Pet Goldfish

thepostman

Well just got a goldfish on friday and well he doesnt look the best. Hes on his own in a fish bowl no pump or filter or anything. Hes always just sitting on the bottom open and closeing his mouth repeatedly. Had a look online and i think he may have swim bladder disorder. I am going to change the water and see if that helps. Does anyone else have advice? Would hate to lose him after such a short period of time.

Thanks

dbrock

with a gold fish in a bowl, you should do 30 to 40 percent water change every second day at least, (no more than 40 though i recon)
and when putting in the new water use a good declorinator like amquel plus, or stress coat if you cant get any,

when it comes to feeding i recon 2 or 3 flakes per fish a day, esp important you dont over feed,

hope this helps a little, although eventually it will be better for you to get a small filter going at some stage

PS
when you do put in a small filter for the first week or two continue doing the water changes as mentioned above,

ValerieR

Goldfish aren't as tough as they might have been once upon a time. I hope you still have him.

I would advise you to get a filter, do regular water changes as goldfish are dirty fish. When cleaning the filter, don't rinse it under the tap, use the tank water you removed, otherwise you'll wipe out the beneficial bacteria that colonise the sponge.
Also use a product that removes chlorine from the water as chlorine is fatal to fish.

As dbrock mentions, don't overfeed.

I hope this helps.

ValerieR
www.irishfishkeepers.com
connaught.fishkeeping.society[at]gmail.com

Sigma Force

Don't envy you, we once got an unexpected fish as a present so had to do some manic reading up and then fork out for a tank etc. Still ended up with swim bladder problems and eventually poor fella died, tried everything. I would never buy a fish because I find them too difficult, some people really know their stuff and I prefer to leave it to them and look at their tanks instead lol.

Goldfish are too difficult for me, thinking of buying a spongebob tank with all the spongebob characters etc. that you can get for fish tanks and putting some fake fish in it for the young one because there's no way I'd get any more goldfish..just too tricky for me and hate seeing the poor things in the shops feeding on other dead fishys.

Your fish could be ok though once advice is followed, fingers crossed for him.

Dabko

I have a goldfish for the best part of 4 years now and he's a hardy bastrd!

He is on his own in lizard tank turned fish tank, no water purifier or pump. I replace 30% of water with fresh every 2 weeks and do a complete tank clean out once very 6-8 weeks. Fish is now a little over 6 inches long and getting bigger!
Also, anyone who says fish have no personality are wrong. This fella is great craic to watch - will spit stones out of water at anyone sitting near the tank and moves the tank figurines around the place!

Wolfsberg

Dabko wrote: »

I have a goldfish for the best part of 4 years now and he's a hardy bastrd!

He is on his own in lizard tank turned fish tank, no water purifier or pump. I replace 30% of water with fresh every 2 weeks and do a complete tank clean out once very 6-8 weeks. Fish is now a little over 6 inches long and getting bigger!
Also, anyone who says fish have no personality are wrong. This fella is great craic to watch - will spit stones out of water at anyone sitting near the tank and moves the tank figurines around the place!

No dechlorinator and complete water changes... Your fish is a very very rare exception to the rule!

fester

our little fella's a bit weird. He just floats on top of the water without moving his fins or nothin. You'd think he;s dead until you go over to him and he starts moving.

He's been like that for years. If i didn't know any better i'd say he's depressed.

Dabko

Wolfsberg wrote: »

No dechlorinator and complete water changes... Your fish is a very very rare exception to the rule!

Who are you telling! I also moved house 2 months ago and the poor fella way in a bag, in saucepan, in a boot for near 12 hours!
And not a bother on him!

funlovintapir

Dabko wrote: »

I have a goldfish for the best part of 4 years now and he's a hardy bastrd!

He is on his own in lizard tank turned fish tank, no water purifier or pump. I replace 30% of water with fresh every 2 weeks and do a complete tank clean out once very 6-8 weeks. Fish is now a little over 6 inches long and getting bigger!
Also, anyone who says fish have no personality are wrong. This fella is great craic to watch - will spit stones out of water at anyone sitting near the tank and moves the tank figurines around the place!

haha he sounds great

CathyMoran

Our guys splash you if you do not pay attention to them...they come up to my husband and "nibble" his hand when he puts it in.

Hopefully my hubby will explain how to look after them - some of ours are well into their teens now.