Goldfish seems distressed

Question
I just got a new gold fish today and he seems very distressed. He was fine for the first two hours and then he seems to keep going to the surface, he is not interested in eating and my other goldfish keeps nipping at him. I have a small tank abt 3 gallons and I don't know much about fish. What can I do?

Answer
Hi Amy,
I hate being the bearer of bad news but your aquarium is really too small for even one goldfish. This is because goldfish produce a lot of waste and they have the potential to grow to very large sizes (potentially six inches or more depending upon variety) and in order for them to do well, they should really have at least 10-gallons of water per goldfish regardless of the size of the fish. This may sound extreme but its what is needed for goldies. I know you see goldfish in bowls a lot still, but its known now that these make a horrible, polluted home for goldfish. They suffer tremendously without us knowing and they become stunted and sickly and die at an early stage in life.

But what can you do now?
The best thing you can do for your goldfish is change their water as often as you can manage. Do large water changes also. 50% or more is ideal for goldies. Doing very frequent water changes  (ideally every day) can help keep your goldfish happy and alive for at least a while. But please try to get them into at least an inexpensive 10-gallon with a power filter. This is a hundred times better than their 3-gallon and much easier to maintain. Later on, when the goldfish become bigger they should be moved into at least a 30-gallon tank or bigger, depending upon their variety.

The new goldfish may just be having a little trouble adjusting to his new environment. But just in case, do a 50% water change. Water pollution problems is the number 1 cause for fish to behave sickly.
Moving your fish into a bigger tank will also help prevent the established goldfish from nipping the new one so much.

I really hope this helps!
Best of luck!
Karen~