goldfish not perky

Question
I am wondering if there's anything wrong with my goldfish.  It doesn't seem its usual perky self.  It doesn't seem to want to eat.

Answer
Dear Carmen,
Sounds like your poor goldfish is suffering from poor water quality. Is he in a bowl? If so, this is a very poor habitat for a goldfish as they produce far too much waste for this small volume of water and for goldfish to really thrive, they must have a spacious, filtered and well-maintained aquarium of at minimum 30gallons and larger is better of course. I know that goldfish bowls are still advertised greatly. But it just isn't a good home for goldfish--or really any type of fish for that matter.

But if your goldfish is living in a aquarium...water quality can still become a problem. Since goldfish are such big polluters in the aquarium--much more so than other fish. I would immediately change 30-50% of your goldfishes water and began doing these changes everyday until your goldfish improves. If your goldfish is in a bowl, please try to give him at least a 10gal filtered tank as soon as possible.

However, say your Goldfish is in a spacious aquarium. It is possible there could be pollutants in your aquarium. If your aquarium is relatively new, you could have ammonia or nitrites present in your water which are both -very- toxic to fish and can make them very ill. This would be due to an insufficient beneficial bacteria colony whom are so helpful as they remove these wastes. Newly setup aquariums take weeks to establish bacteria colonies. But once established and the aquarium well-maintained, the water will be healthy and safe for fish long-term.
If you could get a aquarium test kit for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. That would be very good. Knowing these levels is very important especially when your fish seem "off-color"

Aboveall, please begin making daily water changes on your goldfish bowl/tank always insure the replacement water is equal in temperature to that of your aquarium and insure it is properly dechlorinated with a good water conditioner every time. Refusing to eat is not a good sign and your goldfish needs water changes to insure poor water quality isn't the problem.

Best wishes and feel free to let me know how your goldfish is doing if you like.

Karen~