Help! My fish is on the verge of death! Need help now!!!?

Question

My goldfish is about 5 years old and has been acting regularly for the past years. This morning though, we found him floating on the top of the tank, thankfully still alive. He was breathing normaly and could just barely move around. Immdeietly, we took Pepper out of the tank and isolated him in another one, so the rest of my goldfish wouldn't get infected. Still breathing, he was stuck on the top of the tank, bellied-up, barely moving. Sadly, I had to leave for school but once I had come back, he was lying on the bottem of the tank, unable to get to the top or move around. Despretly, by talking to him and tapping the glass carefully, we have gotten him to move around a little. We added some antibiotics to the tank, and gave a little bit of the treatment to the other fish just incase. What's wrong with my beloved Pepper, and what can I do to help him?!

Answer 1

My daughter rescued a goldfish once that had been the subject of some high school's science class "feeding experiment", and she kept "Goldie" in a 4 gallon tank in her bedroom, keeping it clean and properly fed, with lots of toys to explore or hide in. It was about 8 years old, and one day she forgot to put the tank lid on, and as it was in the habit of leaping around on the top of the water, it landed on the carpet. I found the fish about 4 hours later, and the upper side was dry and crusty, the lower side was still a bit damp. I picked it up quickly, it appeared dead, and I remember saying aloud: "Oh no! Please don't die", put it gently in the water, and replaced the top on the tank. As my daughter was quite young, I expected her to be heartbroken, and saw the burial in the pet cemetery looming. I looked at the fish again a few hours later, and I was very surprised to see it slowly moving around the top of the tank, still on its side, but gills flapping. The whole family was amazed. Most of its fins dropped off, but they grew slowly back again, and the miracle fish became normal, and lived a few more years, and died in its tank. The point is that these fish are surprisingly hardy if kept in good conditions. Many years ago a school friend had a goldfish for about 20 years or more, and it grew to the size of its tank, about 2 feet long, and its colour turned to silvery grey, I suppose the colour of the original carp stock that it was bred from.
If "Pepper" is still alive, don't give up. Try supporting him closer to the surface of the tank in a fish net, but keep the tank covered for safety. A much loved pet does not deserve flushing down the toilet. Good luck!

Answer 2

It's sounds like Pepper is suffering form a problem with his swim bladder. The swim bladder is a sac that the fish can fill with air to varying degrees to help with living at different levels of the water. I suggest if you are going to treat, treat for dropsy. If you have had him for this long and have been keeping up with your tank maintenance(regular partial water changes, filter cartridge changes, proper feeding) And you haven't added any fish in a while.(these are the two main factors under which dropsy appear) And you have a large enough tank for all the fish to comfortably grow into(if a fish is in a tank that is too small, the external growth becomes stunted and stops while the internal growth continues. A mess if you can imagine it) The only other thing it could be is a birth defect affecting the swim bladder. This is also pretty common in your fancy goldfish because of the fancy shapes and fins come from tons of over inbreeding. It often causes internal problems and the most common is the swim bladder. It may have always been there but your fish before was young enough to overcompensate but as they get older it can be hard to fight and overtake the fishes ability to swim properly. There is not much you can do to prevent, cure or diagnose this last one. Some fish live for a little while like this. But the end will come.

Answer 3

You really are doing everything right that you can do. Sometimes, truly, fish just die for no good reason, at least that we can detect. And it's difficult to say what might be wrong with him by him just lying on the bottom or belly up at the top. The only other thing that I can suggest, and this really isn't as a treatment, but more to try to answer some questions is to test your water. This will often tell us what is going on. Maybe you had an ammonia spike that Pepper couldn't handle as well as the other fish. Maybe you'll find nothing, but it's good to test water regularly anyway. Good luck to little Pepper!

Answer 4

Pray for him, but be prepared to flush. It may be his time to go swoosh. Seriously though....I've never seen a fish come back from the symptoms you describe. It sounds like he's actually in the process of dying.

Suggestion...Make sure you are using a carbon filter in your aquarium that is appropriate for the size. Don't keep too many gold fish in the tank (Maybe 1 fish to every two gallons of water). Don't drain all the water when you clean the tank. Never take out more than 25% of the water, but do this twice per week. Some people remove the fish and drain all the water. Don't do that!

Answer 5

I'm sad for what happen to your loving Pepper! I remember my fish, my bro birthday gift for me. Im not sure if he/she but i name it "Risa", 3 yrs old. I remember, when we had a brownout, i was so worried and panic, no oxygen. What i did, i get a straw and blow it every minute. Well, i did that about 2 hours(heehaw) Maybe, your pepper was old and its time to rest... let it go, don;t make pepper suffer. But,i believed in Miracle's you never know pepper will get better. Get Well Soon Pepper!!!!

Answer 6

the temperature of water is the problem.
When you changed Pepper's water, he probably became worse right? this is because when you suddenly change a fish's environment, it's hard for it to adapt. but i completely understand that you HAD to do it. I know that you really love pepper and might be red-eyed reading all those answers about flushing him. Wat i can advice you is call a vet in an emergency hour and try to talk to him about this. he might help you. and don't overdose pepper. i know you feel bad but my fish acted the same way, and that's how they................................................... weren't there.

Answer 7

Be careful not to medicate for something he doesn't have. Could he have overeaten? It sounds like he could have swim bladder. Try starving him for a couple days, or getting him to eat a pea to see if the gas from swim bladder will be released (squish a pea and drop it by him in the water).

Answer 8

CALL A FISH STORE!!! They will be able to help u but you might need to come to grips that maybe Pepper has lived his full goldfish life. Good luck I too am a mother of fish so for sure call a fish store that specialises w/fish!!!

Answer 9

i am sorry to say, your beloved pepper is getting ready to pass. i had a ryuki that did the same thing for several weeks. often times we thought he was just constipated, as he would go back to his normal behavior after a bm, but he did eventually die.

Answer 10

I forgot the name of the medication,but it's in a dark blue bottle w/yellow label. It has a fish picture on it w/popped out eyes circled, fins and I don't remember the rest.I'd be more helpful, if I was home. Go to pet's mart, and look for this medication,You can't miss it , I think it's the only one in a dark blue bottle.