'm not taking the piss.

I have seen in the PFK magazine, where in England(where else would they do it?)someone had a similar problem and they made a little harness for it (fish) with a float attached.

This apparently kept the fish in an upright position while the organs of the fish relocated themselves to their original position.

I dunno.

I said don't laff too!!!

[debs01]

Unfortunately both fishes have now died

[Whiskas]

Good idea Alan!

When i was little i had some of my goldies floating on their sides and since i had grown up around sheep farms and new that when they get cast to turn them on the other side to reset their organs i thought i could do the same with goldies. Instead of making a harness i got a container and put another container inside it, thus making a kind of moat that the fish can swim in. The moat was narrow enough that the fish was forced to stay upright. (does this make sense?) The fish recovered, including Whiskas who was eaten by the cat!