My poor little goldfish seems to be having a swimbladder problem. Unless he tries his hardest he always ends up floating back up to the top, especially if he gets into the bubbles coming from the bubbler on one wall of the tank! I have flake food, but before I feed the fish I soak it in some tank water, so it expands and sinks once I put it in the tank. I feed them peas every night (the fish go crazy when I give them peas!). I'm concerned that this goldfish might not be getting his share of the peas because he has trouble getting to them before the other 2 eat them all. Most of his day is spent under the rock I have in the tank. : ( I thought I could put him in a small hospital tank so he'd be sure to get his food and not be bothered, but he poor thing just floated nearly upside down at the top. I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 very small goldfish. I change the water once every week and I use a Whisper filter and change the filter cartridge every 3rd week. I use Aqua-Plus to dechlorinate the water. Other than the poor guy floating around like this he appears to be healthy and if I tap the glass or move his rock he will swim around (until he starts floating again). Does anyone have any idea what I can do for him? Thanks a lot!
Jenn

Try this.

Not feeding them for three days and then feed nothing but peas for three days, this might help clean him out

Have you tested your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)? If not then you really should as swimbladder problems can be linked to long term exposure to high nitrates. It would be good to rule this out. If you can't buy the tests yourself then your fish store will test your water for you for a small charge. Take a pen and paper and record each result and post it here. Don't let the assistant tell you it's ok/not ok as most of them time they give out incorrect advice.
Try the pea thing that Koko suggested, it really does help in mild cases.

:angry: One of my goldfish is like that. He just gets himself into trouble by eating bubbles and not spitting all of it back out......

Thanks for all the advice! I'll take my water to the pet store tomorrow morning, they test it for free. I'll be able to post what the results were tomorrow afternoon when I'm on my lunch break. If I try the pea idea (fast for 3 days, peas for 3 days) should I move him to a separate tank? Thanks!! Jenn

I wouldnt recommend moving him, since that could stress him out more. You could try hand feeding him, to make sure he gets his share. I have a slow swimmer, too, and I just feed the others, then feed her on the other side of the tank to make sure she eats enough.

BTW 3 fish in a 10 gallon is going to cause a lot of water quality problems, just to let you know. As long as its only temporary you should be okay.

Even though the fish are so small?
I probably wouldn't be able to get a larger tank for a while until I get my own place...

good idea, maybe I can try to feed him on the side so the other 2 don't eat all the food.

I got my water tested today:

Nitrate was between 20-30
Nitrite was .5
Ammonia was .25 or just a little higher

she said the pH was a little alkaline, but that is how our water is around here and she said it isn't a problem.

Is my water quality poor? Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks again everyone!

Ammonia and nitrite should be 0 and nitrate under 20 in a healthy cycled tank. How long has your tank been set up as it appears to be still cycling?
It would be a good diea to do 30% water changes until your ammonia and nitrite are 0 to dilute the toxicity to the fish.

Hi!
How often should I do the water changes? Currently I change about 20-25% once a week.
The tank has been set up about 4 or 5 months.
Thank you!!

A 30% water change and a good gravel vac once a week is usually enough in an adequately stocked tank (10 gallons per fish).
As you are overstocked i expect you will need to do 2, 30% water changes and 2 gravel vacs per week to keep your water parameters in check.
It does appear strange that your tank doesn't appear to be cycled after having been set up for over 4 months. A properly cycled tank should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and over 0 nitrates but preferably under 20. All your figures are above these and you really need to get them down. To do this you will need to do a 30% water change and a gravel vac daily. If you keep this up you should see them dropping. Is there a chance that you could be overfeeding as this could add to your problem? While you are having your water quality problems I would cut your feeding down to no more than they can eat in 3 minutes once a day. Once your water quality is good again you can make this twice a day again but when you do this keep an eye on those water parameters! Always make sure too that any uneaten food is removed.
For some reason your biobugs arw having trouble getting accomplished here. have you added any harsh medications that might have killed them off? When you clean your filters do you rinse them in old tank water? If you don't and rinse them under the tap then you could be killing your biobugs every time.

A while ago I had some ich medicine I was putting in the tank for about 5 days I think, that was about a month ago and once I stopped putting it in I changed the water right away.

I did rinse off the filters in tap water, so when I clean the tank tonight I'll know not to do that now, thanks! What about when I rinse off some of the decorations I have in the tank, should I also rinse those in the tank water?

Thanks for all your help. : )

Jenn

All surfaces in your tank, including ornaments, gravel, filter, glass, are covered with beneficial bacteria and when you rinse them in tap water you are killing them all. This is probably the reason why your tank hasn't cycled yet. When you do a water change keep a bit of the old water aside in a bucket then clean your filter etc in that. This will nesure your friendly bacteria stay alive and will hopefully help your tank cycle.
Personally I never rinse my ornaments because I like the weathered look the algae gives them, but if you really want to clean yours then do it in the same bucket as the filter. Keep doing this and I bet that in a few weeks you'll find that you're fully cycled (ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate over 0 but under 20 preferably).