Hey Everyone,

I have a major problem with my goldfish (not fancy) but i can't figure out what exactly is the problem

First, some background information:
The goldfish is one of 7 fish in the tank (all of which do not show any visible problems and are swimming happily). The tank is quite large (120 litre, roughly 30gal.) and i don't think that anything is wrong with the water, but i'll get some tests done today. She was bough 3 years ago and has never shown any problems in mixing with the other fish, so no stress probs.

The fish has been at the bottom of the tank for a day or two now. Its bent over, such that its head and tail fins are on the bottom of the tank but the middle of the body arches up so that she looks like a triangle. She generally doesn't swim either unless food is placed in the tank (Flake food), but even then it seems like she is struggling. She is very lathargic, and it seems that she is also slighly more 'inflated'

I would appreciate any help you can give

Thanks in advance

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Im afraid its not good news. The fish sounds like its dying, as thats what the arc means.

Also, your tank is over populated and you will run in to more problems if they arent upgraded soon. Common goldfish are really messy and they need at least 20 gallons each when small. With fish of around 3 years old they should be around 6 inches or more in length. If not then this causes stunting and premature death.

Filling in as much of the above box as you can will help us more, especially your results for ammonia etc.

Hey, thanks for the quick reply

I went to my local aquatic store and got all the water tests performed. They reported nothing was out of the ordinary, therefore I don't think i need to do any kind of water change.

When I asked him about the problem, he said she probably has a broken back, given that she tends to use the pectoral fins more than the tail. This probably also explains the reason why the arch seems to have happened in the tail end of her.

Some other Info:
Filter used: Fluval 4 Plus internal filter
Water change: normally every 3-4 weeks
Fish in tank: 2x Shubunkin (5") 1x Fantail (2.5") 4 Zebra Danios (1")
Conditioners Used: Chlorine remover, bacterial additive once filter is washed
Medications: None recently (bout of finrot about Jun-July time and added some anti-bacterial, since then nothing)
No new fish

P.S. Also, wanted to make a correction, the size of the tank is 45 gal. Got the conversion wrong for my tank size

Thanks for your help

Pet stores know very little about keeping goldfish and we see this all the time.
You cant see whats wrong with the water. Your ammonia and nitrite may be 0 but this doesnt mean you shouldnt do water changes regularly.
Bacteria builds up un noticed and its this more than the tanks parameters that causes bacterial diseases. You should be aiming for 50% at least once a week. A fluval 4 is a good filter and with the amount and size of fish may struggle in a few months to keep up with the fish waste.
The fish thats sick I doubt very much has a broken back, can you get a pic of it?

I agree, frequent partial water changes are one of most important things you can do to maintain healthy fish and good water quality - especially with a heavily stocked tank. It may also be worth getting your own test kits so you can monitor the water quality yourself on a weekly basis. Good luck with your sick fish.

This is the photo of my fish. Please note that she is not swollen like in the picture, in fact she is relatively slender


Also, this is the position that shes been in for the past three days

Thanks for your help

I think the best thing would be to increase the waterchanges as Sandy and Mr B advised. This could be bacterial especially if her face is in the gravel and the first thing needed is excellent water (the things you can't see on a test kit)...

Also, have you noticed whether she's been pooping lately? What does it look like? ie. solid/thick or white/stringy?

Does she still have an appetite?

Unfortunately it doesn't look good but maybe increasing your waterchanges might help initially and if you see even the littlest improvement, you could try medicating...

How are things?