Bottom sitting Oranda

[Lilly123]

Hi everyone!! I have a beautiful Oranda Goldfish and he is doing a lot of resting in the same spot at the bottom of the tank. He gets up every few minutes to munch on some plants and swim around, then goes straight back. He recently lost his best friend in an ammonia spike and I did some reading that said maybe he was both lonely and stressed from the shock he experienced during the ammonia spike. He also isn’t eating the flakes I feed the other fish in my tank and when I try and feed him peas he just swims away; he doesn’t like to be hand fed. I’m considering getting him another Oranda as a friend but I’m not sure. What should I do??

 

[Delapool]

Hi, how are all your water readings now for ammonia and ph? Could be damage from the ammonia. Not eating is unfortunately a bad sign.

 

[King Fisher]

Not sure if it's the way the picture looks or not but the water seems cloudy.

 

[Lilly123]

Hi, how are all your water readings now for ammonia and ph? Could be damage from the ammonia. Not eating is unfortunately a bad sign.

Hi there, I didn't realise the ammonia was so high, it's between 0.50ppm and 1.0ppm, the nitrite and nitrate is 0ppm and the pH is 7.4. I'll do a 50% water change. He's eating my plants but not the flakes. I think he may be lonely so I'll get him a friend tomorrow and see how he is (he was bonded to another fish and she died).

 

[Lilly123]

Not sure if it's the way the picture looks or not but the water seems cloudy.

It's a little cloudy but its partly because the photo quality is terrible and the outside glass is a little dirty

 

[Delapool]

Hi there, I didn't realise the ammonia was so high, it's between 0.50ppm and 1.0ppm, the nitrite and nitrate is 0ppm and the pH is 7.4. I'll do a 50% water change. He's eating my plants but not the flakes. I think he may be lonely so I'll get him a friend tomorrow and see how he is (he was bonded to another fish and she died).

Good news eating. Would definitely hold off on getting more fish until tank re-cycles properly (would just be risking fish unfortunately). Ph looks good.

 

[King Fisher]

You may want to do back to back 50% water changes. Especially if your ammonia is 1 ppm. You don't want it to get over .25 ppm.

 

[Lilly123]

I did a 70% water change. Levels are now: ammonia between 0ppm & 0.25ppm, pH 7.6, nitrate & nitrite 0. Of I maintain this for another day or two, would it be ok if I got him a friend? I read somewhere that he might be stressed due to loneliness, and stressed fish don’t eat or can be a little fussy....

 

[Lilly123]

I’m just really worried that he’s not eating flakes, but the other two are in his tank are eating everything (flakes, veggies and plants) and swimming around very happily

 

[King Fisher]

I think the concern with adding more fish in a tank that isn't cycled is the chance of causing illness and/or death of many or all your fish. If you are willing to do upwards of daily 50% water changes or more if need be then you could add another fish. But there's always a chance that loading up an uncycled tank with fish will turn out casualties.

 

[Lilly123]

So just to clarify if I did a 50% water change everyday for the next two days, while keeping a close eye on my levels, it should be ok to add another fish?? Sorry just want to be absolutely sure

 

[King Fisher]

When you add another fish you are adding a bioload on an uncycled tank that isn't stable. Daily 50% water changes or more would raise your chances of not harming your fish. But, an uncycled tank tends to "spike"..... meaning your ammonia or nitrites will raise rapidly. There's little to no beneficial bacteria in your tank to convert ammonia and nitrites. As you probably know, ammonia and nitrites can damage and kill your fish.

I guess I'm saying that you could add another fish but you are taking a chance of harming it and the other fish in your tank. It's your tank and your call.

 

[Lilly123]

Ok, I’m going to take your advice and leave it for another week, I’ll do 50% changes everyday day or two.

Regarding him not eating flakes and veggies, do you have any ideas about what to do?? He hates being hand fed (he freaks out and swims to the other side of the tank)

 

[King Fisher]

If it were me I'd leave it until it was completely cycled.

Will he eat a veggie wafer? You could try to leave the wafer on the sand near the area he hangs out at. They can go around two weeks without eating. Look for disease daily as well.

 

[Delapool]

If it were me I'd leave it until it was completely cycled.
.

Plus one here.

 

[Lilly123]

Plus one here.

Ok, will do, thanks for the advice [emoji4]

 

[Toad]

How big is this tank?

 

[Lilly123]

How big is this tank?

Just over 200L (like 55 gallons)

 

[Dallascowboys16]

The others have the cycling stuff covered already so I'll just throw in another thing I noticed. I see you have smooth gravel that is small enough for your Goldies to potentially swallow. Ideally, a goldfish tank has fine sand or is just bare bottom. If goldfish ingest enough pieces of gravel they can end up dying from compaction in their stomachs. If I were you I would look into maybe replacing your substrate eventually.

 

[Lilly123]

The others have the cycling stuff covered already so I'll just throw in another thing I noticed. I see you have smooth gravel that is small enough for your Goldies to potentially swallow. Ideally, a goldfish tank has fine sand or is just bare bottom. If goldfish ingest enough pieces of gravel they can end up dying from compaction in their stomachs. If I were you I would look into maybe replacing your substrate eventually.

Yea, I was worried about that at first, but I’ve had it for a while and they seem alright. Like most goldfish (I think) they like to suck the stuff of them then spit them out, but they’ve never swallowed any. I will continue to monitor them and make sure they don’t accidentally swallow them, but I think it’s alright for now.