Eeek! The Goldfish is dying. Can someone tell me how to save it?

[SparklyfestiveYellowFeathers]

I've kept fish all my blummin life but this has flummoxed me.
Its just one goldfish, the filter is clean, the tank is clean, the water is ok, just added more tonic and he's well fed.
For the last 2 or 3 days he looks mis-shapen and thin.
Atm he's just floating at the top of the tank breathing slowly.

Is he doomed or can I save him?

The tank is 20cm high, 35cm wide and 20cm deep.
I'm not good with gallons etc.

14 Litres or 3.7 US gallons. (from the Think Fish volume calculator .

For tropical that would allow about 14cm of fish (adult length). If you didn't want to go for the heater - you could have 6-7 white cloud mountain minnows?

ahh yellooow , what a 24hrs youve had , hope it gets better the next 24hrs. Bye bye fishy .

Excellent, thank you GA.
I think we'll be making a trip to the pet shop this week then.

So basically I can a few small fish or 1 big one.

Yep. Although I probably wouldn't recommend a goldfish unless you're prepared to do a lot of regular partial water changes and rehome as it gets bigger.

The 14cm is a guideline for slim-bodied tropical fish and doesn't really apply for more oxygen-hungry fat fish like goldfish which produce a lot of waste.

To give you an idea, those cute little black moors that you see in the pet shop? They can grow to be over 25cm big in all directions

Common goldfish (while not so football shaped) grow up to a whopping 60cm.

GA, i've had goldfish from being a child and they are now living in my mum and dads pond with the koi because they have lived so long and grown so big.

I have managed to keep my goldfish alive for two years - even after they both suffered from dropsy. The best thing to do is transfer them to a smaller bowl and keep the water shallow. Dont feed them. I have done this a few times and theyve been fine after a couple of days.

Fab, sparkly

It's the fancies that always shock me though ... I used to have a black moor (sadly didn't last long) - when I saw one that was only a few years old in the pet shop I nearly fainted! It was a bloody tennis ball with fins! And they get bigger than that!

lol @ tennis ball

Fishless Cycling

yellowFeathers - read this excellent article about how to get your tank ready for fish without killing them off. You need to get good bacteria on the filter to deal with the waste the fish produce.
Also, if Goldie died from a horrible parasite or bacterial infection, you will need to thoroughly clean the tank out before you put any fish in it

link\www.tropicalfish.site5.com/tfc/forumdisplay.php?f=3\tropical fish centre} - great site for advice on all things fishy.

I did a fishless cycle for my tropicals. Was a bit of a pain at the time (took about a month) seeing a cruddy empty tank but made it so much easier later.

I did mine in 9 days

but was helped out by a sponge in new filter from my old tank.

Mine took flipping ages cos at the time I was dithering between another goldfish or going tropical so I hadn't bought the heater yet. It's considerably quicker with the temperature racked up a bit, apparently

I wonder if the filter was a bit pap to start with
I have a look at that site GB.

That other site is very informative GA.

Hi Sparkly, - sorry to hear that your fish died in the end. Can second the White Cloud Mountain Minnow vote - a friend has a tankful of those and they are beautiful. I would like some, but we have just managed to downsize from 3 to 2 big tanks, and just not willing to go back again! Water changes were just too much of a job.
If you decide to get a heater and try guppies, then I would stick with just males unless you want to have thousands of babies in a month or two. That's one of the reasons we stopped having them - ran out of re-homing options....!

Bamzooki - argh, the dreaded multiple tank syndrome

I really want another tank so I can have a betta. Just can't justify either the cost or the time for water changes though!

Currently have a 30L biorb with 6 white clouds, 2 guppies (both males ), 2 cherry barbs, 3 cardinal tetras (I started out with six, but three died off to be replaced by the barbs) and 2 bumblebee nerite snails.

'tis addictive once you get going...

GA - yes I know what you mean. We started out just getting a small tank for DD (allegedly!) which was to be kept downstairs once we found out how complex the whole business really. Are now at 2 tanks - 170L and 90L. One is full of Kribs that did the guppy thing and bred like mad, but now seem to have reached a balance of fry vs infanticide . The other is a community tank populated by a rather odd assortment of fish, in part left from the now redundant 3rd 130L tank, which had a major meltdown when DS kindly 'helped' mummy by feeding them about 3 pots of food in one go, just after a major water change. Despite syphoning as much out as possible it was still to much for the filter and we lost quite a few fish overnight .
So we have 2 clown loaches, 2 Blackfin corrys, 4 Cardinal tetras, 3 X-ray tetras, 6 Columbian tetras, 4 Harlequins, 2 Japanese Golden sucking loaches, and an anonymous golden plec that came with the tank and fortunately doesn't seem to be growing as big as our last! Oh and 4 Butterfly loaches that are supposededly cold water but are doing well and do a fab job of eating the algae.
Water changes are a nightmare cos we have very high phosphate tap water so we have an RO unit in the garage feeding a water butt, but it only holds enough for the 2 tank changes at once.
DD is now after a goldfish, but I keep telling her that there are loads in the pond......!

I'd really love tropical fish. My mum and dad used to keep them but I remember too well how much work they need to keep them going and the tank we have is only a small plastic £8 thing.

I do love those Biorbs though

I actually find them easier than the goldfish I had (they poo less for starters so the tank is easier to keep clean!) Snails help too - nerite snails don't breed (well they do, but the system is so complicated that they don't in a domestic tank) - no algae cleaning either!

G'wan... join us on the dark side (bwahaha)

Alternatively, the white clouds should make much less mess and be hardier for you and no heater required Stick Moss Ball in as an easy plant to help keep the algae down too Maybe a coldwater snail too?

In case I can tempt you... My Biorb

Ooo you bad mumsnetter you!
Dh eyes them up everytime he sees them.

How much would a heater be? I think that would be all I'd need tbh. I've got the filter.

Just had a look at the Nerite snail. Its gorgeous!
Well as gorgeous as snails can be lol

Well for your size tank you'd only need a little heater I would have thought... Thermostatically controlled heater - 25W is about a tenner. Factor in another quid for a thermometer (I never trust the thermostat) - job done.

For a snail, I can recommend the bumblebee nerites as the prettiest - one will clean house fairly efficiently while not adding to the bioload too much. You'll need to get calcium drops and algae pellets as well to supplement their diet - a bit pricey set up, but they last for ages. I chuck in a bit of cucumber for them now and again too

Oooo I dont know [scared emoticon]!

So I could do the cycling thing you and GB were talking about and then introduce the fish.
I cant remember but do you get them all at once or do it gradually?
I'd have to get neon tetras because dd loves them.