Johnny, my oranda aprox 7 years old and about 6" long usually rests on the bottom of the tank for most of the afternoon - and has been doing so for a couple of years. My black bulging eyed fish "Molly" also has taken to doing this as well.
This morning, Johnny was buried into a plant, his fins are a bit ragged and streaked with red as is his head. He was ok yesterday.

The nitrate level is high, I am on my way to the pet store to get something to neutralize the water for an immediate 50% (?) water change.
I have removed some plants from the tank and "vacuumed" under them, added Pimafix and did about a 25% water change this morning and changed the Eclipse filter.
What else can I do??? Should I add aquarium salt? I noticed he has a bit of cottony growth as well now.
thanks!

Hi, Johnny, and !

Too bad your goldfish isn't feeling too well at the moment, since you have managed to keep him for a nice number of years.

It would be essential for us to see the bigger picture of his care, that way we'll be better informed when giving advice. There is a huge box on top of this section with all kinds of questions - try to answer as many as you can. If you don't have all the test kits that are necessary, you can take some sample water to your pet store, they'll test it for you. And testing the tap water also helps - sometimes there are things in there that are making matters worse.

I'd definetely do a nice, large water change first to get those nitrates down - that is always the best solution with high nitrates. Unless of course there are already nitrates in your tap water, thats why it would be helpful to know the numbers from that as well.

Please post back soon, so we'll figure out whats going on.

1. Ammonia level - 0-.5 ppm mg/l
Nitrate 200
Nitrite 20
pH - neutral - tap too
Aquarium is 12"x24"x15" with an Eclipse 1 filteration top
I change the water every 3 weeks - about 25%
Fish: Johnny - 6" Oranda
Molly:3" Black Moor
Fritz: 6" Pleco?
Zippy: 2" Dwarf otocinclus
Kit: 1.5" catfish

Additives: Aquarium Solutions Ultimate: "A full function water conditioner", Pimafix
No medications
No new fish
Feed: Nutrafin Max : Sinking Complete Food Tablets, Nutrafin Max Goldfish Spirulina Flakes, occasional brine shrimp, occasionally peas
Johnny has a bit of cottony fungus on his tail, frayed fins, bloody streaks in tail especially and all fins, a transparent skin like sheet floating near his mouth (small area)
and he usually sits on the bottom for some hours each day. Now Molly is doing the same since 4 months. today, Molly is just sticking to Johnny, sitting and swimming wherever he goes.

I would like to point out that your water readings are not what you posted. If your NitrIte levels were actually 20ppm, all your fish would be dead. Plus nitrates at 200 are pretty deadly too.

I used the test strips and they were at the dark pink level - on the strip it says 200.... no fish are dead

Well, from the looks of it, and like FuzzyPeaches pointed out, there seems to be a water quality issue in your tank, and if that is something that goes on over time, then the fish will be effected. Some things fish do well with over a shorter period of time, like higher nitrates, other things do not sit well with fish at all, like the deadly ammonia and nitrites. Both latter ones shouldn't be present in a cycled tank, so something must have happened to your beneficial bacteria in your tank.

Do you have any gravel in your tank, or live plants? Dirty gravel, even if vacuumed on a weekly basis, can harbor all kinds of nasties, which effects your fish and your water readings. On the other hand, live plants use up nitrates as fertilizer, and tanks that are heavily planted can sometimes manage to come up with a zero nitrate reading.

I am not too familiar with the particular eclipse system you are using, but I remember it has a biowheel on it, right? Have you done anything to that biowheel lately, like rinsing/cleaning it under tap water? That wheel, as ugly as it might look over time, holds a HUGE amount of beneficial bacteria, and shouldn't be cleaned up too thoroughly. Especially not under tap water, since the chlorine in the tap water kills all beneficial bacteria. That goes for all filter media, btw - never clean it in tap water.

I also assume that the Eclipse 1 system is not strong enough for your roughly 20 gl tank, and your fish are big, which adds all together. Growing fish=more waste output, both via poop and every time they breathe, combined with a filter system that needs some help, plus the fact that water changes should be done more frequently, like more towards 25-50% weekly. Especially with a fish load like yours - you are pushing your limits there with 2 goldfish and the other 3. All of them are huge waste producers, and I will assume here that it all played a role in your fish's behavior.

What I would do if it were my fish is doing a big water change right now, even 70-80%. Remember, if you would do 50%, then you'll reduce your bad readings by only half, which still leaves you with a trace of ammonia, 100 of nitrates and 10 of nitrites. Any ammonia/nitrite readings above zero are toxic, and I would think that your fish are reacting to it.

