hi my first post here...and i have included a video here..

Video here (right click and save target as)

i have been keeping my goldfish for more than a yr...and recently just change from a smaller tank to a new one. My new tank is 44cm x 28cm x 27cm, which i suppose to work out ard 30 litres or 8 gallons i suppose?

The goldfish has developed swimming problems more than 6 months ago...and only until recently i started to give medication to it...i always thought that its' swimming problem was due to it dorsal fins not opening up...am i correct? or it has swimming bladder disease? or both? In the video, the gills of the fish are not able to close fully, why is it? physical handicapped?

As such i treated my fish in a hospital tank. How do i set up the hospital tank? I put 100% new water (tap water) in the tank and add a medication called INTERPET 13. However i read the direction and found the medication would be 1ml for every 20 litres...but my tank is around 10 litres, so i put only half of 1ml medication. Is it effective?

I seriously need some advice on the setup of the hospital tank, as i doubt 100 new waer is gd. As my hospital tank is 10 litres, surely i can't have 10 litres of used water right?

hmm i can't seem to edit my first post...anyway i using only 1 filter for my tank. What kind of filter does it belong to? external power filter? And i only used a sponge for the filter, is it ok?

sorry here is the picture

Swimbladder problems can be linked to high nitrates and as it sounds like your fish's fins are clamped (folded up) thne I expect poor water quality is almost certainly one of the main causes here. You need to check your water parameters in both tanks a.s.a.p. (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). You can buy the kits but if you dont want to you cna get your fish store to test a sample of the water for you either for free or for a small charge. If you do this though ask them for the exact figures and write them down so you can post them here. I'll be able to offer further advice then. Remember that not all employess in these places ahve the best interests of the fish at heart and often out of ignorance fail to offer the right advice.
What is the maintenace schedule on your main tank?
And also, when you say you only used sponge for the filter what do you mean? What kind of sponge?

Yep, looks like an external power filter. I'm not sure of the brand, it doesn't look like any I'm familiar with. Is the sponge you're using made specifically for use in this (or another) tank filter? It looks rolled up in the media compartment.

So long as the sponge you're using is fish safe, it is fine to use. Since you only have one media insert, though, (the sponge), it will be the source for mechanical *and* biological filtration, so to clean it you should squeeze it out in removed tank water or relatively same temp dechlorinated water. (Chlorine can kill off the "good bacteria".) Should you find it necessary to replace the sponge, take a piece of the old sponge and put it amongst the new sponge so as to "seed" your filter with good biobugs.

Now onto your fish problems...

First of all, beautiful fish Too bad you have such an unfortunate reason for making the video clip. You mention the gills are unable to close, swimming problems, and I notice one fish on the bottom in the video. Are any of these symptoms recent? How long have you had these fish and how long has the tank been set up? It looks like there are 5 fish in this tank - is that correct?

First things first, like Fishyfan suggested, you need to check your water. 8 gallons is not a lot of water for 5 fish. Ideally you'd want 50-60 gallons or more for all those beauties to live healthy lives. Goldfish are fat bodied and produce a lot of ammonia, so they need a good water to fish ratio. They can also grow quite large (commonly 8-9") so they need a lot of physical space to swim around.

It is possible that the root of your problems here is water quality. Even if it isn't, you need perfect water to medicate effectively - anything less will only stress the fish further.

Open gills (when they cannot close) are often a sign of parasites (most commonly flukes), but it could be infection due to poor water as well. If you are brave enough to take your fish out of the water and lift his gill cover, that would be a good indication of what's going on there. The filaments should look bright red, not dark red, brown or pink, and should not be clumped together or have any white patches. The gills should have a clean arch and not be missing any sections or have the edges look tattered.

The fish sitting on the bottom could be due to poor water or parasites; the fish with the swimming trouble, same thing. Fish often flip or have trouble maintaining their position in the water in the presence of another stressor (such as parasites or poor water).

