I can't tell if he's just a really active goldfish or about to die

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Fishfellow

Aquarium Advice Newbie
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Mar 3, 2017
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I've had a Goldfish in a 10 gallon tank for almost 2 weeks now. Yes I know he needs a bigger tank he will get one eventually. I am currently doing a cycle ( yes I also know it's cruel to do a fish in cycle but he was a gift and I'm doing everything I can for him now)...50% water changes every day and vacuuming the surface of the gravel to get poop and what not. I dose with prime probably like 5x the regular amount... ammonia is between .25-.5 which is normal for a cycling tank. My master test kit is coming Monday so I can test for nitrites and ph. I have the strips but they lie. Anyway... I can't tell if my goldfish is just really active or super stressed. I know cycling with fish is stressful so I know he's probably a little stressed but he swims around so much and so fast, he flashes and paces for periods of time and then goes back to normal. He eats fine so the stress isn't affecting his appetite. I feed him a varied diet and I try not to over feed since he's already in a smaller tank. He even does this behavior right after a water change like it doesn't matter what time of day or the situation he just swims fast and then goes up and down the side of the tank with his reflection. He does NOT gasp at the surface so that's good..I do have a filter and an air stone. I also put some aquarium salt in the tank because I actually thought he had early signs of ICH but it's been 2 weeks and no white spots. I still put salt in the tank though. When I do water changes I make sure the temperature is exact and I know there's ammonia in the tank but I up the dose of prime so it should be detoxifying it. I'm just starting to think he likes to swim really fast and pace back and forth. That's my only concern he shows no other sign of stress or disease other than swimming fast. And I mean really really fast at times like darting (the darting is rare but I've seen him do it a couple times).

I would like to add that I do have the ammonia test that's in the tube not the strip so ammonia readings are accurate
 
Anything I can do to make him not bored besides getting him a friend...not enough space
 
Bubble wand? I have watched various types of fish in my tanks "ride the wave" lol

Since you already have the tank set with an airstone, you can just swap out the attachments:)
 
Anything I can do to make him not bored besides getting him a friend...not enough space



I read somewhere you can use ping pong balls to help with boredom. I've not used them, but it could be something to try.
 
I'd stop putting salt in the tank, that's an irritant for freshwater fish.

Goldfish are active fish, the faster you can get a bigger tank the better, depending on what type of goldfish he is he can get around a foot long

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Agreed ^

Try adding some hornwort to soak up and use excess nitrates. If you take a clump and tie it to a rock, you might find the goldfish amuses itself with redecorating too lol. Mine like to drag it around the tank

A beneficial bacteria supplement may speed up your cycle, but you would want to back off on the Prime-down to normal dose- so that the bacteria can grow

Seachem Stability is a good one that will work beside Prime for an easier cycling experience

I'm personally in favour of frequent, small water changes during a fish-in, to dilute the ammonia, etc with fresh clean water. I do 15-25% every couple of days until ammonia and nitrite settled to 0, and there are nitrates showing
 
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