Goldfish not doing so well!

Question
Karen,

I've had my fish Plasma for two years now. I have never kept a fish alive for this long before so I'm very attatched to him. (Or her...?) When I first got Plasma he was a normal, healthy fish. I can't say that now. He just floats around in the tank, moving only when it is necessary. His abdomen is swollen and his fins seemed to be clamped together close to his body. There are also some red streaks on his tail that were not there before. Plasma usually would "lie" on the bottom of the tank moitionless, but now he has been floating near the surface, only moving his fins ever once in a while.

As for the tank, it is onl a two gallon one but for one fish it seems sufficent. I feed him generic fish flakes and give the tank a good scrubbing clean-out weekly, for it seems to be very dirty by then.

Do you have any advice? I do not want to buy a new tank or anything drastic like that, if that can be avoided. Your help would be be greatly appreciated!
From,
Lauren Niedbalec  

Answer
Dear Lauren,
Poor Plasma, I'll do my best to help!

What species of fish is Plasma? I would only guess either betta (AKA siamese fighting fish) or a goldfish. Although knowing this isn't of great importance...

It sounds to me like Plasma could be having swim bladder problems and bacterial infections in his fins. Lets start with the first which is not a disease but a problem relating to the diet or enviroment a fish is in. The swim bladder is a special organ near the middle of a fish, this is what controls at what level a fish wishes to be at in the water. And to maintain equilibrium. If something interferes with this organ then the poor fish can loose total control of it's movements and either float relentlessly on the surface or sink at the bottom. The most common cause of Swim bladder problems is relating to diet. Oftentimes excess dry food or not enough variety can cause constipation which will interfere with the swim bladder. The solution to this would be to try feeding bite-sized portions of green peas, thawed and shelled, and stop feeding the flake food. You will have to continue this for several days and sometimes you may need to fast (not feed) your fish for a few days and then try green pea feedings.

You most certainly also have a problem with ammonia spikes in your small aquarium. Especially if Plasma is a goldfish. Goldfish produce much more waste than many fish and even with fish like bettas the ammonia levels can become in the danger zone in just a few days. Normally in an established aquarium there is a good colony of special beneficial bacteria present which convert ammonia into less dangerous compounds and ammonia levels are never a problem. But because I noticed you mentioned doing a good scrub-out of the aquarium unfortunately you have eliminated any bacterial colonies that were trying to establish... and as a result, ammonia most certainly builds up and can buildup in a matter of hours. You can easily test for ammonia by getting a aquarium test kit. As a rule, you should always have ammonia levels always at ZERO. This would require you to cycle your aquarium in order to prevent this.
If you really want to help your fish, try to get a test kit for ammonia and preferably also nitrite and nitrate. This is because beneficial bacteria convert ammonia into nitrite (which can still be somewhat toxic) and then nitrite to nitrate which is harmless unless in large amounts. Test for these three levels during cycling your aquarium will help you moniter the cycling process.

*You will need to test for ammonia everyday. Make those ESSENTIAL 50% water changes whenever ammonia level goes above safe bounds.
*Continue to test everyday and take note of the levels. Again if ammonia is above safe bounds do a 50% water change.
*You should notice your ammonia level spiking and falling, and then later on nitrite showing up and rising and falling. Later on nitrate appears. Once your ammonia and nitrite are consistantly zero and nitrate has appeared for sure then your aquarium has cycled!
Remember this can take time sometimes 4-6 weeks but it varies with every aquarium.

Now the reason I haven't spoke much about your fish illness is because ammonia could certainly be directly related to both his problems. Above all you will need to insure no ammonia or nitrite is present in his aquarium and if Plasma were my fish, just to be sure, I'd do 50% water changes everyday with good dechlorinated and equalized (to his tank's) water temperature.
The addition of Zeolite to your small aquarium will help with ammonia problems but is no substitute to establishing a bacterial colony. Another thing you can try and I would advise is use a water conditioner when doing your water changes that removes or neutralizes ammonia as well as chlorine and chloramine. Amquel and Prime are known for this.

While insuring Plasma's enviromental conditions are good and healthy, I would try feeding a thawed and deshelled green pea, stopping his other food for now. And for his reddening of fins, along with improving water conditions I would use Melafix and Pimafix medication. These are great medications for bacterial infections which sounds certainly like what Plasma could have. And are safe and very effective when used together.

Definately please don't do any drastic scrubbing of the tank. All that is required to clean an aquarium properly is an aquarium siphon hose and 5gal bucket.

Plasma is going through a lot :( I hope this has helped!

Only my very best wishes and feel free to keep me updated on Plasma's conditioner/recovery.
Karen~