How long since your last addition to this tank? Have you ever had any deaths in this tank, and if so, what symptoms if any did they exhibit? How large are these fish? Also, as Fishyfan asked, how frequently do you do water changes and how much do you change?

Getting your water checked is the most important thing right now. I am in the US and am not familiar with Interpet meds. What are the ingredients of the med you're using and what are its dosing directions? I would not have suggested medicating without further information, but since you've already started, you could carry out the rest of the treatment. If you're going to continue to treat, I'd suggest you do a very large water change on the "hospital tank" every day, since it doesn't sound like it is filtered and even if it is, we don't know that the filter is cycled.

for the hospital tank, I do a 100% change of water, which means 100% tapwater directly into the tank, is it ok?

about the fish that is lying in the corner, i recently noticed there are some white spots on its fin. Wat diseases is this?

You'd best be treating your tap water with a dechlorinator.. chlorine + fishy = bad.

White spots is usually ich. Fairly easy to treat if you get it early. You can get some de-ich meds at the pet store. Remember to remove your activated carbon (it'll take the medicine out of the water) and treat for at least a week after the spots have gone away to get the eggs in the tank.

may i know wat is activated carbon and how do i remove it?

by the way, i'm not sure if my fish has ich, so if i put it on medication, will it harm the fish? pls advise.

omigod your fish are so huge and beautiful. I think most of your problems are do poor water quality. Goldfish as big as yours would do best in a larger aquarium.

For some odd reason in the Uk manufacturers are not required to state what ingredients are in their medications. Some brands do state the main ingredient, but Interpet don't ever mention this on their bottles.

I also have a goldfish with swim bladder problems. It first occurred last August and I was able to help it by fasting it and giving it peas. It never was completely back to normal but he seemed to do just fine. Recently he's been getting worse (doing flips and not finding his balance) and I did the same routine. I fasted him for a day and a half and gave him peas for four days. Then I fasted him for an additional day when I didn't see improvement and he seemed to be in worse shape. The ph is within range and the ammonia levels are low. I change the water in his 10 gallon tank every other week. There's only one other fish. I'm not sure what else to do. Could it be a parasite? I noticed the first time with swim bladder that he seemed to have a "pimple" that traveled in his body. I saw that several times but haven't seen it recently. How long can I continue with peas? Should I move this fish to another tank and should I give it antibiotics? Thanks for any advice you can give.

i try to fast the fish for 3 days yet it still dun wan to eat the peas that i fed him

nice tank

Perhaps he just doesn't like peas. Like us, goldfish all ahve individual tastes. Try some cooked brocolli or sprouts instead. they should do the trick.

I can't really help you here except to say that a tank that size with all those fish must have a lot of ammonia, nitrite, ect.... Anyhoo, I am just wondering how often you clean out your tank? If you just do , say, a 25% water change every week then there could be high levels of ammonia in there, which could be effecting your fishes swimming. It could just be swim bladder though, but swim bladder isn't contagiuos, so here is my next question- Do any of your other fish have the same symptoms? As i said earlier i am not an expert, as a matter of fact, I am still learning a lot of this stuff myself. Oh and sheri, can you answer these questions also.

oh yea, i forgot to mention what bueaties you have!

i always do a 50% change like twice a week, and only this particular fish has swimming problem.

Okay. Well, its probably just swim bladder. Here is what you should do-
1. fast him for about 2 days
2. thaw out some frozen pea's
3. shell the pea's and chop them up into smaller bits (depending on the size of your fish)
4. feed them to him for about a week and then see how hes doing

you should only feed him a couple of pea's about 2 times per day. In my last post i told you i'm not an expert, so I would also ask some one else, just to be sure that what I told you is correct. Oh yea, I know i said this to you before but you have some very pretty fish. Hope he feels better soon.

hmm he now on medication but doesnt seem to be recovering..
btw i can differeniate the different kinds of goldfish. Are my ones called fan tail?