Why do goldfish swim/foat upside down ?

Answer 1

Either they're dead,or you mean the little fat fantail variety. Fantails often have swim-bladder problems,usually when they're over-fed. It often rights itself. My fish often float upside down after a feed. You could try putting in a lettuce leaf. This is good if they have constipation,another reason.

Answer 2

because their sick and dying, your fish has a gut problem and needs treatment asap. change the water clean your tank and all ornaments etc. add tap safe and a tonic. if you have more than one fish you need to remove the sick one from the tank into a tank or bowl of its own again add tap safe etc. DO NOT feed him for 24 hours and see how he gets on. give him a little food as he was probably suffering from a gut problem and not feeding him for a while helps but you'll always have too watch and monitor his feeding and see if he's going to the loo, he'll pick up he may even turn the water a milky colour change water again and carry on starving him and giving him the tonic once the water is clear put him back in with his buddies but still keep an eye on him add a little tonic again to the tank so that the other fish are kept healthy. If this doesn't work you may have to make the decision to flush him down the loo as its cruel too leave him unable to swim the right way up and he'll only have a slow painful ending.

the best food I find is AQUARIAN goldfish flake food. I also like to give them frozen tuborfix worms but this is a treat that I haven't been able to buy for a while as I can no longer find a pet shop that sells it.

Answer 3

Your goldfish has a problem that is affecting his swimbladder, causing him to loose proper bouyancy. In some fancy goldfish, selective breeding for cute, plumb bodies results in compressed swimbladders that leaves them more prone to this. This seems to be especially common in orandas. Other problems that cause goldfish to flip are gas in the gastrointestinal tract (sometimes due to soy in the food), internal infections, and poor water quality. Test your nitrates, high nitrates can cause goldies to flip. I would do a 50% water change today and then another 50% water change tomorrow if nitrates are very high.

Please don't give up on your goldie, as this problem can be reversed with some TLC and medication. I would feed only fresh veggies for a few days and see if this doesn't help. Peas can be especially helpful in pushing out any gas. If there is no improvement, get your fish on antibacterial food, such as Medigold. Better yet, get injectable antibiotics from a veterinarian such as Baytril or amikacin.

If your goldfish recovers, take a good look at what you are feeding as this can cause or exacerbate bouyancy problems. Best of luck!

Answer 4

Swimbladder is a disease which symptoms cause fish to become unable to swim correctly, your fish may exibit swimming toward the bottom of your tank or bowl, then floating back up, swimming in circles or laying or floating on his side....
There are three main things according to the posts and articles I've read that can lead to swimbladder disease.
Constipation due to overfeeding
Bad water quality
Bacteria
I recommend the following regimine, recommened to me over two years ago.
First, as soon as you notice signs of swimbladder do a 50%water change, taking care not to stress the fish by having the water temp as close to his tank as possible.
After your water change you should not feed your fish any food for two days. On the third day feed your fish a fresh pea. Frozen peas thawed, popped out of the skin, and cut into bite size pieces. And then do another water change so that any uneaten peas do not contaminate your water.
If you don't use aquarium salt this is a good addition to most tanks. The recommended dose is one teaspoon per gallon, or one tablespoon per five gallons. If you have never added salt and you are unsure; you may want to first acclimate him at only 1/2 tsp per gallon.
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Answer 5

Generally goldfish do not float upside down unless they are dead. I know when I had an aquarium...when fish would get sick and were fixing to die, they would kind of float on their side, then come back up and do this for a few days. Then it was kaput... Sorry. Maybe you should give up the fish business. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 6

If he's upside down, but still moving he's very ill!

Pick up some fish medicine at the pet shop, it's only a couple of quid, do a complete water change and put the medicine in the water ASAP.

Poor little mite.

Answer 7

I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid that if it isn't dead, it probably will be soon. Goldfish usually float upside down when they have something wrong with them, i.e. lost their sense of up and down, and it's not usually a good sign. Sorry to tell you this.

Answer 8

One of two reasons:
1-The fish is about to die.
2-The fish has eaten too much and it has messed up its stomach. If you feed a fish pellets all the time, they can develop this condition. I don't think there's any cure for it, but you might want to give it different food from now on, such as flakes.

Answer 9

hi this fish is most probably suffering from swim bladder, you need to go to your local pet shop and get some swim bladder treatment that you drop into the water, also get a water testing kit whilst you are there it comes with a chart that will tell you the condition of your water this can also happen if your filtration is poor in the tank or there is not enough air to circulate the water in the tank, thanks lisa

Answer 10

Probably a swim bladder infection although Fancy goldfish are basicly deformed fish bred only to please us, They are so deformed that they have trouble swimming. If you keep them do not use a filter with a fast current as they dont like it. you can buy a swim bladder treatment from most aquatic shops.