Why is my goldfish lying at the bottom of the tank?

jjohnwm

Potamotrygon
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Mar 29, 2019
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Sorry to hear that. Now, consider this: you didn't bother to quarantine that fish because he was the only fish in the tank...which effectively turned that tank into his quarantine. Now, he's gone...but whatever did him in is likely still in that tank, waiting for your next fish.

What to do? Sterilize the tank? You could...but then there goes the established bacterial colony in your biomedia, meaning you get to start from scratch.

Having a separate quarantine tank for new fish isn't a guaranteed way of avoiding the spread of disease, but it is infinitely better than just tossing new fish...from a place like Petco, especially...into your display tank. This holds true even if we are talking about the first fish into the tank.
 
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Jack Dempsey
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Sorry to hear that. Now, consider this: you didn't bother to quarantine that fish because he was the only fish in the tank...which effectively turned that tank into his quarantine. Now, he's gone...but whatever did him in is likely still in that tank, waiting for your next fish.

What to do? Sterilize the tank? You could...but then there goes the established bacterial colony in your biomedia, meaning you get to start from scratch.

Having a separate quarantine tank for new fish isn't a guaranteed way of avoiding the spread of disease, but it is infinitely better than just tossing new fish...from a place like Petco, especially...into your display tank. This holds true even if we are talking about the first fish into the tank.
I'm planning on setting up a quarantine tank. I just currently don't have the ability to do so. The tank I was going use I ended up having to put my platy fry in it. I was using a 5 gallon bucket to quarantine my neons. Couldn't I just do a %100 water change?
 

SalviniCichlidFan

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I'm planning on setting up a quarantine tank. I just currently don't have the ability to do so. The tank I was going use I ended up having to put my platy fry in it. I was using a 5 gallon bucket to quarantine my neons. Couldn't I just do a %100 water change?
Maybe you should try identifying the disease that the goldfish had. If it's something bad like fish tb, I'd consider sterilizing. If it's something minor and non-infectious like a tumor, then you don't need to do anything.
 
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Jack Dempsey
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Maybe you should try identifying the disease that the goldfish had. If it's something bad like fish tb, I'd consider sterilizing. If it's something minor and non-infectious like a tumor, then you don't need to do anything.
Looking at the goldfish now it looks like he had some kind of gill infection. But I'm not sure. His spine is also way out of alignment and his fins seem to large for his size so he could be stunted. I'm not 100% sure.
 

SalviniCichlidFan

Dovii
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Looking at the goldfish now it looks like he had some kind of gill infection. But I'm not sure. His spine is also way out of alignment and his fins seem to large for his size so he could be stunted. I'm not 100% sure.
If it's just a gill infection, then you don't need to do anything. Regarding its spine and fins, fancy goldfish usually have weird/clumsy looking spines and fins so it should be normal. That being said, watch out if the spine misalignment is caused by fish TB.
 
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Jack Dempsey
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Update. In case anyone was curious, I got a new goldfish about two months ago and it is doing great!

Instead of getting a goldfish from the smaller tanks. I got it from the larger tank where they keep the bigger and healthier ones.

It's a Wakin goldfish. He's kinda a grayish black, with a white belly. There were also 4 rosey red minnows in the same tank, which I thought was odd, but apparently they were donated by someone. So that's why they were not in the feeder tank

I decided to get them and they are doing amazing together. The Wakin will even school with the minnows!
 
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Jack Dempsey
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Posting here because no one replied to my other post

I recently set up a 55g native species tank. the current stocking is 10 orange throat darters that I caught from a local creek less than a mile away from where I live.

I have done a ton of research on this particular darter species. They get about 2 inches long and have a beautiful rainbow coloration.

The tank has been cycled, and I also have a filter that has an extremely high water flow, as well as an assortment of creek rocks, branches, and algae.

My main plan was to have a single pumpkinseed fish as the centerpiece, but I'm not 100% sure how well the Pumpkinseed would get along with the darters.

Now I also have a 29g with a wakin goldfish, and 4 rosey red minnows. Would it be a bad idea to put the goldfish and minnows with the darters, or should I have to worry about possible harmful bacteria that the goldfish aren't used to?

Any advice is welcome! Also, any tips and tricks about caring for darters would be appreciated!
 
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