# My goldfish keeps swimming in the same place!



## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Hello, I've had this 88litre tank set up since the end of June and putted cycled media in the filter. It's been a few weeks since I've seen my fish swimming sometimes floating in the middle of the tank in front of the filter where the water gets sucked up. I know the filter isn't sucking my fish in because he's only acting like this now.

My fish only swims around normally to eat its food or if he gets disturbed but he will just keep going back to the middle of the tank after.

I clean about 10-20litres of water every week, sometimes a few days but I've never been past 2 weeks without a water change. After every water change I add aquarium salt too.

Also my fishes dorsal fin seems to always fall on its side and is hardly erect.

Btw my goldfish is an Oranda and I've had it for 2 years. What should I do to make my fish act back to normal?


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Can you test the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and post the results here?

Not a goldfish keeper myself (tagging @magpie for more expert advice) but I'd say you should probably be doing larger water changes, as 10-20L weekly isn't a huge percentage and goldfish are messy fish.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

Also what size filter is it? Goldfish are very messy and produce large amounts of waste. Most filters supplied as part of a package witj a tank that size can struggle to process the waste.

Is your poorly goldfish the only one in the tank? Do you have plants and what is your feeding regime?

I suspect water quality issues are a likely problem so as Naomi says we need your water test results to advise on solutions.

In the meantime do a large water change (about 40%) after you have tested the water and cut back on feeding.


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

My filter is the veramax fnz 3 and filters 1200 litres per hr and my goldfish is the only fish in the tank also I have some moss balls. I will try and get a water test kit as I do not have any asap and do a 50% water change.Thanks for your help!


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

I was going to order myself a test kit with 50 strips but realised they all test for everything except ammonia, only the API master test kit test tests for ammonia but it's more expensive. Im only a teenager so it will take me time to save up for the master kit also my parents won't give me money because they say I'm spending too much money for a fish.

Should I wait a bit longer maybe in about 3 weeks to get the master test kit or should I get the test strips now.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

I would wait for the master test kit. The test strips are very inaccurate. If you can get to a fish shop like maidenhead aquatics or pets at home take some of the tank water with you in a clean well rinsed out container and they should test it for free.

Until you can buy a test kit do a large water change and then do a 30% change every 3 days. If poor water quality is the issue then hopefully you should see some improvement. At this stage dont be tempted to add any additional treatments until you get the water test results.

Hope that helps your fish.


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Hello, I did my 50% water change yesterday and added aquarium salt. Today I went pets at home and got my water tested and the worker said my ammonia and nitrite is at 0 but my nitrate is below 20. Also she said my ph and everything else was fine, however she was using the test strips. Next week I'll be able to get my api master kit because is cheaper at my pets at home.

My goldfish is a little bit more active and I've moved my filter from the middle of the tank to the left side and I'm no longer seeing my goldfish swimming/hovering in front of it constantly anymore, but I still see my goldfish not really moving much. But I will be doing larger more frequent water changes.

Also I had moved my goldfish in this tank at the end of June but before that my goldfish was in a small 10litre tank since 2017. This has left my goldfish stunted and my goldfish has been sick in the past with white small fluff balls on its tail but I've treated that with melafix and primafix and is no longer there. My goldfish hasn't had the best life and it's only this year that I've upgraded everything. When I moved my goldfish in his tank he acted fine swimming around, it's only been a few weeks since I've seen my fish swimming listlessly.

I've posted this question on another website and they've said I needed to upgrade my fish tank to a 40 gallon, but on the internet I see many people say that you need 20 gallons for the first fish.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Nitrate below 20 is absolutely fine and shouldn't cause a problem  If the shop used paper test strips for all the results, though, I wouldn't set too much store by them - better to test it yourself with a liquid kit when you can.

Have you looked online for the API master kit (ebay, Amazon etc)? It's generally cheaper that way.

Your tank is on the small side for one goldfish, but I wouldn't say unmanagable. You've done well to make the upgrades you already have - you obviously care about your fish and have done your research too, which is great to see 

I'm guessing you didn't do a fishless cycle when you moved the tank across. For future reference, this can avoid any such problems!


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Yesterday my fish was abit more active, not as listless but today I did a water change and after a while my fish started to swim about really fast and kind of randomly like he had gotten frightened and this had lasted for a few minutes. After his erratic swimming he had calmed down but is now basically just resting at the bottom of the tank and only swims around when there's food.

After changing the placement of the filter he's no longer swimming/hovering in front of it.

Also before adding my fish to his tank I added already cycled media from my old filter as well as pure aquarium balls. But I didnt obviously didnt test the water to know whether it was completely safe.

Here's some photos of him just sitting at the bottom of the tank and he's been doing it for the whole day today not moving much.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

He doesn't look well at all, poor thing 

Do you use a dechlorinator with each water change?


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Yes, I always use a dechlorinator and it even mentions on the bottle that it also protects fishes scales and fins.

My fish it still acting the same as always he's not much different today


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Could anything have got into the tank? Any plug-in air fresheners in the room, or anything sprayed near the tank at all?


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Hello, my fish is next to the dining table and i spray my glass cleaner on it maybe that could have went in the water. 

I did a 50% water change and when I was checking on my fish I saw like a white cotton fluff between my fishes eyes and nares! This isn't the first time it has happened though I think last year my fish had cotton growth on its tail but I treated it with melanin and primafix. Should I buy that again or should I get another medication. Maybe that's why my fish has been so listless and now his sickness is starting to show. I will send pictures of what it looks like tomorrow.

