Lately my goldfish has just been sitting at the bottom of the tank. It looks like he's dead but when I feed him he swims right back to the top. But he struggles to stay at the top of the water so he just sinks back down like a stone? What could possibly be wrong with him?
2007-07-30 14:25:55 · 3 answers · asked by notredunks 1 in Pets ➔ Fish
sounds like constipation, NOT a swimbladder disease
here is a site that explains everything including treatment and prevention
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Constipation.html
Hope that helps
Good luck
EB
2007-07-30 20:19:11 · answer #1 · answered by Kribensis lover 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
His swim bladder has failed. The swim bladder is an organ inside the fish that fills with blood gasses when the fish wants to float up in the water. When it fails it can't hold blood gasses anymore so the fish sits on the bottom. There are many possible causes to swim bladder failure. Stress, dirty water, temperature shock, and infection are just a few.
The only cure for this is time and healing - but usually it doesn't heal itself. You should have one goldfish in at least a 5 gallon tank with a filter, and be testing for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates at least every week. Unfortunately, goldfish have a reputation of being an 'easy' fish to care for, and they're actually quite messy - requiring good filtration to keep their water quality up.
2007-07-30 14:31:51 · answer #2 · answered by Heather 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
IT could either be an injured fin but you would be able to tell that eaisly. But I think that his bouyancy bladder has been injured and he does have any control on his bouyancy. He may not last longer than a week. Some fish pull through and figure out how to cope with it or they get better.
2007-07-30 17:38:38 · answer #3 · answered by scareforce 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