Bottom sitting goldfish.

[GoldfishLover123]

Recently I have converted my 75 gallon goldfish tank from gravel substrate to sand. Since then my goldfish have been periodically sitting on the bottom of the tank. All my perimeters are in line and they all appear to be acting normal with the exception of this new behavior. I dont know if this is something to be concerned about or if they just like the sand and enjoy laying on it. I used to have goldfish that would sleep on the bottom of the tank cuddling each other but this is a new behavior that all of my fish have started at once. Not really sure what to think about it or where to start.

 

[jlk]

Hi! What type of sad did you use? Exact parameters (including ph)? How did you go about changing the gravel to sand (example, removed fish, all the water & replaced the sand, only removed some water, or did it gradually over days, etcetc)? Is the sand a very different color than the gravel? Are they still interested in food? Thanks!

 

[GoldfishLover123]

I used pool filter sand. my parameters were Ph 7.5 ammonia 0 nitrate 0 nitrate 0. I took all of the gravel out one day and left the tank bare bottom for about a week (they seemed slightly stressed the night of the gravel removal but not too much) after a week I added the sand and decorations. The sand is the extreme opposite color of the gravel. The gravel was black with neon colors in it and the sand is your typical beige sand color. They are all still eating and sifting around. I do believe they are spawning as well. The only thing that is really different in their behavior is sitting on the bottom of the tank. They really seem to enjoy the change from gravel to sand! I just dont know if that is a typical behavior in goldfish or if it is indicating something wrong. Thanks!!

 

[GoldfishLover123]

I did another water change this morning and was shocked to find a huge spike in my nitrate! My PH was 7.6 Ammonia and nitrite were 0 but my nitrate was as high as it gets at 160! I did a 75% water change and am still at 20! I dont want to stress my fish out too much so I was planning on waiting until later tonight or even tomorrow morning to do any more changes. I just dont understand how it can jump from 0 to 160 in a matter of 3 days! I tested my water from the tap and it alone has a reading of 5 ppm. I've never had any trouble like this before, do you think its from changing the substrate?

 

[jlk]

I did another water change this morning and was shocked to find a huge spike in my nitrate! My PH was 7.6 Ammonia and nitrite were 0 but my nitrate was as high as it gets at 160! I did a 75% water change and am still at 20! I dont want to stress my fish out too much so I was planning on waiting until later tonight or even tomorrow morning to do any more changes. I just dont understand how it can jump from 0 to 160 in a matter of 3 days! I tested my water from the tap and it alone has a reading of 5 ppm. I've never had any trouble like this before, do you think its from changing the substrate?

Changing the substrate likely released quite a bit of organics into the water column. More stuff hides in gravel than one could possibly imagine! Bottom sitting in goldfish is a classic sign of high nitrates so its very possible that the test was not performed just so as it will give a zero or extremely low reading if the reagents are not completely mixed prior to testing (bang and shake those bottles!).

The best management of the issue is exactly what you are doing- lots of big wcs to drop the levels. I would also make sure you work on swishing that filter media as it likely has trapped a good bit of debris that is contributing to the nitrate issue. They should perk back up in no time once the tank stabilizes back into a normal range for nitrates.

 

[GoldfishLover123]

We now have an outbreak of ich! When it rains it pours, huh? Poor babies!

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[jlk]

Are you positive it is ich and not a bits of sand stuck on their slime coat?

Ich appears as a dusting of sand. Unless you added a new fish recently (past few months) or have another tank with new fish/infected fish, stress alone does not induce ich. It has to be introduced either directly or indirectly.

 

[GoldfishLover123]

I was thinking the same thing but it definitely isn't sand. Maybe my diagnosis of ich is incorrect but they have little whit doors on them that look like coarse salt

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[jlk]

Can you post a picture of what you are seeing?

 

[GoldfishLover123]

If I can get a hold of them I sure will!

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