sinking fish

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I have two 3 year old goldfish in a 125L / 33 gallon tank.  A few months ago he was spending a lot of time at the very top of the tank.  We mixed food with water for a couple of weeks and he was fine, but for the last couple of weeks he has been frequently lying very still at the very bottom of the tank.  Every now and then he swims around a bit, but most of the time he is stationary.  We're rather worried about him and would appreciate any advice you can give!!

Thanks so much,
Laura

ANSWER: Hi Laura
Do you have a test kit to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?  If not, I'd recommend getting one and checking those levels in the tank.  And, how often are you changing the water and how much water do you change at a time?

Whenever something isn't right with the fish or the tank/water, the first thing to look at is the water quality(the ammonia, nitrites, nitrates).  9 times out of 10, one of those levels isn't where it should be, which can stress the fish and leave them open to bacterial or parsitic infections.  Let me know those answers if you can!!

Christy

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

QUESTION: Hi Christy,

We've checked the water levels and they're fine, and we do a 15-20% water change and gravel vac once every 1-2 weeks.  The other fish it completely fine, it's just the one fish which is sinking.  Even when he's swimming he's really sluggish and most of the time he just floats around, either at the top of very bottom of the tank.  We're pretty perplexed so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
Laura
ANSWER: Hi Laura
If the ammonia and nitrites are reading 0 ppm, and nitrates under 20 ppm, then that's good.  I would also do the water changes weekly, changing about 25% of the water each time.

The fish may have a swim bladder problem.  Is he having a hard time getting off the bottom?  They're classified as floaters or sinkers.  Floaters end up floating towards the top, sometimes upside down, they have a hard time getting to the bottom or swimming normally.  Sometimes they'll just be "swayed" around the tank from the current on the filter.  Sinkers are the opposite, they have a hard time getting off the bottom.  That's good you're soaking the food before feeding.  I would continue doing that.  Also try varying their diets, frozen then thawed bloodworms, frozen/thawed brine shrimp.  Also, at least twice a week, feed them a pea-just split it open so they get the insides.  I'd recommend try feeding the one a pea now, and again in a day and see if that helps.  You can also try putting a grain of epsom salt inside the pea.  This tends to help as well if the swim bladder problem is caused from constipation.

Another possibility, is/was the fish rubbing on objects in the tank, while sitting on the bottom is it breathing heavily/gills moving fast?  It may be a sign of flukes.  Flukes is microscopic worm type parasite that usually infects the fish's gills or skin.  You can also try in addition to the pea, adding a bit of aquarium salt-1 tablespoon per 5 US gallons, and see if that helps.  If all that fails, and he's showing the above symptoms, you may need to try fluke tablets to get rid of them.

Hope that helps, and let me know how it goes!  Good luck!

Christy

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

QUESTION: Hi Christy,

Thanks so much for your advice.  The situation's worsened now - he's lying stationary on his side now all the time, and when he does try to move it's very feeble and he can't move more than an inch at a time.  We've put him in isolation because his eyes were in direct contact with the gravel and his scales were getting scratched, so he's now in a smaller tank with no gravel.  We treated the water with aquarium salt and a swimbladder treatment, and also put a split pea in the water.  That was about 4 hours ago and there's been no change so far (he's hardly moved at all, and when he does it's like he's doing somersaults), but we're keeping our fingers crossed he might perk up.

As for the flukes, he's not been rubbing himself that we've seen as he's not really moving at all!  If he does recover and start moving again I'll keep an eye on him and check to see if it's flukes.

If there's anything else we could be doing, would you be able to let me know?  If not, I think it's just a waiting game now.  I do just have one last question - if there's no improvement, after how many days should we consider euthanasia, and what is the kindest method?  It breaks my heart to even consider it, but the poor guy can't be having much fun struggling as he is.

Thanks again so much for all your help,
Laura

Answer
Hi Laura
Sorry he's not doing better....It's really hard to diagnose fish diseases sometimes, so many syptoms mimic several different causes, which can make it hard to get the right treatment.  If it is a swim bladder problem, which sounds to me like it is, it can be caused from so many different things, from internal parasites, bacterial or viral infections, being egg bound, constipation, poor water quality, etc....Here's a site with some info on swim bladder problems.  They also recommend a medicated food-which is good as well, because it gets the food inside the fish.  The problem I see with the food, you're not really sure what you're dealing with as the cause of the disease.  Plus, is the fish eating?  If so, then it wouldn't hurt to try the medicated food.  But there comes a point when there's just nothing you can do for them.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Swim%20Bladder%20Disorder.html

And, honestly, it doesn't sound good.  Sounds like he's getting worse rather quickly.  I would still wait a little bit, give the meds, pea, and salt a chance to see if they work.  Don't feed any regular food at this point, just stick with a pea a day or so.  If he doesn't eat it, then remove it after a little while so it doesn't rot in the water.  Just watch him for signs that he's just not doing well, you'll know.  

I just had to euthanize one of my parrot fish, he was prone to swim bladder problems as well.  But he was a floater, and upside down.  He wasn't eating,(they can go about 10 days without food) he did look like he was perking up a bit, but just got worse.  I think it was about 3 days when I moved him to a separate tank that I euthanized him.  He just looked like he was struggling to breathe.  
I'll put a couple links on here about humane ways to do it, I prefer using the clove oil method.  I put some tank water in a container(not the aquarium), added some clove oil to it and stirred it up good.  You need to make sure to use enough of the clove oil, in smaller amounts it acts like an anesthesia for the fish-just knocks them out.  In larger doses, it euthanizes them.  After a few seconds, mine stopped breathing, then I left him in there for about 20 minutes or so to make sure he was gone.  Then I put him in a baggie with some of that water and put it in the freezer for a few days-again just to be sure.  Then eventually I'll bury him by a tree.  
That's probably the quickest and most humane method to use.  If you're in the US, I had a hard time finding clove oil.  I eventually found some at Eckerds, at the pharmacy section behind the pharmacy coumter-had to ask for it.  Clove oil is an old remedy for toothaches for humans.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?Story_No=1885#ct-4


Well again, good luck with him, and I hope something works for him.  I hope you don't have to euthanize, it's hard, but it is sometimes for the best.  

Christy