What should I do? Should I continue adding aquarium salt since I stopping because it said you shouldn't use it continuously on a freshwater fish.


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

I dont know what medication I need if I should get methylene blue or the pimafix, any suggestion, also I'll get my water tested again.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Fungal growths tend to be a secondary symptom of a bigger problem, such as water quality issues. A melafix/pimafix combo won't hurt, but you do need to get to the root of the issue.

Stop using any sprays near the tank. (If you need to clean glass, plain white spirit vinegar on a microfibre cloth works well for me!) If you suspect something may have got into the water, the only way to sort it is with several large water changes.

I'm not sure about the salt, but if you'd been using it for a while then stopped using it suddenly, I would have thought that might cause issues. @magpie @kittih or anyone else, does anyone have any experience/knowledge about adding salt to goldfish tanks?


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

I have never routinely added salt to goldfish tanks. Naomi is right that suddenly stopping can harm the fish. Fish will adapt to the concentration of dissolved salts in the water by drinking more water or excreting water depending on whether the concentration of salts difference between their body and the water causes them to absorb or loose water.

Because their body organs adapt to balance this out a sudden change can stress them and can cause physical harm.

Its always best if changing the water chemistry in any way to do it slowly over time. How muchvof an impact it will have had depends on how much salt you usually added and how hard your tap water is.

I also agree about using the melafix pimafix.


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Here's the pictures


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

I don't add aquarium salt to my goldfish tank either, so I can't really help there. I have been following this thread but I'm not very experienced in dealing with illnesses (just lucky that my fish have mostly been healthy!) so I haven't had anything to add.



Victoria Pansu said:


> I've posted this question on another website and they've said I needed to upgrade my fish tank to a 40 gallon, but on the internet I see many people say that you need 20 gallons for the first fish.


Bigger is always better with goldfish, but I think you will be fine with the tank you have so long as you don't want to add any more fish. Large, frequent water changes will help, as goldfish are big fish they mucky up the water quite quickly so the typical recommendations for weekly 10-20% water changes for the average tank are not really enough for goldfish. I do 70-80% water changes every week on my goldfish tank. Once you get your test kit you'll be able to keep an eye on your nitrate level, which will help you determine how much of a water change you need to be doing & how often.


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Hello, I have good news the white thing seems smaller than it was last night! I will show photos. I was going to buy melafix and pimafix again since it treated my last issue with white fluff but I think I should see if the white thing on his face will go. 

Tomorrow I will check if my fish is more active but someone told me that maybe the 50% water change may have caused the fluff break out because I usually have done 1010-20litres water change until now and that the water parameters may have changed a lot causing my fish shock or that it may have had osmotic stress and thats I should gradually do my water changes starting with 25% AM then PM and slowly start to do 50% all at once.


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## Victoria Pansu (Sep 11, 2019)

Hello, the white thing between my fishes nares and eyes are nearly gone. I had brought myself a test kit however the colours on my nitrate section is very similar so I dont know what it is. 10 and 20 ppm is similar and 40 and 80 ppm is similar as well i will insert a picture.

Before my 50% water change today my ammonia was 0.25, ph 8, nitrite 0 and nitrate 40. After my water change ammonia 0, ph 8, nitrite 0 and nitrate 40. I thought that the nitrate would decrease a bit after the water change but I'm going to do another one tomorrow.


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

The fact that you are detecting ammonia in the water before the water change explains why your fish is having issues. The readings suggest your filter is either not fully cycled or is struggling with the amount of waste your fish is producing. The large water changes are helping to reduce the ammonia as your test results after a water change show but until the filter is capable of dealing with all your fishes waste and ammonia is at zero at all times then your fish will continue to be affected by the toxins.

I recommend getting some seacem prime. It neutralises the toxic effect of the ammonia yet still allows it to be available to the bacteria in the filter so allowing them to reproduce. It is quite expensive but you only need small amounts each time. It also works as a water dechlorinator.

I am glad to hear the fungus is going. I think the water changes you are doing are really helping. Keep doing them for now.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Well done on getting the test kit 

Check the nitrate in your tapwater - it can be over 40ppm in some areas (including mine!), in which case a water change won't make any difference! That level shouldn't harm your fish, though.

I would hazard a guess that your goldfish has been living with constant, low levels of ammonia for a while, which has caused the issues. Keep up with the water changes, and increase the filtration if you can by adding a second filter, as it looks like yours isn't coping. Adding a daily dose of Seachem Prime or Ammolock to the lank will also help as a temporary measure.


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

kittih said:


> The fact that you are detecting ammonia in the water before the water change explains why your fish is having issues. The readings suggest your filter is either not fully cycled or is struggling with the amount of waste your fish is producing. The large water changes are helping to reduce the ammonia as your test results after a water change show but until the filter is capable of dealing with all your fishes waste and ammonia is at zero at all times then your fish will continue to be affected by the toxins.
> 
> I recommend getting some seacem prime. It neutralises the toxic effect of the ammonia yet still allows it to be available to the bacteria in the filter so allowing them to reproduce. It is quite expensive but you only need small amounts each time. It also works as a water dechlorinator.
> 
> I am glad to hear the fungus is going. I think the water changes you are doing are really helping. Keep doing them for now.


Cross posted - great minds and all that


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