Pharley is stuck upside down

Question
Hello, My poor fish Pharley is stuck upsidedown. He is breathing & trying to swim but cannot right himself. I have been doing some online reading, And it seems I am to blame for this situation.  Pharley lives in a one gallon "tank" with a plant, and no type of filtration. I have no idea what the water parameters are, but I can tell you I clean his tank every week and he gets Culligan water.  I am also at fault for feeding him floating food, which I believe has caused a problem with his air bladder. I am wondering if there is a way to help Pharley at this point, I know I have been a bad keeper, but I would like to try something rather than just give up. Plus Pharley is really cute and I have grown attached. Pharley is a fan finned goldfish. Thank you for any info you can give.

Answer
Hi Heather
He's suffering from waht's called swim bladder disorder.  There's several things that can cause it.  But from what you've written, I would guess it's stemming from water quality.  That's good you want to save him, I always recommend trying.  Here's what needs to be done for him....

A much larger tank is needed.  A minimum of 15 gallons is recommended for 1 goldfish to start out, though larger is better.   Most goldfish will grow to the 8-12 inch range, with some going over that.  

Weekly water changes are great, for a normal stocked tank though.  Your tank is overstocked being it's just a 1 gallon.  High nitrates can cause swim bladder disorder.  For your tank size, you should be doing daily water changes with him in there, and that's what I recommend until you can (hopefully) get him a larger tank.  

Goldies need to have a filter as well on the tank.  Filters help to clean the water by providing mechanical, biological, and sometimes chemical filtration.  But, filters also provide aeration-releasing co2 from the water and adding oxygen into the water.  That's done by the surface agitation the filter output does on the water surface.

The floating pellets/food isn't necessarily good for certain goldfish, especially the fancier varieties.  They tend to gulp air, and being as their body shape is weird anyway, they just don't do well being fed that way.  Best bet is to soak their pellets in a bowl with some tank water for a bit so they sink when fed.  Same thing with frozen and freeze dried foods, soak them first before feeding.  Also, it's a good idea with all fish to vary their diets.  Good pellet or flake food as the main staple, along with frozen/thawed brine shrimp, frozen/thawed bloodworms, spirulina flakes, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, romaine lettuce, peas.  I also recommend for now, and at least once or twice a week, try feeding him a pea split open.  Sometimes a bad diet can cause constipation, which can lead to swim bladder issues as well.  So, for the next 3 days, only feed him a pea split open.  

Here's another link for you to read through, in case you can get the larger tank for him.  It talks about the nitrogen cycle process of a fish tank, which is something all new tanks go through.  While the tank is going through that process, the water quality will become very poor, so daily water changes will be needed until it completes the cycle process.  

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/startupcycle/Step_5_The_Cycle.htm

So, like I said, sounds like a swim bladder issue, probably caused from a combination of all those things I mentioned.  It can be curable, some fish are more prone to it then others though.  Good luck, and hopefully you can get him the larger tank.  A lot of times just improving the water quality can help tremendously.  
Let me know if you have more questions!

Christy