Sitting goldfish, please help

Hi there, and thanks in advance for any help you'll be so kind to give me.

I have a male goldfish, since May 2004. When I bought him, there were 5 other goldfish in the tank, three of them already sick; after some time those three died, and he remained with the other fish (a female "sarasa" comet) for years, till, I guess, 2008 or 2009; then the female suddenly died. After that, he's always been alone.

Even if I'm very affectionated to him, I recently happened to neglect him for a while. That's why I guess the water of the tank got too dirty.

My fish is a sort of comet goldfish with a shorter, less slender shape of the body than other comets; he was metallic brown when I bought him, and turned to a nice carrot orange some years ago. He's normally very lively, and usually follows people who happen to move around the tank, or my hand if I wave at him. He's about 20 cm long (the tail being half of the whole lenght) and lives alone in a 60 liters tank, with plenty of plants, a 5cm-deep layer of siliceous gravel (which is 0,5 cm diameter) and one air stone. The filter is an internal, submerged one and is filled with ceramic cylinders and two different kinds of filter wool: a green, thick-fibers one and a white, thin-fibers one. There isn't any heater, since the house temperature goes from 18-20°C in winter to 25-30°C in the hottest days of summer.

Before the fish got ill, I fed him with sinking, 100% vegetable pellets. As I noticed the symptoms, I bought a new food for vegetarian fishes, containing garlic, and which is in form of very tiny, mostly sinking beads.

No plants/fishes/objects were added to the tank during the last whole year. I usually make a total water change about once per month, using tap water added with dechlorinator, paying attention to bringing the tap water to the same temperature of the previous water (I use a thermometer); only afterwards I put the fish back to the tank. Each time, I vacuum the gravel.

I probably skipped a water change in the last two months.

Since about 2 weeks ago, the fish started to sit in the bottom of the tank for hours. As soon as I noticed, I changed immediately the water, added 60grams of NaCl salt (which means something more than 1gram per liter, since part of the volume of the tank is occupied by the gravel), bought the garlic-added food and changed all the water every 4-5 days (adding the same quantity of salt each time), and he seemed to stay better for a while, then started again to be lethargic. Also, since I began to add the salt, some black streaks and patches appeared on his body and fins. So I put him in a smaller, bare quarantine tank with the air pump at full power, and I'm changing all the water everyday (letting the new water in the same room, in a clean bucket, for 24 hours before being used), reducing the salt each time (at this moment there's no salt at all). I'm not adding the dechlorinator anymore, since the water is supposed to have lost the chlorine gas. He keeps sitting in the bottom of the tank, though he immediatly reacts whenever someone is moving around or "calling" him with the hand; also, he often goes on surface and eats air, spitting out bubbles while swimming back downwards. Sometimes he seems to "sleep" keeping the mouth on the airstone. He eats normally. Poop is often whitish and filamentous; only sometimes it appears more healthy: shorter, thick and dark green (the color of the food).

I didn't make the fish physical 'cause I'm afraid of hurting him, being me easy to getting emotive, and him so small. Apart from this, except for the black patches, his skin is perfectly normal. He never scraps on things. The shape of his body looks normal too - not too slim, neither swollen or else. Fins' edges were a bit irregular at the beginning, now look better.

Unfortunately, I forgot to test the water of the tank when I found him sick, so I don't know which values were abnormal.

(I'm not testing the water of the quarantine tank since it's changed everyday, but can do it if necessary).

I really hope you can help him. If you need any other information, or even photos, just let me know. Again, thank you in advance for any help; even a tiny indication would be precious.

On 7/26/2011 5:11 AM, Cucumber wrote:
Hi there, and thanks in advance for any help you'll be so kind to give
me.

Sorry the this group is not very active. Try a goldfish forum:

http://www.petgoldfish.net

I was reading on Wikipedia, although I can not now find the reference,
that bored goldfish can just lay on the bottom of the tank. They are
highly social and like a varied environment. Put in something in the
tank, even if it is fake, if it is empty.

Jeff

I have a male goldfish, since May 2004. When I bought him, there were 5
other goldfish in the tank, three of them already sick; after some time
those three died, and he remained with the other fish (a female "sarasa"
comet) for years, till, I guess, 2008 or 2009; then the female suddenly
died. After that, he's always been alone.

Even if I'm very affectionated to him, I recently happened to neglect
him for a while. That's why I guess the water of the tank got too
dirty.

My fish is a sort of comet goldfish with a shorter, less slender shape
of the body than other comets; he was metallic brown when I bought him,
and turned to a nice carrot orange some years ago. He's normally very
lively, and usually follows people who happen to move around the tank,
or my hand if I wave at him. He's about 20 cm long (the tail being half
of the whole lenght) and lives alone in a 60 liters tank, with plenty of
plants, a 5cm-deep layer of siliceous gravel (which is 0,5 cm diameter)
and one air stone. The filter is an internal, submerged one and is
filled with ceramic cylinders and two different kinds of filter wool: a
green, thick-fibers one and a white, thin-fibers one. There isn't any
heater, since the house temperature goes from 18-20°C in winter to
25-30°C in the hottest days of summer.

Before the fish got ill, I fed him with sinking, 100% vegetable pellets.
As I noticed the symptoms, I bought a new food for vegetarian fishes,
containing garlic, and which is in form of very tiny, mostly sinking
beads.

No plants/fishes/objects were added to the tank during the last whole
year. I usually make a total water change about once per month, using
tap water added with dechlorinator, paying attention to bringing the tap
water to the same temperature of the previous water (I use a
thermometer); only afterwards I put the fish back to the tank. Each
time, I vacuum the gravel.

I probably skipped a water change in the last two months.

Since about 2 weeks ago, the fish started to sit in the bottom of the
tank for hours. As soon as I noticed, I changed immediately the water,
added 60grams of NaCl salt (which means something more than 1gram per
liter, since part of the volume of the tank is occupied by the gravel),
bought the garlic-added food and changed all the water every 4-5 days
(adding the same quantity of salt each time), and he seemed to stay
better for a while, then started again to be lethargic. Also, since I
began to add the salt, some black streaks and patches appeared on his
body and fins. So I put him in a smaller, bare quarantine tank with the
air pump at full power, and I'm changing all the water everyday (letting
the new water in the same room, in a clean bucket, for 24 hours before
being used), reducing the salt each time (at this moment there's no salt
at all). I'm not adding the dechlorinator anymore, since the water is
supposed to have lost the chlorine gas. He keeps sitting in the bottom
of the tank, though he immediatly reacts whenever someone is moving
around or "calling" him with the hand; also, he often goes on surface
and eats air, spitting out bubbles while swimming back downwards.
Sometimes he seems to "sleep" keeping the mouth on the airstone. He eats
normally. Poop is often whitish and filamentous; only sometimes it
appears more healthy: shorter, thick and dark green (the color of the
food).

I didn't make the fish physical 'cause I'm afraid of hurting him, being
me easy to getting emotive, and him so small. Apart from this, except
for the black patches, his skin is perfectly normal. He never scraps on
things. The shape of his body looks normal too - not too slim, neither
swollen or else. Fins' edges were a bit irregular at the beginning, now
look better.

Unfortunately, I forgot to test the water of the tank when I found him
sick, so I don't know which values were abnormal.

(I'm not testing the water of the quarantine tank since it's changed
everyday, but can do it if necessary).

I really hope you can help him. If you need any other information, or
even photos, just let me know. Again, thank you in advance for any help;
even a tiny indication would be precious.

Ah, thank you! I'm going to try even this trick!
He's still sitting the most of the time. I'm changing the water everyday.