Goldfish Swimming Around Frantically In Circles? Help!

[Electra]

Hi everyone,

I noticed tonight that my darling Cottage Cheese has been swimming around frantically in circles. She also seems to be tilting a bit sideways.
I panicked and completely changed her water, but she's still acting like this. If she is still like this tomorrow morning, I will be taking her to the vet, but does anyone have any ideas on what may be causing this?
I don't know much about the technicality of fish, I'm just a casual owner. I've had her for about 5-6 years and I love her dearly. She just stays in a standard 4 gallon tank. That's it. Nothing fancy inside. I have noticed though within the past few months, she'll sometimes bang around on the sides of her tank, but I never gave this any concern until now, as perhaps it could be related? Her eyes also started to appear foggy maybe a year or two ago, but again, I never gave it much concern since she seemed fine otherwise. I assumed it was nothing.
I'm not sure if you can embed videos here, but I linked two videos I uploaded to instagram so you all can have a visual..
http://instagram.com/p/BRra-nkjwkY/
http://instagram.com/p/BRrbEaWj3Z4/

Please help! Thank you!

- Electra

 

[Autumnsky]

Hi Electra, Welcome to the community.

Your fish is suffering at minimum from a poor choice of aquarium, one single Goldfish needs a minimum of a 20 G tank, because they produce so much waste. And a filter which can process water for that size tank around 10 times per hour gph-gallon per hour.

The foggy eyes are likely from poor water quality.

Do you have a filter on the tank?

Here is a link which can give you a new perspective on what a GF can look like when properly cared for. They can get to the size of a softball in just a couple to few years if they are a fancy like a Telescope or Fantail. And they can get the length of a notebook in over a year if they are a common or Comet. With clean water, nutritious food and the space to grow.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...uire-big-tanks-visual-perspective-265871.html

If you are not familiar with what a nitrogen cycle is, please read the article in my signature link.

When a fish is a very small container they are not able to grow to the full size that they would normally, though their body still needs to grow, organs in the fish do not always grow well in these conditions and suffer what is called stunting.

At this point the fish, however beloved, is in grave condition. Possibly has a swim Bladder issue tilting, could have a parasite and have whirling disease.

You can try feeding her peas, from the store - fresh or frozen, the actual round peas, cooked in fresh water until tender, take off the outer shell of the round part and you will see 2 center pieces inside, that is what you want to feed her.

You can use a turkey baster to suck up any uneaten food after a few minutes if it doesn't look like the fish is interested, and try again later.

Here is the section which might give you some useful reading about cold /cool water fish like GF.

Freshwater & Brackish - Coldwater, Native Fish & Ponds - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

There a lot of things to know about this fish and we will help as best we can.