my goldfish need some get well vibes

I'm really not having much luck with my goldfish. And I always thought goldfish were easy fish to keep.

Both Kibbles and Freckles have been "sleeping" at the bottom of the tank quite a bit lately. Then, when they "wake up" they start swimming around like normally. Until tonight... now Kibbles doesn't swim around much and when he does, he seems to have no energy.

Poor fish. I don't know what's wrong with them. I tested the water and it seems fine. The water is hard, but it's always hard around here.
I just made a water change, just in case. I asked for advice on a goldfish forum and now I'm waiting for their advice. Until then, I can just hope.

What is the water temp?

And I'm sorry you are having such troubles.
In my experience, goldfish (any of the carp family) are actually pretty difficult to keep unless you have the space and money for a pretty huge setup.

Ok, after re-assessing the situation...
temperature and pH are normal... but ammonia is too high. I don't know why... that tank has been running for months.

And now just to make it worst... I had to stop the filter and it wont start again!!



poor fish!

How big is your aquarium?

30 gallon

good news... I got the filter working again. It was just a matter of hitting it hard enough!

Should be plenty big enough, if memory serves, you just have the two fantails?

What is the GPH of your filter?

I know, I ask a lot of questions

I've had the best luck with goldfish using a biowheel filter that is at least twice the recommended gph filtration for my aquarium.
Goldfish are little waste machines.

175 GPH

But I'm beginning to think it might not be working all that well anymore. Anytime I stop it, it wont start again until I hit it (every time I need to hit it harder). I think I might get a biowheel filter instead.

along witht the biowheel you may want to due a round of mela fix in case fishy has some stress related illness affcting his swim bladder... Gold fish are not easy to keep

Mind if I ask what your goldfish forum is called (you can PM me, since I don't know if that's allowed to be posted)?. I love goldfish, but after 20 yrs I got tired of spending more money on meds than on fish and I went to tetras, which so far are easy keepers, but not nearly as dear to my heart. My biggest problem was finding good advice. I also have a stress supplement that can be added to the water that puts extra oxygen in the water for times of stress, such as medicating. So far, it really works great!
I also liked my biowheel filter, and used it with a canister filter (the one I have is really easy to change) when I had Oscars (the only fish that make goldfish look clean! ) Hope everything is going better!

IS the temperature correct? It shouldnt be as high as tropical fish but you don't want it too low either. I don't know if those dissolvable things work that they have to drop into the fish tank to condition it for goldfish.

Also have you changed the replacable filter on it yet? I think they only last a month and some don't run when the filter goes bad.

Try to get the levels down. Switch out some water.

How often are you doing water changes? Like was said before...goldfish are waste machines and excessive nitrates are deadly. Also if your filter stopped working that is where the majority of your beneficial bacteria live which convert your ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates. Nitrates aren't to bad unless they get to a massive amount so water changes are good. So as soon as your filter stopped so did your conversions.

I use aquariacentral.com/forums for advice.

Kibbles is dead
The other two fish are doing fine and they're both acting normally today. I haven't seen Freckles lie at the bottom of the tank today (like he did yesterday)

I do water changes every week (25%) and the temperature is around 74F now.

I used some "waste control" treatment yesterday after changing 33% of the water. That got the ammonia back to 0.

I think the problem comes from the filter. I'll take a closer look at it. If it gives me more trouble, I'll just buy a new filter. I also bought some "Cycle" and hopefully that will help replenish the bacteria in the filter... once I make sure it's working properly.