My fish died 2 weeks ago... but it's ALIVE now!?

Question

We have 3 gold fishes and there in a 55 gallon tank. We'll 2 weeks ago one of them died. So we thought! We have this fish castle in the tank and I found the fish inside it. It looked dead, no doubt about that. So two weeks past, and nobody has cleaned the fish out. Gross I know. lol But one day when I walked past the tank, something caught the corner of my eye. It was the fish that we "thought" was died swimming around the tank. Before, the fish was orange, black and white... and now it's just orange and white. And it hasn't been swimming very well. It just sits in the corner for so long and when it swims it swims kinda sideways. Which it did that from time to time before all this happened. But this all seems pretty strange to me. Could the fish have been stuck? The backside of the castle is completely open though. Would it survive without moving for 2 weeks? or do they need to move in order to live? Or is it some Halloween spirit going on?

Trust me it's the same fish. It's a pretty big, and ugly fish btw so it would be hard to replace it. lol The tank is not frozen. The water always stays around 65 degrees, because it's in our garage. I'm gonna go to the store today and treat it for some of the stuff mentioned, just incase. But it still seems very strange to me.

Answer 1

I would rename that fish Lucky!

I had a fish that went belly up twice but survived... his name became Lucky.

Answer 2

The same thing happened to one of my goldfish. He was floating and I thought he was dead but I wasn't sure so I didn't flush him. A few days later he started swimming again. His swim bladder had broken. It's an air bubble in their belly that keeps them swimming strait. When it breaks they can survive but when they stop swimming they start to turn belly up. My fish lived like this for about 2 years before he died. Goldfish always lose their black color but the white and orange will stay.

Answer 3

I had a fish do that for roughly 4 years before he really died. In fact, when he actually did die, we had to poke him with a stick a bunch of times just to make sure. What had happened was his swim bladder (the thing that keeps them swimming upright) was broken. He would lay on his side on the bottom all the time, but he was fine. That fish finally died at 18 years old. Who says fish are easy cuz they die in a couple of years! You might have his one for the long haul!

Answer 4

there are many things wrong here. first u need more space!!!! also you need to match better tank mates. goldfish leave a lot of waste and poison your water with ammonia. to address the ich... the parasite really only ever pops up when your fish are stressed. if you see ich spores u have another problem. dont add any more fish until your tank is healthy. ich treatments from the pet store do work if u are persistent. i treat every day and do a %25 water change. u can also raise the temperature to speed up the ich's life cycle and salt is also effective. however the problem wont go away until u figure out why your fish were stressed in the first place. my best guess (other than lack of space and bad neighbors) is that your tank was cycling and your fish were poisoned either by ammonia or nitrite poisoning. do not change your filter!!! its growing bacteria that eats eachother and balances your water. test your water and do lots of water changes. also dont adopt any more fish until u research them FULLY! also dont blindly trust pet store employees. theyr job is to sell u things.

Answer 5

My African Dwarf frog once "died". I was about to leave for class and I looked in and saw it just wrapped around the filter. Now, they are known for getting stuck in filters sometimes, but it was not struggling or anything, and looked very dead. Plus both froggies were sick, so I wasn't too surprised. I got home that afternoon and it was still in the exact same position, so I got the net out to get it. I got it unstuck from the filter and started to net it and then it started flailing around and sunk to the bottom of the tank looking very offended. I renamed her Lazarus (yes, she has gender issues now) and she is still alive today (though sadly I lost my other frog of two years to whatever infection the two of them had).

Back to the original question though. It sounds to me like your fish might have swim bladder disease. Try feeding it peas. Maybe try checking the water conditions and doing a water change? Good luck to you.

Answer 6

if white is taking over the other colors.. it sounds like it has ick... I would treat the water otherwise the fish will die... it's probably in a lot of pain right now and very sick which is why it looked dead and it's not swimming very well... you need to clean that fish tank out and treat the water... it might survive if you do it immediately.. otherwise it will die and all the other fish will get infected and die too

Answer 7

poor thing is probably in its last days.. a lot of fish will swim sideways like that before they die.. and they tend to stay in one spot for long periods of times.. the color change is news to me.. sure its the same fish??.. i have a beta fish that did that.. so i switched him from the bowl to a tank.. and he's most definetly alive now.. wierd i know..

Answer 8

it was probably frozen. what temp do you have there tank at. it should be like 65 - 80 i think. i used to have a huge tank and one day out of nowhere all the fish froze.

Answer 9

no they don't need to move to live especially when food likely blows into the castle
give him some ick treatment that's likey what he needs given the coluor change he might be just showing that he's week
if you see any of the others getting sick immediatly get him out
good luck fish are tricky sometimes

Answer 10

well i dont believe in spirits but i do now from what a vet told me about my fish is that the color of it is from not having the right food so try getting your gold fish some smaller fish to eat and his color well be back .... maybe your fish had layed eggs in it too.