Sounds exactly like swim bladder infection. In many cases your fish will die.

Usually this infection occurs due to lack of salt in the water or poor water quality. Even though goldfish are freshwater fish, they need the addition of 1/4 cup salt per 10 gallons of water. I would do a partial water change of about 1/4 of the water today. Wait a day and do it again. Add half of the salt with this partial water change, and the rest in the next partial water change tomorrow.

The only other hope you have is to find a veterinarian or pet shop who would be willing to administer tetracycline injections. Most will not do this. Adding antibiotics to the water will NOT WORK. Don't let anyone sell you antibiotics to add to the water.

Unfortunately, your goldfish may live for quite some time with this condition. If left untreated, it is a slow death. If you don't plan to pursue the tetracycline injections, and you don't see results within 30 says of the partial water changes and the addition of salt, it would be best to put the fish out of it's misery.

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If the water quality is extremely poor, you will need to continue to do more partial water changes after the first two. But I would space those out about 3 to 4 days. You don't want to put the fish in shock also. And don't forget that with each partial water change, you will need to replenish the salt accordingly.

One common complaint I used to hear at the pet store was, "My fish was fine a couple of days ago." Even though it may appear that way, the water quality is gradually declining if you have not done partial water changes once a month. Additionally, if the tank is evaporating, and all you are doing is topping it off with fresh water, this is not considered freshening the water. The water will evaporate pure, leaving behind all minerals and trace elements. Thus leading to a hardening of the water. This is also why sometimes, you may add a "new fish" to a tank that appears to be fine, and the new fish will die. The current fish have been slowly acclimating to the declining water quality.

The peas solution worked great!!!! My fish looked really bad last night and just couldn't stay down in the tank so I cooked up some frozen peas until they were quite soft. Then I squeezed the skin off one and put it on the end of a pin so it wouldn't sink to the bottom (the first one did and the fish couldn't stay down long enough to eat it). He ate the one off the pin and in about an hour he had a large, umm, poo, and then he could swim everywhere and looked less puffy. This morning he was back to his old self and swimming everywhere. Please cook some peas before you write off your fish!!!

Yes, it's usually not a good sign for a fish to struggle to stay submerged. Good luck, and I'll say I'm sorry if you lose your little pet.

well, it might be time for youe fish to..pass away. My fish did that for about a week and a half before he died. My fish also had a cyst of some type. Does he have an abnormaly large..bump?

My goldfish has had this for almost a year. It's a swim bladder problem. I stopped feeding him daily goldfish flakes, and changed to a daily diet of peas or lettuce, and frozen bloodworms (once a week.) He is doing fine, and I don't believe it is as dire a situation as the previous posts suggest. Try this new diet for awhile and see what happens. Watch the water, and don't over-feed, especially not with the worms. Good luck!

I have had an aqua cube for 3years with two gold fish,
Now ,i have had one death 6 months ago but replaced him.
But now my two fish seem to be gasping at the surface and appear to be very buoyant,and a bit "skitty"
I have a spray bar producing plenty of bubbles (they seem to like that) and have been changing(25%) and treating the water every 3 days. but there has been no change at all.
Any Ideas ? Or are they doomed to the great white god telephone ?

I had the same problem with one of my goldfish (SBD). I hand fed him a pea and changed 1/4th of the tank water with fresh, neutralised water with a small dusting of epsom salts. 10 hours later (overnight) he seems perfectly normal, with no obvious buoyancy defects!!! Thanks all who helped!!

sounds like swim bladder disorder, try feeding him peas. Also more info here on how to treat/prevent it: http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Swim%20Bladder%20Disorder.html

i have just aquired 5 new little fishes (thanks to my son)

We have a new tank, have put "normal" water in, but its already merky, after a day...do i go and buy a water pump?

I dont like the things, but feel terrible, they all seem to be gasping for air!?

I've just cooked up some peas to feed to my sick fish...but he dosen't seem very interested! My other fish keeps eating the peas before the sick one gets a chance! He is floating to the top (Bottom first) then trying to swim back down. Help I really love my fish!