is my goldfish sleeping?

Question

its just at the top floating around. its breathing though. [and yes i care about my fishies =)]

Answer 1

No, he's feeling a little sick. Did you cycle your tank? In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, of course, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will be A OK.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish.http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html......

You can also put a source of ammonia into the tank, such as fish food every few days, or a piece of shrimp. You can also use a fish as a source of ammonia, but I don't recommend this - it borders on animal cruelty. Without bio-spira or bacteria from another tank, the bacteria will eventually develop, but it will take at least 2 weeks.

You should invest in an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate testing kit so you can keep an eye on your levels. It's worth the 30$, and you can observe the ammonia, nitrite and finally the nitrate spikes, and then you will know your tank is ready.

If you can't get some bio-spira, make sure you do small water changes every to keep the ammonia levels down, until the bacterial populations are large enough (takes at least 2 weeks).

Answer 2

If the water is cloudy and there are bubbles on the surface and the fish is on its side or swimming the right way up but with its mouth touching the surface, with its top lip above the surface gasping for air, then there isn't enough oxygen disolved in the water. Your fish can't breath properly. If this is happening you urgently need a pump to force air through the water. You should change at least half the water for clean water that is the same temperature and add an internal pump with a filter or an external pump that drives an airstone in the water.

Fish breathe water but they use oxygen and exhale waste. If you have a pump forcing air through the water and agitating the surface it allows carbon dioxide to escape at the surface and it forces oxygen into the water. Your fish needs that to breathe properly.

Please don't keep goldfish in a bowl. They are carp and can survive for a while in bad conditions, but they do need a proper aquarium and do much better in clean, filtered water.

Do you cycle your aquarium? You can do this by filling a tank with clean, filtered water and then adding either gravel that has already been used in a fishtank that is running well or adding a source of ammonia. I do it by adding water plants and letting the tank settle down for two or three weeks before adding fish, but that is difficult with goldfish because they eat the plants. (It's nice for the fish but expensive. There is also the risk of adding snails with the plants.

Snails will cycle the tank but they breed and they use the same resouces as your fish. They do not eat fish waste. Using snails can work well if you are keeping your goldfish in a tank that is bare of plants or gravel. A snail or two will eat surplus fish food and when they breed it is fairly easy to remove the extra snails.

One good trick is to get a couple of rocks that already have algae growing on them and add them to the newly filled aquarium. That will help the tank to cycle and later the fish can pick at the algae as much as it likes.

Answer 3

Fish have something called the swim bladder. Sometimes goldfish have problems with that. The best way to fix it is to buy some frozen peas and thaw them out take the skins off and crush them a little feed them about 10 peas a day and the fish will be able to swim better after about 3 days.

Answer 4

is your fish fat and bloated? or is it skinny showing signs of wasting disease? are there any other symptoms? does it lose balance when swimming? if fat, its probably being overfed (very common issue) - swim bladders, which helps the fish's bouyancy in the water, surround the stomach which is minute in a fish in perspective to the size of its body. if too much feeding, there's too much pressure on the bladders causing the fish to lose balance or bob around without really being able to properly control its movements. let it diet for a few days before refeeding, then no more than basically one crushed flake per meal. if skinny, this could be any number of reasons, from poor diet / low grade fish food, to infections or a secondary disease if the fish's immune system is weakened from something else, like poor tank conditions, poor filtration or parasites. consult a decent pet supply store near you for advice.

Answer 5

Dying. He's lost control of his swim bladder. Probably because of parasites. Could be overfeeding if you've been giving him something irresistable like brine shrimp. If he was sleeping, you probably couldn't tell. they just stay low and still.

Answer 6

is it breathing normal? it could be that there isnt enough oxygen in the tank... get some air bubbles for it... or the PH could be off... get a tester kit to test the water

Answer 7

well if its not belly up then hes probably just swimming around at the surface for the hell of it

Answer 8

stop looking at him let him be on his own and he will go to sleep if not dead

Answer 9

are his eyes open? when you tap the glass or touch him does he move? sometimes when fish die the water creates a breathing action ( it will smell bad if he is dead.)

Answer 10

I don't know, sorry.