Unbalanced goldfish PLEASE HELP!

[Bacce]

Have a ten gallon tank with six goldfish, one oranda goldfish cannot swin right. It isn't upside down it just keeps rolling in circles and seems completely confused as to what is up and down, PLEASE HELP!

 

[Sharkbait54]

Probably ammonia poisoning too many fish in there.

Do you have a test kit?

How often to you clean the tank?

 

[Coursair]

Goldfish need large tanks and lots of filtration. Your tank is overcrowded. You can isolate the Oranda in its own tank. Withhold food for 24hrs then try feeding skinned thawed green peas. Break into smaller pieces. Keep the water in both tanks super clean. You should do daily water changes in your 10g till you can rehome the fish.

If you want to keep all your Goldfish plan on buying a BIG tank. 1 GF needs AT LEAST 20gal. Each additional GF needs another 10-20gals. Baby GF grow FAST and require clean water to stay healthy. Read up on GF. There is a lot to learn.

So you should plan on a 75-100g tank for all those fish.

Or rehome and restart with appropriate fish for a 10g. Read about Fishless cycling. Fish in cycling if you keep your fish.

Good luck ! I hope you manage to keep them all alive.

 

[jlk]

I am sorry to have to inform you about this, but 6 goldfish in a ten gal tank is 6 too many. You would need atleast a 70gallon tank for them to be happy & healthy. Fancy goldfish need 20gal for the first fish, 10gal for each fish after. They are extremely messy & carry a huge bioload. Do you have an API test kit? Do you have water conditioner? The only thing you can do right now for them is mutiple water changes with a good water conditioner to try & reduce your ammonia levels. You will need to either return these fish asap & get a fsih suited to a 10gal or upgrade their home asap. Please ask if you dont understand anything! We are here to help!

 

[glassbird]

How long has the fish been doing this? How long have you had the fish? What do you feed?

It could be a water quality issue from overcrowding, but it could also be a food problem. Fancy goldfish can develop swim bladder disease which is thought to be caused by many things, especially incorrect food.

 

[Bacce]

I separated my goldfish and have been watching it, it actually has a bent spine. I'm planning on getting a larger tank soon, but they are all babies and I was told a ten gallon would do for now. I do water changes fairly frequently

 

[Bacce]

I also clean the algae out very frequently

 

[jlk]

Please invest in an API freshwater master test kit so you can monitor your water parameters. I would suggest doing a 50% pwc daily with a good water conditioner until you can upgrade them to much bigger tank. Goldfish do most of their growing in their first 2-3yrs of life-without an appropriate sized tank, they will become stunted & suffer an early, unpleasant demise instead of the expected 20+yr lifespan.

 

[tarpon]

My guess is you didnt cycle it either?

 

[Bacce]

Okay, I will most definitely be buying a larger tank soon, question is, what can I do to help my oranda who has a bent spine?

 

[jlk]

Unfortunately, at this point, there is not alot you will be able to do other than provide super healthy water & hope that he may recover. If he is unable to eat or swim, you may have to consider euthansia rather letting him suffer needlessly but this will your decision. Where are you keeping him right now?

 

[Bacce]

How would I even euthanize my fish? Im very fond of my goldfish and I really wouldn't want to euthanize unless it was a last resort

 

[tarpon]

Fill a bowl with water and a bunnnnnch of ice, then add a ton of salt and put it in the freezer. Keep it in there as long as you can without it freezing. Then drop the fish in and it should stop moving within 1 second.
Pretty much instant. I then leave it in the freezer for a while to be sure.

 

[ANGIELORIO]

I have had a goldfish living with swim bladder disease for over a year now. I put him in a sick tank and hand fed him peas. Have given him antibiotics and he has weekly water changes in spring water only. When i bagan treating him he could not swim below the top of the tank because the air in his belly kept him afloat. Now he rest on the bottom but swims around and eats. He is the healthiest upside down goldfish you will ever see. He lives in a 10g aquarium alone but has plants and tunnels to play in. Dont euthenize him, just put him in spring water. I also feed him antibacterial food which i found online with the antibiotics. I swear he is thankful. And no, i am not crazy just a lover of all of gods living things.

 

[tarpon]

Yes, swim bladder disease can be fixed.
But the bent spine cant. If YOU decide its suffering itd show more "love" to euthenize it.
Its YOUR fish and YOUR decision alone

 

[librarygirl]

Fill a bowl with water and a bunnnnnch of ice, then add a ton of salt and put it in the freezer. Keep it in there as long as you can without it freezing. Then drop the fish in and it should stop moving within 1 second.
Pretty much instant. I then leave it in the freezer for a while to be sure.

I could be wrong, but not sure this method would work well with goldfish as they are coldwater fish. It might if the water is cold enough but it probably won't be as quick as doing this with a tropical fish. The clove oil method might be better.

 

[tarpon]

I could be wrong, but not sure this method would work well with goldfish as they are coldwater fish. It might if the water is cold enough but it probably won't be as quick as doing this with a tropical fish. The clove oil method might be better.

Ive never tried with a goldfish but it should work. The water will be below freezing bc of the salt. And clove oil can be hard to findfind

 

[Mumma.of.two]

IMO clove oil, boiling water or blunt force trauma (I know it sounds bad) are better than freezing water for goldfish.

 

[tarpon]

Boiling sounds terrible....
And its not an arctic fish, were talking 65-80 temperature range.

And as far as blunt force thats how we do it when fishing

 

[blackmolly]

i'm interested to see wether this fish really has a bent spine or not... could you post pics? it sounds like classic swimbladder, and fancy goldfish to have some interesting curves... and until we know for sure it would be best to keep the fish alive.