Sick Goldfish?

[mrose_s]

I lost 2 of my goldfish a couple of months ago, i was pretty devesatet because it was my two friendly boys that I just adored.

I waited several weeks after I lost them to watch for any signs of sickness with my remaing boy Hoppus, apart from being extremley jittery the first few days alone he was okay.
Eventually i couldn't look at him sitting in there alone, I got another comet, Felix about 4 weeks ago and had no problems. Hoppus didn't even act like a bully like when I first got him.

About 10 days ago I added a third fish, Portia (she's stunning)

Just last night, we noticed Hoppus looking unwell, and now Portia aswell. Felix seems completly unneffected.


Hoppus

Floating a lot
Floppy dorsal fin - more than normal
He doesn't really swim around much
drooping tail
Just before he flipped out (fish zoomies?) but he darted all over the tank for about 10 seconds before calming

Portia

she's not even really attemtping to stay afloat, she's just sitting about an inch of the tank floor
before she was just sort of floating mid tank, sort of rocked sideways then her and hoppus just floated into each other and didn't react.


Half the time they look fine, like nothigns wrong, the other half of the time I'm worried about them. Whatever it could be, I want to catch it fast. Any ideas what it could be? What I could do to fix it?

I have a water testing kit and I'll run through everything in the morning to see if anything is off.

[bubbatd]

No clue here ... just hope they aren't getting sick .

[Phoenixangelwyngs]

oh.... temp could be off, they could be getting something... a lot of fishy illnesses start with listlessness or just sorta laying around... side floaty and swimming sideways are not good. I will check my fishie meds downstairs and see what I can find. I'd start with a little aquarium salt..... most freshwater fish illnesses don't like salt and a little salt would probably be good for them anyway. I hope you don't lose any more.

[mrose_s]

Thanks, how much salt should I add? Like its there a ratio salt:water?

My mother mentioned maybe it was because we moved the tank to the kitchen, it gets a bit more sun out here than it did in my room but i don't know fi that makes a difference.

Portia is now very sick, she's got no appetite, she's just lying on the bottom.

[Phoenixangelwyngs]

How big is the tank? I'd start with a tsp per ten gallons. Add maybe another tsp/10 gal after a day or so. I got busy with doggies *sigh* I'm sorry... so I forgot to check about illnesses. Um.... are they missing fin pieces or whatnot, growing little white specks, kinda bloated, cloudy eyes or just sorta laying around?
Goldfish like cooler water.... about 65-68 degrees, they should have a filter... possibly an airstone.... What did your water quality tests look like? Are you using a dechlorinator? There are SO SO many things that can kill fish... so hard to tell what it is.

Originally Posted by mrose_s

Thanks, how much salt should I add? Like its there a ratio salt:water?

My mother mentioned maybe it was because we moved the tank to the kitchen, it gets a bit more sun out here than it did in my room but i don't know fi that makes a difference.

Portia is now very sick, she's got no appetite, she's just lying on the bottom.

[mrose_s]

I dechlorinate all water before I added to the tank.

I did a quick google search and got about the same ratio, my tank is about 8gallons. (need to upgrade to something 100L +) I used just under a teaspoon of epsom salts.

She's very much floating on one side now with very little orientation.

I tested the ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, everything came back normal excep the ammonia was too high (between .25 and.5ppm) so I've doen a 25% water change. Her gills are also quite flushed/red, sign of ammonia?

My tank came as an all-put-together one. The filter was built in and it runs through a couple of layers of filter material type thing before running back into the top of the tank, because this doesn't add much air, i also have an airator through a trunk ornament on the bottom.

Hoppus seems to be improving now, he's much more active and Felix still doesn't seem effected at all.

I'll see if I can find a thermometre now to check the temp for you.

Thanks so much for your help. i appreciate it

[Phoenixangelwyngs]

I'd pick up some sea salt or even better aquarium salts... just fyi.

[mrose_s]

Thanks, I need to get to the pet store next week so I'll buy some then for future.

RIP Portia, you were meant to be my new baby. You really were stunning.
Can't believe how fast she declined.