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by melissa on April 4th, 2007

melissa

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My two goldfish are 4 1/2 yrs old & are staying at the bottom of the tank a lot but then go back to swimming normally after a few minutes. The cycle keeps repeating itself and one of the fish is spasming a lot when it swims normally. Is something wrong?

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Answers. 5 helpful answers below.

  • by TheSandMan420 on April 4th, 2007

    TheSandMan420

    They don't have much energy anymore. They are too old or sick to swim like they use to. They probably are going to die soon, unless they are just sick.

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  • by zeplinair on September 1st, 2008

    zeplinair

    Your fish are not old!
    Common culprits for goldfish is high nitrate and parasites.
    Do your water tests or ask your aquarium shop to do them for you. The end of cycle pollution of nitrate usually catches up despite water changes leaving the poor fish in stress with a clueless owner.
    Parasites will either sicken and kill the fish directly or leave the fish vulnerable to bacterial infections.
    Check water quality, remedy it and treat for parasites. Use these less stressing methods before using any caustic medicines.

    1. Do a water change of at least 50% or more,

    2. Dose 1 tablespoon of salt (no additives-I use Morton's canning and pickling salt from the supermarket-its cheap and pure) per gallon of the tank's water-spread this over the day to 36hours-dissolve it thoroughly before adding otherwise it will burn your poor fish. This will give you a salt concentration around 0.3%-enough to inhibit or kill most of the protozoan parasites that commonly afflict goldfish.

    3. Treat for flukes with praziquantil-it is effective and very safe. You can use it with the salt treatment. Gill and body flukes are endemic in goldfish and will kill them slowly. I use Aquarium Solutions Prazi-Pro. (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12098&cmpid=03csegb&ref=3312&subref=AA&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=0022968000000)

    Please check out www.thegab.org for excellent goldfish info, discussion and help.
    www.youtube.com/thecuddlefish

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  • by Will on August 4th, 2007

    Will

    Yes. Prepare for the funeral!

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  • by gamergirl on April 4th, 2007

    gamergirl

    theres this disease called "Ichthyophthirius" it usually has some effects such as white spots on the fish(which usually look like the fish was just rolling in salt), the fish usually hides in corners or out of the light, they dont swim around as much...etc...

    "In the early stages of the disease, fish are likely to flash and rub against objects because of the irritation. At a later, advanced stage they will become lethargic and spend most of their time sitting on the bottom."

    http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/whitespot.htm


    go to this site and it should help...if that ISNT what your fish has, then im sure you can look it up on this site...I hope this helps some!!

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  • by curiousgal10123 - respect mah AUTHORITAY on August 4th, 2007

    curiousgal10123 - respect mah AUTHORITAY

    umm well goldfish only have a memory of about 11 seconds so the cycle could just be because they think its different each time? then again, i'm no goldfish expert...

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