help! i think my goldfish is depressed

[Clure]

We had 2 goldfish about 8 weeks ago. They are in a tank which is 25l. We are very new to this goldfish thing - I now know that the tank is too small.

Anyway one of the fish (Alice) didn't seem to be thriving as much as the other (Alex) and we then noticed that Alice's tail seemed to be disappearing. Got drops for finrot. She also was doing a lot of gulping at the top.

We did a water change roughly twice a week and cleaned the filter.

We have been testing water with a kit.
It seems to suggest amonia was a little high also the nitrite/nitrate was a bit high? We continued to water change.
Last night Alice died (DD was distraught) Now Alex (who has always been very perky) is hiding at the bottom of the tank behind the plants - he seems depressed. He is only coming out occasionally - can fish get depressed?
Is he ill?
We are reading so much conflicting info about feeding, at the moment we feed once a day a tiny pinch of fish flakes. Can anyone please offer some words of advice? Many thanks

Take him one a bus ride??

Sorry no real advice but I hope fishy perks up soon :)

Hello :)

Yes, you are right that 25 litres is too small for goldfish. The RSPCA recommends a minimum 45 litre for any fish at all and I agree- 25 litres is not much good for anything really (apart from making shops and manufacturers rich).

How long was the tank set up before you introduced the fish? I would guess that it wasn't fully cycled (takes about 6 weeks) before the fish were added. This means that the fish are now being exposed to toxic levels of ammonia and nitrIte (different from nitrAte which is only toxic at really high levels). Good thing you've got a test kit, you should be able to save Alex with any luck. Have a read of this (scroll down to the bit that says 'How to Save the Day (and the Fish) with an Un-Cycled Tank') and it will tell you want you need to know.

You will need to upgrade Alex to a bigger tank ASAP, it will be a real struggle to keep him healthy in there. Here is a guide to goldfish size and requirements.

You can cut back feeding to every other day at the moment to keep the ammonia down.

thanks Eaurouge, we have been doing water changes and reduced feed, he's perked up today, will keep monitoring it. The web link is really useful, thanks again