Gold fish curled on side, floats on bottom...

Question
QUESTION: We have 1 female goldfish we have had for 6 years. She is in a 2 gallon non filtered tank that I change every 2 weeks and use bowl buddies to prepare the water. She has been happy all these years. 2 months ago she started hanging out at the bottom of the tank. After a week I check with a pet store and they suggested a blue medicine (quick cure). This worked after 3-4 days and she was fine for a month. Now she is on her side, her body is curled and she floats on the bottom. If I give her a little nudge she will swim ok but go back to the same position. We use floating food but I have noticed she's been having trouble sucking it in for a few months. I have not feed her in 2 days and changed her water using the bowl buddies today.. Is she dying?


ANSWER: Hi Julie
Honestly, I'm surprised she's lived that long!  Minimum tank size recommendations for one goldfish is a 15 gallon filtered aquarium.  With most varieties of goldies growing 8-12 inches, some like commons and comets over 12 inches, a larger tank then 15 gallons is most likely needed down the road.  

My initial thought and still is, is a water quality issue.  The tank is way too small for just about any fish, definitely a goldfish, they need a filter in the tank, and in a normal stocked filtered tank you should be doing 25% weekly water changes along with a weekly gravel vacuum.  Considering it's a 2 gallon unfiltered tank, you should be doing 50% water changes daily to add oxygen in the water and remove the toxins that quickly build up.  

The Quick Cure meds you were told to use, at first I thought the typical pet store response, "it's ich here's some meds", however I"ll give them the benefit of the doubt and go with maybe they were thinking your fish had a fluke infestation.  But, with your set up, I really think it's a water quality issue, and the fish just can't handle the stress of it anymore.  

I'm not trying to sound harsh, just being straight forward, if you leave the fish in the current set up, yes it does sound like it will definitely die soon.  If you can get a larger tank, preferably at least a 15-20 gallon tank with a filter on it, she'll have a much better chance at surviving, she may be too far gone though, hard to say for sure one way or the other.  But some fish are very resilient and forgiving, especially goldies, and she may pull through.  I have 3 goldfish I keep in a pond when it's warm enough, I've had them for 8 years now.  Goldies have the potential to live 20+ years given the right care.  

If you can get the larger tank, let me know, and I can tell what's going to happen with the nitrogen cycle that new tanks go through and what to expect with that.  

Christy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks, She was a small 2 inch fish so we though the tank size was right. After a year she laid eggs and that freaked us out. She did it one other time and then never did again. She did die. When we are ready we will start a new and bigger tank. Any recommendations on Oscar fish?

Answer
Hi Julie
Well sorry she didn't make it.  The inch of fish per gallon rule isn't really a good rule to use.  For a "guideline" to tell if a tank is overstocked, one inch of adult size fish per gallon(but take into account how large the fish will grow) but only for community or tropical types of fish, and again just a guideline to judge your stocking level.

Oscars are great and personable fish.  For one oscar by itself, no less then a 55 gallon tank, but a 75 gallon is better.  With a 55 gallon tank, you need superb filtration as well. I had that set up years ago, and it was rather difficult to maintain the water quality. I was doing 2 weekly water changes of about 50% each time.  I had the largest Penguin biowheel filter running along with a canister filter as well.  They're rather messy, so that's why the extra filtration and cleanings is needed, because the are prone to certain illnessess caused by water quality, especially high nitrate levels.  They require a mostly carnivorous diet-but no feeder fish, and it needs to be varied.  Here's a great link with more info to skim through on them:

http://www.oscarfish.com/

Hope that helps and good luck!

Christy