Is my goldfish going to die?

[mark1078]

Okay, I just set up a new tank, its a 40 ltr tank, its a week old. I had to transfer the fish into the new tank straight away because of leakage of the old one. I have been checking the Ph level and I had to bring that down in the tank. Its probably around 7 at the moment. Also I already done a water change... ANYWAY... One goldfish is behaving strangely. First it floated in the top corner of the tank for hours... then it swam a little bit... then it floated again... I thought it might have been swim bladder disease so I fed them some frozen peas.. Today the fish is a little better but keeps swimming through the bubbles that come from the air pump. So now am thinking it might be needing more oxygen. Also he floats with his head up and tail down.. What am I doing wrong??

[BikBok]

I'm not sure what is wrong with your goldfish as they are not my specialty lol, we only had them for a few months before giving away and getting tropicals... .. I'm still learning about tropicals.

But i do believe Goldfish prefer a higher pH .. more alkaline., .. perhaps the drop in pH has stressed them.

[Caryl]

Forget the pH for now, and stop fiddling with it. Goldfish don't care about it and will tolerate an extreme range, as long as it is stable.

You say you set up the new tank. I assume you transferred the substrate, water and filter over from the old tank?

As an aside, a 40L tank is way too small for a goldfish and it sounds like you have more than one in there.

What sort of goldfish are they? Plain comets or one of the fancy short fat ones? It could be just stressed by the move.

[mark1078]

There are 2 comets, and 1 nice one, and it is one of the comets who has the trouble.. The new tank had everything in it including pump and filter system. Please.. I am just learning, I have had the other tank for a year without hassles, now that I had to swap them over only 1 does not seem happy with it and I am trying to figure out what it could be.

[Mel]

Hi there, as caryl said i wouldn't be too concerned trying to adjust your PH your fish will handle it as they are pretty tough.

Is the fish finding it hard to go down from the surface or to go up to the surface?

is it bloated at all with scales sticking out?

I proberly wouldn't be to worried, i often have goldfish that go alittle strange every now and then and they usually correct themselves, i would just keep up with giving them peas for awhile. If it does have bouyancy problems as in shruggling to keep either up or down then i would put it into shallow water for afew days.

[Caryl]

I assume from your answer that you did not use the filter and other stuff from the old tank as the new one had all of these. This means the tank will need to cycle again (build up good bacteria in the filter to neutralise the ammonia and nitrites). At this point though this will not be affecting the sick fish. Is it possible it was damaged in the shift? A whack on the belly with the net, or being slightly squished at the time, may be enough to upset the swim bladder. If it was not too badly injured it should slowly come right. Keep up the regular water changes though or they will all suffer in the poor water conditions.

Since it is only one fish, I suspect damage rather than water conditions at this point, or all would be in trouble. Same with lack of oxygen. If this was the case all 3 would be gasping at the surface. It may be using the bubbles in an attempt to keep itself bouyant.

A 40L tank is too small for these fish as they grow large and are very messy. Do not believe those who say a fish will grow to the size of the tank as this is not so. Comets are really better off in ponds where they have room to swim. A single fancy goldfish would be fine in this tank but no more than that.

If you really want to keep the 3 healthy and lead a long life, they need to be in 100L at least.