goldfish inactive.... and one died

[scauntay]

ive had 3 fancy goldfish for about 3 years almost and about 6 months ago one died. and now yesterday one more died. they seemed just fine and no problems. but now since there is only one left, the remaing single guy hasnt been swimming around much today. when i got home a few hours ago it was just laying in the corner. i fed it some food and it swam up and ate and seemed happy again. but now its lying on the ground agian just breathing. what could be wrong? for some reason it seems like whenever my roommates friend has family visit from hawaii a fish dies. kinda odd.
thanks
S

 

[joannde]

do you have a test kit ? you need to get an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate reading. How big is the tank and how often do you do water changes, and how much do you change ? How big were the two fish that died and how big is the one that remains ?

We need much more info before we can help. If you go to the "unhealthy fish" forum there is a sticky at the top called "before you post ... read this". There are a series of questions. If you could answer those questions (some of them are in my question list above) it might allow us to help you figure out what might be wrong.

Good luck with the goldie. We're here to help

 

[Guest]

good Joannde as always, bt before you do all the reading do a 50% PWC. Then go from there.

 

[scauntay]

thank you for the reply and sorry that this is in the wrong area, im very much a newbie to the forum.

i see no visible physical problems.

im not sure about the parameters of the tank because i dont have a test kit. i will buy one tomorrow and post up what it is.

its a 30 gallon tank, and has been set up for about 3 years.

i have a penguin bio-wheel 125 made for the 30-55 gallon tanks. not sure how many gallons per hour.

there is one fish in the tank. it is a fancy goldfish about 4.5 in long, is and always has been a fat little fish.

i did a water change and vacuumed out the gravel about 3 weeks ago when i changed the filter for the water pump. i do it about 2-3 weeks, and vacuum the gravel every other time i do a water and filter change. i remove about 25% of the water.

ive had the fish for about 3 years, i got them from petco.

i had added some plants to the tank. they started out as bulbs and grew to plants. my other goldfish was kinda just laying on the bottom of the tank before i put the plants. the package for the plants said it was safe for all fresh water.

i have been feeding them the same flake food since i got them.

 

[greenmaji]

30 gallons is deffinatly on the small side for 3 fancy GF's.. The fat look could be from body distortion from space issues (I wouldnt know unless I saw the fish to be honest).

The NO3 levels get out of hand faster with this sort of arangement I would be changeing 75% of the water a week. Getting a bigger tank say 55+ for the two fish would be helpfull. Yea I know they look kinda small for that and I dont know if they can rebound after 3 years.

 

[scauntay]

there is only one fish now, and i had just checked out my fish to see how it was doing and had seen something that to me looked like a big thick black poop. it was sticking out a tad bit and when i went to see if i could get my fish to move with the fish net it did move and seemed fine, and the poop thing had gone back in its body. my gravel is black and kinda sandy. ive had that set up for a long time as well.

 

[joannde]

If it went back into this body I would say it wasn't poop. Could it have been a worm ?

 

[DepotFish]

You need a test kit. For now do a water change and if possible add some aquarium salt.

 

[scauntay]

my fish did poop it out, i think that when i went to move it i scared my fish and it clenched. lol. any way i saw the poop thing on the ground this morning when i went to feed it, there were two. now my fish seems to be doing just fine, swimming round like before. ill still get a test kit and see what my water is like.

thanks guys.