scared goldfish

Question
hi, our goldfish have recently become very timid and frightened.  in our tank we have 6 snails, 4 comets and 4 shubunkins and 3 or 4 days ago the 8 fish started darting around and frantically hiding whenever there was movement in the room.  they have always been such calm fish, not caring if anyone walked past or sat down at the tank to watch them. and they used to be very interactive, coming to the surface before it was time for their food and following you from one end of the tank to the other while cleaning or re-planting the plants. now they see anything and dart straight to the bottom at the back of the tank.  nothing has changed in our household or their tank and we are worried about them. they were so friendly before. i hope you can help get our fish acting normal again.
cheryl.

Answer
Hi Cheryl,
I'm not sure why fish behave in such odd ways. Who knows what's going on in their little brains when they suddenly become so frightened of people. It might even be clothing that looks scary to them (like odd colors/patterns)

Either way, the best thing I can recommend is to provide some extra hiding places floating plants and plants among the sides of the tank to help them not feel so exposed. Hopefully they will "grow-out" of this eventually and return to calm goldies.

Best of luck!
Karen~