Is my goldfish dying?

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

He's laying on his side on the stones at the bottom... he's about 20... can I do anything? I'll try to add a picture...

How many litres is the tank?

60. Which is more than fine.

Totally improved and unscientific, but when my fish used to do this we put a drop of Single Malt whisky in and they perked back up again!

Didn't mean to sound so flippant...it really did work for us. I hope your fish recovers!

60. Which is more than fine.

I’m afraid it’s really not. A single goldfish should be in 150-180 litres with filter intended for 300+ litre tanks. What you have there is a truly terrible tank, suitable maybe for a few small tropicals although not even ideal due to the small surface area for gas exchange. You still haven’t posted water test results but I’m willing to bet there’s nitrite in there and maybe even some ammonia. What is your water change regime? How do you clean the filter?

I don't know who told you 60 was more than fine for a goldfish. Because it's not. Nowhere near.

3-4 ft long tank with 20-30 GALLONS is more like it. And that's for one fish. Woefully inadequate requirements advised by many fish shops.

It's been fine for 20 years. You're telling me every person who owns a goldfish has it in a 30 gallon tank? As if.

It's been fine for 20 years. You're telling me every person who owns a goldfish has it in a 30 gallon tank? As if.

Of course they don’t but then goldfish are probably the most mistreated pet out there. You can keep a dog alive in a 4ftx4ft crate, doesn’t mean it’s happy or not in discomfort. As I said previously it’s survived despite the treatment and is clearly stunted. Please tell me that the filters and contents of the tank are only cleaned in used tank water and that water changes are carried out using declorinated water? I’d expect BTW, that to maintain reasonable water quality in your current set up you’d need to be doing 50% water changes daily.

Not every person, no.

Just the informed ones who find out their pet's requirements beforehand.

If goldfish are kept in too small a tank, with poor conditions, they are stunted. Except it's only externally, so their internal organs still grow and get more and more squashed. And they die.

In fairness to the OP, I'm sure the advice was very different when she got her fish 20 years ago, and if he has been healthy she would have just carried on as she was without doing further reading. Which is fair enough.

OP, I've never had a fish as long as you've had yours, but I've also never managed to save one who's started behaving as yours has. Hopefully you can manage to save him, but if not, please do some reading before getting more fish for that bowl. Best of luck.

All your doing with this complete attack of me is making sure I won't come back here for advice again. So good work.

You’ve been asked to provide details of your water change/cleaning regime and water parameters. These can be real pointers to determining what the issue is.

This could be almost anything. It might be a water quality issue, constipation or just that this particular fish’s internal organs can no longer cope. Have you changed anything recently? Done a water change without using a chlorine remover? Swapped filter sponges for new ones?

How is the fish doing? Any improvement?