Please!!! Help me with my sisters poor SICK Gold Fish?

Question

My sister has three Gold fish as big as your fist. One of them is a Black Moore. They are all sick and trying to swim and sometimes staying upside down. Their in a 30 gallon Tank and her husband has changed half the waiter to bring up the PH level. They have also put epson salt in it and cleaned both filters. They started being sick almost over night and have continued to be sick for the past two days after they did all the above. Does anyone have any suggestions on what else they should do on trying to help save their Gold Fish. They have had them for the past 5 to 7 years. Have not done anything different or feed them anything different or new.
Thank you!!!

Answer 1

Did they forget to de-chlorinate the water when they exchanged waters? Was there a sharp contrast in water temps? Goldfish can live for a long time, by the way. I had one live 9 years and another to live 11.
There is an antibiotic for fish called Melafix but I doubt that it will help in this situation. There are also test kits for not only the pH level but the amount of ammonia in the water. A chemical called AmQuel Plus will instantly remove all harmful tap water chemicals ( 1 teaspoon for every 10 gallons). As for the salt, you can use a ratio of 1/4 teaspoon of Epsom salts per every 10 gallons.
I suggest that you remove all the fish from the aquarium and put them temporarily in another large tub of warm, treated water with an aerator of some sort. See if the fish start to swim normally again. This will be the test to see if something is or was wrong with the previous water. Final note: Defrosted, green peas (Beagles' suggestion) are for suspected constipation and will not help you at this time.

Answer 2

FIrst off, why an epsomsalts bath? Forget that! Yikes. NO SALT. (I hate this myth and I wish it would just die off. BAD info) Salt does nothing for fish, NOTHING. Slime coat does not regenerate any faster and it doesn't promote a faster slime coat. What were the water quality issues? Testing the water, what was the ammonia, nitrates and PH at? Adding Epsom salts changes the ph in the water like baking soda and should NEVER be used. Even as a laxitive. your fish are growing. Try lowing ther water in the tank 1/2 " to allow the dissolved oxygen to enter the water first off. Secondly, test the water. As the fish grow, more ammonia is in the tank. More water changes are needed. You may not realize there isn't anything new but there is. The fish grow. Also, how big are the fish?

Feel free to email me with the water quality and I will try to help from there.

Answer 3

Umm I haven't had really any experience with gold fish, but I had a betta fish, which, in case ya didn't know, has similar living habits to a gold fish..anyways I think that sometimes they like to be upside down, I dunno why. but anyways I know goldfish are known to be troubling, so maybe they are just playing with you.

hey I just googled it and this is what I found:

Swim Bladder- Swim or air bladder problems sometimes occur in freshwater fish. I have personally seen this is fancy goldfish such as Orandas, Ryunkins, and Shubunkins. When the bladder is effected, the fish will experience equilibrium problems. Sometimes, the problem is not the bladder but other problems which directly affect the bladder. Diseased and inflamed internal organs, improper water conditions or nutrition, and wounds received from fighting with another fish can also effect the equilibrium of the fish. Constipation is also known to affect a fish's swimming ability! Symptoms: The fish has problems swimming correctly. They may appear to be standing on their head, or floating to the surface and struggling to go down to the bottom, or possibly even have problems removing themselves from the bottom. At the later stages of the disease, the fish could lose its balance and swim upside down.

Answer 4

Salt baths. In a bowl, put a small palm size amount of non iodized salt in with some tank water and bath the fish for a minute or so. Make sure the water is a little salty. do this a couple of times every three hours.

Answer 5

I don't own fish, but I've read in several articles that smashed peas help sick fish. I have no idea how or why it works, but apparently it does.

Answer 6

well fish and animals are like people i mean in fish years there fish would be at least 200 years old so maybe there ready too die or they got a disese its fine they probly wont die though!!!!

Answer 7

Can you take fish to a vet?

Answer 8

I think the fish are just getting old. :-(