Then I would go and find either a bigger eclipse system if you like that particular brand, or go for a more efficient filter alltogether. There are plenty of hang-on filters that are wonderful, as long as you remember that you need 10x the tank volume in g/h. So, with a 20 gl tank, you'd need a filter that AT LEAST pumps 200 gl/h, since your fish load is heavy.

Might be that with the inadequate housing your fish's immune system isn't up to par as it should be, and opportunistic parasites have gotten a hold of your fish. That would be where the fungus, bloody streaks (also a sign of inadequate water quality) and the tail issue are coming from. In a lot of cases, cure the water, and it'll cure your fish.

You can add some salt to the water to give the fish somewhat of a tonic - salt is also a great treatment for half a dozen kinds of parasites. Not any salt will do - most cooking salts have anticaking agents in them that is toxic to fish. Use aquarium salt, rock salt, or pickle salt. Any salt that contains salt, and nothing else. Right now, I have pickling salt ready in case something should pop up. Use 1 teaspoon per 1 gl of water, but beware that plecos are a bit sensitive to salt, so you might want to take them out first.

But remember, you can try to cure the effects, but as long as the water isn't taken care of, you'll have continued problems.

I emptied the tank of all plants and things, hoovered the gravel till it ran clear, did about an 80% water change and changed the filter. I didn't rinse the wheel. Ph is ok, nitrites are zero, nitrates are showing still close to 200 (!?) I added Pimafix and that Aquarium Solutions Ultimate. Probably freaked all the fish out because the tank was empty of all things. I rinsed out the plants and trimmed them back (pretty heavily planted) and put them back.
I then fed Johnny and he gobbled everything up. He was swimming around ok while I was changing the water, etc., but went back to sitting at the bottom. If I walk by the tank he always has his dorsal fin up.
I will add some aquarium salt tonight. I will check out another filter system. Thanks!

Wow, your fish sure got a good, nice cleanup today!

That nitrate reading bothers me - it should have gone down after the water change, and I can think of two reasons right now why it is still up there.

First - the test kit isn't good anymore. Test strips like you mentioned are in general a lot less reliable than the ones you have to add drops. Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has good test kits, and I always prefer those over the ones with the strips. They are a lot more reliable.

Second - have you tested your tap water for nitrates? Maybe you have some in there that makes it hard to reduce the number in the tank.

I have been changing the water about 25%-30% per day for the past week and two filter changes and, hurrah! nitrates are now down to 20 and nitrites are 0. I tested the tap water and they showed up as 0 there, so it wasn't the strips. Johnny's bloody streaks are clearing up - gone on the dorsal fin and his head is back to normal colour. The left side of his tail fin wasn't as affected by fraying but the bad parts of the right side tail have dropped off (looks like he had a trim) and I guess it will grow back. He is pretty perky otherwise. Actually all the fish seem to be more active, even so Johnny and Molly still like to sit on the bottom and nap in the afternoons. I have ordered new test kits and will be more diligent in changing the water at least 2-3 times weekly till it gets to 0.
Thank you for all your help!!

Yay! Glad to hear things are lookin' up for you. Aren't you glad you found this place? Isn't it wonderful? Don't forget to post some pics of your fish!! We'd love to see them.

Well, don't we all love success stories!! Keep up the water changes, and in the future keep an eye on those water parameters. 90% of all goldfish troubles come either from water issues or lack of quarantine, and I believe in the saying "Take care of your water, and the water will take care of your fish... "

Well......I wouldn't really bust out all the "success story" balloons JUST yet. One major problem is that you have WAY too small a tank for all those goldies...AND you have a Pleco in there too! I have SIX goldies in 100 gallons of water!! If I figure right you seem to be under 20 gallons. You gotta see about getting another tank. And I think ya' might need to get that Pleco a new home. They get REALLY big & aren't that compatable with goldies anyway! Don't feel bad.....that is probably how most of us went in search of information in the first place......TOO many Fish & NOT enough Water equals ALL SORTS OF PROBLEMS!!

PLUS...you do water maintenance every 3 weeks. With that many fish is that little water WOW! I do water maintenance EVERY week & I am not over crowded. Your fish have to be really polluting that water in 3 weeks time.

Gosh, I really don't want this to sound harsh...I promise. But you REALLY gotta change somethings fast.