fancy goldfish hanging out at top

[Scarah]

Two days ago, I noticed one of my fancy goldfish hanging out alot at the top of the tank. I did a 50% water change. I noticed she was sleeping at the bottom of the tank like she usually does when I got up this morning, but went right back up to the top when I put the light on. She just hangs out up there, not even moving her fins. She comes down once in awhile to feed off the live plants or graze the bottom, but then she's right back up there. I've seen them rest up there for short periods before, but never like this.

My water chem is:

Nitrate-10ppm
Nitrite-0ppm
GH-about 65ppm
KH-120ppm
pH-7
water temp is 75F

I've checked her gills, mouth, and slime coat and they all seem fine (good color and clear of visible parasites). What else can I do??

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya Scarah and welcome to Aquariumadvice.

Just to be thorough, whats the ammonia levels? You don't list it.

Is she eating other then grazing on the bottom/on the plants? What size tank/who's her tankmates/how long have you had her/any new additions to the tank?

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Is she gasping or just staying at the top?
What color were the gills?

 

[vega]

Might be swim bladder problem. Golfish are prone to that.

 

[Scarah]

Sorry, I thought the info I put in when I registered would show.

I have a 20 gallon long with two fancy goldfish and one apple snail. The tank has live plants (hornwort and elodea), a 20-40 gallon filter with biowheel, 20watt Triton light and air stone. The tank is about five months old (finished cycling about 2 1/2 months ago).

The gills were a med-dark tomatoe red without any purplish hint, which I understand is where it should be. She doesn't seem bloated or constipated. I did another water change today and I cleaned out the filter unit (it looked like it had some fungal growth around the top).

While up there, she does make air bubbles which is why I checked her gills. She is eating normally. I would not want to treat with antibiotics unless she was showing more symptoms of infection. Air bladder problems did occur to me, but she was sleeping down there this morning. I'm assuming she wouldn't do that if she was having air bladder problems, would she??

thanks,
Sarah

 

[Allivymar]

Hrmm. Tis a bit of a puzzler. If you had told me simply what she is doing, and that was it, I'd think nothing was wrong. But a change in behavior is a worry. Nothing is coming to mind, although the fungal growth may or may not be a concern. Tank size, tank mates and equipment all sound fine.

Also, I still don't see ammonia levels; were you able to get them?

 

[Scarah]

I just checked the ammonia level, it's at zero.

At the moment, she seems to be swimming around a bit more. Perhaps this will just correct itself (I hope).

thanks

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

My fantail is a bubble blower. I don't really know why, but in the past couple of weeks it's been one of his favorite past times. No signs of illness, and my tank is healthy.

Keep an eye on your guy...and good luck!

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Hopefully this will just turn out to be a false alarm, bet as always better safe then sorry so keep and atentive eye on em.