Hi

Im not too sure what the problems is with my goldfish.

All was well, 2 days ago, but sine then he has been lying on the bottom of the tank on his side, and i have tested the water and the water levers are all good.

He still occasionally trys to move, but not much, he appears to be very alert, however can't swim and looks paralyzed.

What should I do?

Hi James,

Welcome to koko's!

Sorry to hear about your fish. Can you please give us a bit more background info. There is a box on top of the forum and if you can answer as many of the question as possible, it will give us a better picture of your situation. Please quote real numbers for test results. "okay" is too subjective.

On top of that, do you have aeration for the tank? Has anything been done to the tank like a major cleaning including the gravels? Any chemical used in or around the tank/room/house? Painted the room?

Post back soon.

Nothing has been done to disturb the tank,!

It has a water filter with aeration(gravel), The ph Level is spot on.
There are no marks on the fish, nor signs of illness on the fish.

there are live plants in the tank also. (I have had the fish in this environment for the last two years)

The only thing that I can say that has changed was... it reached 42 Degrease Celsius the other day. Which is the day the fish started to lay on it's side.

Two days have gone by, I have just tried the feeding hi a pea, but he did not what to eat it.

I have other fish in the tank and they are fine. (A bit nervous, but fine)

Does this help?

Hi James,

Are you in sydney? We had a couple of really HOT days this week.

How big is the tank, how many fish? Have you tested for ammonia and nitrIte?

Warm water holds less oxygen. Your filter with aeration is an undergravel filter. It is not the best filtering system in the world. Are you sure the gravel hasn't been stirred up at all?

YIP I am in Sydney, I did add ammonia yesterday, however no change in the fish.

Its 80L, with two goldfish in it! The gravel may have been stirred up a bit.
I have done a 20% water change, the water is a little Alkaline but fine and have tried feeding it peas... How long does it take the fish to reacted with the peas, what does the peas do to the fish?

I'm sorry for the lack of info, but I dont know what else to say

Umm, what do you mean you added ammonia yesterday?! Please clarify. We do everything we can to REMOVE ammonia from the tank, no add.

80L with 2 GF is a good size. Alkaline water is not a problem for GF.

When the gravel was stirred up, did you see any bubbles coming out from underneath? Did you smell any rotten egg gas?

Pea gives the fish some fibre and help them digestive system. Useful as a dietary supplement and also help if the fish is suffering from constipation. Don't think it is going to do much for your fish in this case.

As first aid, I would do a 30% water change with dechlor water. Add salt to 0.1%, 1 gram of salt per litre of water. Pure salt, aquarium salt, rock salt, sea salt are okay. Table salt can be used in case of emergency but don't use that repeatedly. The anti-caking agent in the table salt is not good for the fish.

I did not see any bubbles coming out from underneath? or smell any rotten egg gas!

possibly a bit fishy...

I'm not to sure if that was the Name of the product, but the chaps at the fish shop say the stuff would help the balance of the water. (Because the extreme heat may have damaged the water) I'll Check what I used.

Could the fish be suffering from Swim Bladder?

No, I don't think it is SBD. Not to mention SBD has been overused. People seems to use that term for all situation where the fish has buoyancy problems.

Can you please check his gills? Do they look fresh meat red or brown or pale, tatter or slimey? Do you have any test kits for ammonia and nitrIte?

You treat your water with water ager/conditioner because adding to the tank?

it could be the heat. do you have a thermometer?

bacterial infections can make the fish listless and stay on the bottom.

a bit of salt may perk him up (already mentioned).


have you any test kits. it would be helpful if you could give us ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph.

What kind of fish is this? A comet of mine mysteriously started laying on its side for 3 days one day, despite water conditions being good. During then I treated for flukes anyway (with Praziquantel) or I suppose any generic parasite treatment should be ok, just in case, and kept doing daily water changes + 0.2-0.3% aquarium salt. The fish came back up after that (I think a weaker fish wouldn't have survived whatever it was). I still don't know what it is, but it could be one-off stress/shock-related (it did not eat for those 3 days too).

Does it *try* to swim much? Where is the tank located (how hot did you think the water went during the heat-wave?)? Looking alert and breathing normally is a positive sign I hope.