I am taking care of my daughters fish while she is out of town. One of her fish is swimming upside down. She has five fish in the tank and the other four are fine.

She feeds them a pellet food.

They are in a 20 gallon tank with two filters.

One sucker fish (small)

One snail

Please Help Me.

Hi carole and
i'ts best if u try to answer as many questions in the red box above as it will help us greatly in helping ur problem.

Hi and welcome, it is nice of you to take care of the fish.

As it was stated above we need all this info to help you, however it does sound like Swim Bladder Disease. I will let you read up on this, in the meantime fasting the fish (all of them it will be good for the others too) for a couple days and then feed thawed deshelled peas cut to bite size pieces. Only 1 pea per gf., for a couple days should help.

I will also say that having 4 gf in a 20 gal tank is way overstocked, so I would bet the water quality isn't very good. FYI just because it looks clean doesn't mean it is. GF are messy, massive waste producers and living it that can hurt them or even kill them so testing the water is a must.
You can let us know the results and we can help you further.

Thank You so much for answering my cry for help.

I'll tell you what I can.

The filters Disposable Floss/Carbon, The brand name is Cascade. Size is 150-200

The fish food is Omega One Small Pellets.

I don't think he (the boyfriend) changes it enough, maybe once every two or three months.

They add NovAqua after changing the water. 1tsp for every ten gallons of water. That what the directions say.

I do not see any thing strange on the fish.

No other strange behavior.

I have taken the ill fish out of the tank and its in a large bowl because thats all I have.

Should I give it Peas? I read that somewhere. It's big but I can't see how its going to eat it.

Waiting for you reply.

Just learning how to use this darn computer.

Hi,

This is Carole Mayer, the lady with the sick goldfish. He or She died just awhile ago. And yes I cried.

I'm so glad I found this site. Not only did it give me comfort but I learned so much. Now I will be able to see to it the other four fish are better taken care of.

Thank you to the Ladies that responded.

Carole iwork4uinalaska@gmail.com

OOps!! I mean The lady and gentleman that responded.

So very sorry about ur fish....

I think some immediate change that u (or anyone that takes care of the fish) are:

1. to do water change every week, not every 2-3 months, especially with an overstocked tank.

2. vary the food. not only pellets, but also some veggies, bloodworms, and most importantly peas.

3. read as much as u can about caring goldfish.

hope the other 4 fish will get much more care than before

Carole I am sorry to hear the fish died. But glad we are able to help with the others.

As stated above, a water change should be done once a week or even more if an overstocked tank.
How much depends on the levels of the bio cycle.
Really tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and PH are a must when keeping fish. Water quality is everything to keeping them healthy. I would invest in them pronto. I know it isn't your fish, but maybe you could help your daughter (I think that is who you are keeping them for) and let her know we are here to help her as well.