I don't understand it really. He was fine not long ago. He's a common gold fish I noticed some sort of white fuzz type stuff on it's fins and now he simply lays on the bottom of the tank. He moves pretty nimbly when he needs to but other then that he simply lays there. I don't know any of the test results but he's in a ten gallon tank and there are three other small goldfish. I haven't changed the water yet since I've only had these fish for a couple days. I try and keep the temperature in the 70 range I have an aquaclear power filter rated to the 5-20 gal. range. I think I may have overfed them last time could that have anything to do with it? For any help I would be truly grateful.

Part of your problem is your tank is overstocked so water quality is going to be poor.The normal rule for goldfish is 10 gallons per fancy goldfish and 20 gallons per common/comet.Given the ammount of fish you need to be changing the water near enough daily.I suggest you do an immediate water change and also recommend you get a water test kit and regularly test your water.If you take a sample of your current water to your LFS they will test it ask them to write down the results and post them on here I would also suggest salting your tank with aquarium salt at 1 teaspoon a gallon then 12 hours later adding another teaspoonful per gallon so your tank is salted at 0.2% which helps with fungal infections.Remove some tank water and disolve salt in it then put it into tank.


Finally a warm

Blue has given you some good advice. I also wanted to point out that when a tank is newly set up, it goes through what is commonly called "cycling". What this means is that beneficial bacteria build up, mainly in the filter media, but also on the gravel and ornaments, and this beneficial bacteria converts ammonia and nitrite (which are deadly to fish) in nitrate (which is only harmful at very high levels). Ammonia will show up in your tank in the first couple of weeks of operation. This is what is most likely making your fish sick now. As Blue suggested, do a large water change of about 80% and try and get your water tested, as suggested. Continue to do at least 50% water changes daily. When you change the water, add salt to replace the salt you have removed.

After a few weeks of operation, sufficient bacteria to convert ammonia will have developed, and you will see a spike in nitrite. In a few weeks, bacteria will have built up to convert the nitrite into nitrate and your tank will be cycled. At that point, you can do less frequent water changes.

In order to keep tabs on the cycling process of your tank, you should purchase both an ammonia and a nitrite test kit. This way, you will know exactly what is going on with your water. If you have a conveniently located fish store that will test your water for you, you could do it that way, too.

Even if your tank has been running for some time, newly added fish can cause a spike in either ammonia or nitrite whilst the bacteria increases to accomodate the higher fish load.

I hope this helps and please feel free to ask questions.

Thanks alot for your help guys. I just took care of the water changing. I'll take the rest into account I did have one extra question, a friend of mine had caught some wild crawfish from a pond near my house and had said they'd helped keep his tank clean by eating waste. Is that a good idea? I had some serious doubts which is why I didn't do it myself, but i figured it was worth asking people who know what they're talking about.

A couple of points: it isn't a good idea to put wild caught creatures into a home aquarium because of the chance of introducing disease or parasites. Also, any creature is going to add to the bioload of a tank. No living thing lives only on the waste of other beings.

Please let us know how your fish do and if they improve with the water changes.

I think my one fish has taken a turn for the worst. I didn't notice this before but his fins are really badly ripped up and now he can hardly swim. I don't think there is much chance he will recover and it's 12 am here so theres nothing I can do at the moment. what should I do?

ace6, I am sorry to hear about your fish. I hope it is doing all right, even getting better!!

I don't want to be an alarmist and I am by far no expert but could the fish have fin rot? I saw a picture on the internet of a more severe case that looked like ace6 is describing, or would that take a lot longer to get to that point?
Symptoms: Split, torn or ragged fins, often with a white edge or signs of bleeding. Damage may extend to the body. Sores may become infected by other disease organisms including fungi and other bacteria. Secondarily infected wounds often have a fluffy appearance.
Reason for infection: Virtually always due to poor water quality, especially the presence of ammonia and nitrite. Wounds from fighting and fin-nipping, improper handling and grazes from sharp decor may become infected if the immune response of the fish is suppressed by stress from poor water quality.
Action: If the water is heavily polluted the fish may die from poisoning and treatment is unlikely to be effective, so test first. If there's something wrong with the water, try and find out why. Remove fin-nippers or bullies from the tank. Ensure there's no sharp decor.
Treatment: Buy an antibacterial liquid treatment from your aquatic shop, and add this to your tank according to the instructions. Keep monitoring the water quality during treatment and make a water change if pollution becomes a problem. Adding aquarium salt at a dose of 2-3g per litre may help fish control their internal salt levels. Your vet may prescribe antibiotics in severe cases.
(this is all a quote I got off the iternet months ago, so I apologize to whomever put it up that I am not sourcing it. When I copied it for my own use I never imagined postng it to try to help someone else, ut I believe Matt Clarke wrote it ).

I don't have the answers and may not be helping in any way, but it was just a thought. Good luck!!

Yeah it seemed like fin rot to me. Unfortunately when I woke up this morning he and the other fish like him were both gone. I kinda expected that with him but the other took me off guard. He was in the earlier stages of what seemed like the culprit with the first fish but I figured I had time to make improvements. Guess not, the good news is, My other two fish are both very healthy looking so things should be good for them. I have a suspicion that these fish may not have been the healthiest to begin with. They were actually going to be used as feeder fish.

I'm sorry you lost two of your fish.If you still have your common along with your olther goldfish.You never said what type it was.Its important to keep up your daily water changes to help prevent disease.Also add water conditioners to ensure tap water is safe for your fish.When changing your water remember to mix in aquarium salt with the fresh water.If you change say 3 gallons of water salt the 3 gallons you are putting back up to 0.2%.Hope things improve I would consider up grading your tank to larger size when you can.Keep us posted

I was going to add that if you are going to the pet shop, try and pick up some Prime water conditioner along with the testing kits. It will remove chlorine/chloramines to make your tap water safe for the fish, but it also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites in a cycling tank, which can be very helpful especially when you are overstocked. It is a little more expensive than other water conditioners but it is so concentrated that you only need a tiny bit so it lasts way longer than other conditioners. If you have a Petsmart near you, you can go online to their website and find things you want to buy, print out the page and take it with you into the store and they will match their own online prices, which will save you a bundle! They sell the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit for $13.49 online, where it is like $28 in the store-and that is a great kit to start out with. It has all the tests you need and they are the liquid type tests which are more accurate than the strips and far cheaper in the long run. You get like 25 strips in a bottle, but there are over 700 tests in this kit.

Good luck with your fish!