# dying goldfish?



## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

Hello everyone,

I hope someone can help. I have two goldies in a 30 gal fish tank, which I know they need to be in a bigger one however our landlord will not allow it, or a pond in the backyard for them to live in. One of the fish is aggressive to the other one during feeding time...and just sometimes out of nowhere will nip and bite at "her". Lately things settled down and I didn't see "him" attacking her. 

I got up today to feed them and noticed that she was acting a bit strange. But this can be normal for her. Later on in the afternoon I checked her again and noticed that there is blood on her top fin and bottom left fin. I know the bigger fish has taken bites out of her fins before. I did a waterchange but no sign of change in her behavior. She's breathing heavily and just kind of hanging in the water. She'll swim up to me when I come up to the tank but I can tell she's having troubles. The other fish is having no problems and shows no signs of bleeding or anything. 

If anyone can give any advice, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

Although I am not positive on the situation, one way to see if it is from the other goldfish is to perhaps get a divider for the tank, inexpensively at most pet stores, and seperate the two, and see if she gets better, although that would seriously cramp the goldies.


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

justintrask--When her fins started disappearing we seperated them and she got better. Then we took out the divider and they did fine together until today.


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

sometimes they just may not be for each other and they may need to stay seperated.


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

Do you think she'll recover from this if I put her into a different tank? Or is she going to die even if I do that?


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## justintrask (Jun 29, 2008)

How often do you do water changes, what do you keep your temperature at, how often do you feed, whats the water chemistry like?


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

Water Changes are done 2-3 weeks. 50-75%
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites:0
Nitrates: 20
Temp: 70-72 
KH: 80
PH: 7.0

I've been only giving them one feeding lately. The big fish is fed sinking pellets. He comes and eats them out of my hand. The little fish is fed flakes because she can't get the pellets. I also feed them sweet peas on occasion along with other green veggies, on occasion.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

With goldfish, I have always found that a 40 to 50 percent water change weekly is best. And gravel-vac heavily. And have very very strong filtration, like 15 or more turns per hour. Goldfish are 'poop monsters' as someone said before the site crashed.

Your problems, IMO, really stem to the size of the tank. I understand your situation. I'm a landlord myself and I don't allow anything more than ten gallons in any of my units for insurance and mess prevention purposes. Would your landlord allow you another tank? If you put each of them in their own tank of similar size (20 g or larger) they should be okay for a while. Otherwise, if you truly love the goldfish, perhaps consider moving.


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

Com--I really do love our goldies. We are renting a house and it's not very big. I will ask her if she will allow another tank in the house but just getting this one was like pulling teeth. Our goldies were a gift from the mom-in-law to my son who is only 7. (and no she didn't really ask first she just bought them) She gave them to us in a 2 gal tank which I worked on for months upgrading. So getting another tank might be a challenge. I will also ask a friend of mine whose raised goldies if he would take the injured one for us and just keep the one.  He's out of town but as soon as he gets back, I will get with him and see if he can help. Hopefully she'll make it that long.


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

Until then keep your tank divider in and add some Stress Coat every few days.


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

We have a fancy goldfish. We bought him company and he did not like the new goldfish at all. e rammed it into the glass until it was bruised. I had originally thought that all goldfish would be ok together as they are "peaceful" fish.
The next fish we got him was a success- they seemed to like each other and Ben slept between Sushis front fins until he got too big.
Guess they are like people- some times taking a dislike to a particular person for no obvious reason.


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## VincentM (Aug 8, 2008)

I have 5 little goldies in a ten gal.... And because I'm not Tank Savy, I now suffer.... One of my beloved babies has Pop-eye.... I've ordered a 30 gal, acrylic tank, and I'm selling my 'car' so to speak to afford it. 

I'm going to try hand find large river rock in larger portions than 20oz. bags so that my undergravel filter won't have such a hard time cleaning the poop.. My mom also suggested a few plecos.

I really don't want to give my babies up, so I will treat my tank weekly with PH and Ammonia stuff, see if that helps, and then I will get rid of a few if things persist.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

A UG filter doesn't really remove poop. It doesn't take it out of the tank. As the poop decays, it turns the ammonia generated into nitrite and then nitrate which you have to remove with water changes. Smaller substrate is means more surface area which is better for the UG until it gets small enough to fall through the plate. Thats too small. The key to UGs is the same for keeping fish in too small a tank. Use a gravel washer to take the poop out of the substrate as well as change water. Do this as frequently as you can. Get a 5 gallon bucket (home depot or walmart) and start cleaning the tank. Clean water is the best medicine.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Also, a pleco will only add more waste to the problem.


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

*Turn for the worse*

Hi all,

I know it's been a while since I've updated but I thought my little fish was going to get better. I've been watching Aang for weeks now. My friend had me treat the water for bacterial and fungus infections. He said that she may have fin rot and tail rot too. So I did. And today she took a turn for the worse. I don't think she's going to make it through the night. She's having difficulties staying upright. She's going under her rock to keep her balance. She stopped eating yesterday. The big fish is swimming around her and it looks like he's trying to help her stay upright. It's sooo sad! I don't know what to do. I hate seeing her like this! The worst part of all is having to tell my little boy in the morning if she doesn't make it. And trying to explain to him that we can't get another fish to replace her. I feel so bad. But at least the big fish is doing well. He's healty. So at least we'll still have him. (knock on wood). But I'm really sad about loosing her but at the same time...I don't want to see her suffer anymore. Is that bad to think or say?? Anyway....I just wanted to update everyone and thank all of you for your help and information.

Thanks!


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

*She's Gone.*

Sadly my little fish passed away last night. The little one took it kind of hard but I think he's feeling better now. At least she's not in pain anymore. Thanks again for all the help and info.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Goldie just as an FYI to check out in your area: A lot of the time landlords cannot turn down a fish tank because technically it is furniture. There are some exceptions to this that I have heard, but ultimately they can't tell you you can't have furniture. Just something to look into.


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## Guest (Aug 23, 2008)

ive never heard of that.... most places do have restrictions on tanks (in my hunt at least) because of the potential damages. honestly, they can restrict that if its in the lease agreement no problem just as they can restrict the use of a water bed, and that is furniture as well


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## goldielover78 (Jul 28, 2008)

Obsidian--Unfortunately it's in our lease agreement. Actaully we are not suppose to have pets but she let us slide with the fish. I talked to her but she wants nothing bigger than a 30 gal tank in the house. She's worried about water damage if the tank breaks or leaks, damage to the carpet and walls etc etc. So for right now there's not a whole lot I can do. The other fish is doing well. He seems a bit sad that his friend is gone but I think he'll be okay. Thanks!


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

I think I have stated before that I am a landlord and that I specifically forbid all pets except fish in ten gallon tanks or smaller. I specify no more than one ten-gallon or smaller tank per adult occupant. I have some more language forbidding "aquariums as furniture" in the blanket lease as well.

I'm sorry to hear that a fish died. It's rough keeping goldfish in small tanks; I'm also sorry that your child had to learn the hard way.


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## Sock Yee (Dec 29, 2007)

Sorry I maybe a little too late to help out when I read your thread today. 

Although I've rarely seen goldfish showing aggressive behavior towards the other especially with fin nipping, the best you could do when the same thing happens in the future is to separate the affected goldfish to another tank for it to heal. At the same time add some salt and increase frequency of water changes. Sometimes the torn fins could also be due to bacterial infections but as in your case nobody is 100% sure.


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