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italianxmna89
06-23-2009, 05:48 PM
i have had my goldfish for roughly two months now. actually one of them is gold and the other is white. when i bought them they were already together in the same tank so i figured hey they know each other theyll keep each other good company:ssmile:

i have a 20 gallon tank with a 35gallon elite hush 35 filter. (my buddy told me its best to get a filter for a tank larger than you own. now i do a 25% water change every week/week and a half since its such a huge tank and theyre still tiny (the white one is about 1 inch and the gold is about 1.75inches)

additives i add to the water are aqua plus tap water conditioner to remove chlorine. i add a couple of drops to each gallon i use to refill when doing a 25% change. i also use a couple of drops of algae destroyer advanced. maybe 3 drops every 2 weeks. i had a severe problem with brown algae and its been working great.

now the problem...

for the past 3-4 weeks my little white goldfish has been floating...mostly with its back straight up but sometimes slightly on its side. thats where he hangs when hes resting...he can swim to the bottom when he needs to but its a bit of a struggle for him. now my other goldfish ..the bigger gold one.. just started to hang around the top too but i dont catch him floating on its side. he seems to not have as much trouble swimming down to the bottom of the tank when necessary..

the bigger gold goldfish is also starting to get a white tinge to its color. the tips of its tail are white and in certain lights you can see a whitish film over parts of its body...

food wise ive been giving them nutrafin max flakes since i got them but since they started floating i fasted them for a few days then tried peas. peas seemed to work fine for a bit but theyre still floating. i was thinking of adding some salt to their tank but all i have is iodized table salt. instead of buying kosher salt i heard im better off finding medicated salts? i dont know how accurate that sounds..

any help is appreciated. thanks

Nautilus29
06-23-2009, 07:00 PM
Do you have an air stone maybe they are low on air. What about ammonia or nitrites? Have you tested your water parameters?

mommy1
06-23-2009, 07:02 PM
did you cycle your tank before putting fish into it?

italianxmna89
06-23-2009, 07:25 PM
no i dont have an air stone...

i dont have anything really advanced to test the water just the test strips..this is what they gave me..

pH 5.5
Alkilinity 120ppm
Hardness 75ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm

i hope those numbers make sense..

i didnt really cycle the tank..that was a rookie mistake..i just filled up the tank..ran the filter for about 10-20 minutes then put them in..

Sharon
06-23-2009, 07:40 PM
The presense of Nitrates would indicate that the tank is cycled. If the Goldfish went through the cycle, they may have been weakened. It sounds like swim bladder problems to me. Fast for five days, and then feed more peas. Also, a varied diet would be best, rather than just flakes...:ssmile:

Tigerbarb
06-23-2009, 07:41 PM
Yeah, sounds alot like swimbladder.

italianxmna89
06-24-2009, 03:16 AM
swimbladder would cause the white film over my orange goldfish too? the white one probably has it too i just cant tell because hes white =)

also..i always read that they should be fasted for 3 days..exactly how long does it take for a goldfish to starve to death?

italianxmna89
06-24-2009, 04:50 AM
also my orange goldfish occasionally swims eradically at times...he just swims really really fast in random directions..is he just excercising?