Goldfish are dying

Question
Hi Ron,

I'm hoping that you will be able to help me.  My daughter has a 20 litre aquarium with two goldfish. Normally the goldfish are healthy and we've had them two years.  Last week my partner did some painting in the hall way and the room the fish are in is off this hall way.  The paint was supposedly environmentally friendly and non toxic to the environment.  However the day after the painting was finished there was a significant deterioration in the fish the symptoms they exhibited are as follows:

Fins were frayed in appearance and white on the ends.

The fish were resting on the bottom of the tank and were lethargic.

The fish wouldn't eat.

I followed the instructions of a website that indicated the fish had been poisoned and I did a complete water change of the tank three day ago as recommended.

Initially the fish appeared to improve.  However now they have stopped eating.  The one fish lies on the bottom of the tank all of the time and has little white twirly things (Like little bits of fluff) coming off its eyes and off different areas of its body.  The one fish will try and eat but spits the food back out.

Is there anything i can do to help them.  I feel terrible.

Kind Regards,

Louise (Auckland - New Zealand)

Answer
Hi Louise,
  It is possible that the fish were poisoned, but that might not be it either.  Was there ALOT of paint fumes in the air?  In any case, I would do another water change right away.

-- Ron C.
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
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