Why is my goldfish swimming sideways?!? He's dying! Help!!?

Question

He just started going sideways, and every time he dives down, he just floats back up! I know he's dying, because I've seen this before with my last fish. Ahhh! He's not even moving now!! What to do?!? My other fish is doing just fine, but this one looks just about done with life! I changed out the water, but its not helping!! I have them in a fishbowl now (I don't have money for a tank), and I'm planning on getting a pump when I have enough money, but I don't think they'll last long enough for that!! Ahhh!! Now he's not moving at all! Nooooooo! Not again!!!! I'm just going to quit on owning fish if my other one dies too...

Answer 1

Changing the water completely causes water shock, it hurts their organs and immune system.



Without a filter or bubbler, they are suffocating.



Without a filter and cycled water, they are burning from ammonia.



I'm sorry, Goldfish should grow rapidly to over 1-2 feed big and live over 20 years, they simply wont survive in anything less than 20-75 gallons (depending on what kind you have). They are also part of the Carp family and produce a tons of waste, so they need double filtration to keep the ammonia down.

Answer 2

How many fish do you have?



If you just have a bowl its going to be poor water quality and low oxygen levels. You are going to need to upgrade to a proper tank or rehome the remaining one to someone with a large tank or better yet a pond.



Goldfish are very messy fish and get very large. For a full grown fish you'll need 30-75+ gallons for a single fish. For now though I'd recommend to upgrade to at least 10-20+ gallons if possible as it will not last long in a bowl. Even a kiddie pool and a powerful filter would work temporarily and would be better than a bowl.

Answer 3

Goldfish needs 30 gallons of water for each and 10 gallons extra for adding another goldfish. If you really wanna keep 2 goldfish and wanna see them healthy then you must have a tank of 55-75 gallon.

If you can't afford that then who told you to keep 2 Goldfish in a small bowl that can't hold even 5 gallons of water...???

Even a Betta can't survive in a 5 gallon tank. They need at least 10 gallons of water.

Goldfish is very hardy and messy fish. They need a lot of care and also a big tank. They need good filteration as they creat so many waste comparing to other fishes and they also creat a big amount of NH3. As a result most of the time they get sick by their own created ammonia. An air pump is must for a Goldfish tank. Coz they need so DAMN amount of oxygen.

If you can't afford then you should not keep Goldfish. However, if you really wanna keep Goldfish then you have to pay heed in your pocket. Otherwise, forget about keeping any Goldfish.

Answer 4

That's actually quite simple to answer, your goldfish has a bladder problem, it usually makes your fish swim upside down but that may happen soon. You see goldfish give off HIGH amounts of ammonia and it causes that to happen alot, go to your local pet store and pick up a gravel vac and some medicine, i suggest anything by tetra . Do a 50% water change and change your filter, your goldfish will be fine in no time , Hope i helped :)

Answer 5

There could be many causes:



(google if you don't know about any terminology you've never heard before)



1. The tank is not cycled properly



2.The tank is too small and the chemicals in the poop is suffocating them



3. You did not dechlorinate the water



4. You did not do proper research for proper care of goldfish before getting them



5. If they are already showing signs of being sick or weak then they are pretty much dead within a few hours...

Answer 6

Are you a 'wind up merchant'? or is it a case of lacking heart? To many i would say very sorry to hear your fish has died but, under the circumstances i feel it's a happy release for the fish. You say you could'nt afford a tank. If this is really the truth then you should not have taken the fish on. As for the remaining Goldfish.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Really-Useful-Storage-Stackable-W444xD710xH380mm/dp/B000O1IN68/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1362218378&sr=8-9

If the link dosen't open its a plastic storage box which holds 84 litres and costs only £21.53

Certainly far from ideal but a vast improvement to what the remaining fish is in.

An even better alternative would be to 'think' about giving this fish away either to someone with a 'large tank' or if you know someone with a Pond would be a life saver for it.



Are you really sad about the loss of this fish or surprised.

As stated by many on here ,of course you should 'RESEARCH' before taking any pet on



Good luck to 'the fish';(((

Answer 7

did you cycle your fish tank?

Did you acclimation the fish when you got them?

did you test your fish tank water checked ammonia, nitrates and ph?

Does your fish tank has a filter?

what size is their fish tank?

what temperature is the fish tank water?

any weird signs on the body such as loss color, spots, robbing, loss appetite, dull?

How often do you fed your fish?

did you take out any left over fish food after few minutes with the fish net before begin to rote or overfeed the fish?

Answer 8

the exact same thing happened to my gold fish 6 months ago and is still living now. We found out that it was actually constipation caused by overfeeding goldfish, or the quality of the food. try to avoid feeding him for the next 2 days to try and decrease his stomach space. In the meantime however, try feeding it some green garden peas. this helps to relieve the fish. But this sort of thing does normally occur to fish in bowls instead of tanks. Good luck! :)

Answer 9

I had my goldfish for 3 months and they are healthy without an air pump so the guy at the top is WRONG!

Answer 10

its was swim bladder disease, this is caused by keep fish in a bowl, not cycleing the tank, bad water quality ect. i know you said dont put do your research, but you should always do research before buying any fish, and goldfish need 80gallons+, is he in that?