comet goldfish not eating

Question
Hi again Chelsey,

Thank you very much for all the info, most of it I didn't know.  Yes, we did the chlorine drops, and no we don't have a heater, or even a pump, so maybe that's it.

This fish is just in a regular round fishbowl that I have to clean out every 2-3 days.  I'll go get a heater and a pump this evening and see if that helps.

The weird thing is:  it STILL hasn't eaten!  We've had it since Sunday, it's now Thursday and it's eaten nothing.  How could it still be  swimming around looking alert when it must be starving?  Have you ever heard of a fish going this long without eating and staying alive?
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
I know you didn't mention comet goldfish in your area of expertise, but I would think my question would apply to most fish.  And we are desperate.

I just got my daughter this fish yesterday.  We've followed all the directions, but it won't eat.  Several times a day we put one flake of food in to see if it will eat, then several minutes later take it out so it doesn't sink and rot, like the directions say.

This fish has not eaten in 24 hours and we're afraid it's going to die!  Please tell me you have advice...
-----Answer-----
Hey Tami,
it could just be the new environment, but if it still hasn't eaten, then it could be something else.

did you put chlorine drops into the tank/bowl? this might be a factor.

Two other problems this could be are a lack of a heater and a filter. Most fish need filters, even gold fish and betta. It's basically like this, they can live without them but do much better with them. Some fish do better than others, so yours might just be more sensitve if it doesn't have one.
If you don't have a heater, this could easily be it. Gold fish are not quite tropical fish, but do need warm water. Keep it around seventy to seventy five degrees, and you should be good to go.

I don't reccomend Elite heaters. I actually reccomend against them. About two weeks ago my heater in my five gallon tank heated the tank up to over 110 degrees and cooked over seventy baby fish to the point that when  noticed they all were dead. This also only happened with in a few hours because I fed them three hours prior to the temperature rise. It was a malfunction, but who knows how many others will malfunction.

if these aren't the problems, send me another message telling me whats up. Feel free to ask me any other questions you might have in the future.
best wishes, chelsey

Answer
hey tami,

I know it took a while for an answer, and I am sorry. I'm just having a lot of trouble at home right now with my step dad, and I'm not able to get onto the pc as much as I could before.

I'm glad the info helped!
best wishes, chels