My goldsish has gone nuts.. he is swiming upside down, floating on either the bottom or the top of his tank. he has also taken to spin. any ideas, other than feeding him peas

Hi there katheb and

Would you be able to answer as many of the questions in the white box as possible? This is the best way to narrow down whether it's a problem with the water or possibly bacterial.

Guessing on the health of your fish wouldn't be fair to you so a little more information will help enormously.

Please post back soon

I couldn't tell you any of the levels for nittrates,ph or ammonia. I change the water twice a weeks, I have two goldfish, a comet{bubbles}, and a telescope{cross eyed clyde}. they are in a 5 gallon tanks witha small air filter, which they both have been in since Feb. They are fed flake food. The only chemical used in the tank is a dechlorinater,
There is nothing growing on the fish or in the tank. Other than clydes odd swimming nothing is abnormal about the way they swim or eat. Bubbles is doing great he has even grown a lot in the last month. Clyde is the one who is swimming in circles and floating upside down, sometimes when I walk by it seems like he has passed a way but if you watch him long enough he starts to swim around again. This isn't normal right.

NO it isn't normal. Unfortunetly they are suffering from poor water quality, this is my experience.
You see gf need at least 10 gal of water each and for the comet 20 gal each to stay healthy.
GF produce alot of waste that make them sick, basically they swim in their "own" waste, that makes them unhealthy. So they need lots of water to help "dilute" it out.

The first thing you need to do is get the water tested, whether you buy the tests or have the lfs do it for you, get the numbers and post them here. We can help guide you on what to do.
It is important that you don't just have the clerk at the store tell you "it's ok" often they are inexperienced and can mislead you.

The swimming upside down is a problem called Swim Bladder Disease, you can read up on it and how to treat it.
Often a fish can live with the condition but it requires alot of support on your part.

Keep us posted.

Hi Katheb - can you just clarify something - are both fish in one 5 gallon tank or are they each in their own? I wasn't sure based on your post.

It would really be helpful if you could post the parameters - you can buy a test kit or take a sample of your water to a local fish shop, they will test it for free, just have them write down the results and then the people here can help you better.

You mentioned peas in your first post, have you tried that yet?

Thanks for all of your help. I'll try the pea thing in the morning. I'm pretty sure that it is not swim bladder disease other than swimming odd he has no other symptoms. Clyde has always seemed a little off. Ever since the day my husband brought him home , cross eyed Clyde has been weird, we thought it was because he is cross eyed. As for testing the water looks like I'll be shopping for a test kit. I'd like to think that I am taking the best care of our fish, I keep the tank very clean, they are loved by our family. My daughter and I sit and talk to the fish, she even kisses the tank { bubbles is her fish} bubbles always seems to react when ever she is there.

PLease don't take offense at the mention of poor water quality, often keeping the tank "clean" can be a problem. Hopefully you are familar with biocycling. Cleaning a tank and filter can often mean a poor cycle.

If you don't mind, how do you clean your tank and filter?