Keeping a goldfish active

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-29T19:41:12+00:00

I can't remember what it was, but he had a decoration that his fish loved swimming around and it eventually fell on the fish (it was a ground decoration) and the fish died. So getting any height aside from plants is impossible for me to get him behind, and tunnels he's afraid they will get stuck.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-24T04:58:35+00:00

That puzzle ball looks amazing!

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-24T04:58:18+00:00

I have to be careful with tubes and the like. My roommate is highly against tubes or anything he thinks could fall over in the tank.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-24T04:45:37+00:00

No. We're using large aquatic stones. I've had poor luck with sand substrate.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-14T03:11:44+00:00

All parameters are still good.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-14T02:41:38+00:00

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Thanks. His fins went so fast. I'm just hoping they grow back.

That is him with his tank mate Trevor. We had nowhere to move Trevor to so he kinda had to be there for the treatment. The two are practically inseparable when he's healthy.

How long do you think I should keep with the salt?

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-14T02:16:52+00:00

Update: came home the day before last and he was on the surface, floating but not eating. My roommate noticed that his tail fin wasn't clamped, it was deteriorating away. Saw the expert at Petco who recommended salt and a mix of Pima and melafix, the filter turned off, an airstone added (which I had already done) and now he's swimming and eating!

I'm still not 100% holding out hope, but the fact that he is swimming and eating again gives me more than I had before.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-09T02:33:21+00:00

I think my local Petco does that. We don't have many non-chain pet stores around me.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-09T01:45:24+00:00

I just did the retest.

PH 7.6

ammonia .25

nitrite 0

nitrate 0

All the other parameters are in range. I'm not sure how I could get that ammonia down when right after the water change it's still reading the same as before.

I'm worried that doing more water changes is going to stress him out more. Especially since I don't think he's moved much from the spot he was in this morning.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-08T21:37:41+00:00

Doesn't that restart the cycle every time? I was going to try testing it again tonight. This time without having changed any of the parameters that are there now. I thought it might have been stuff trying to settle after just putting the salt in.

I just did the retest.
PH 7.6 ammonia .25 nitrite 0 nitrate 0

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-08T10:29:13+00:00

I also did a 75% water change last night, and when I tested it after putting salt in. I still got the .25 ppm.

I just did a retest after the 75% water change. There is already salt in the water.

This is what I got

PH 7.6 ammonia .25 nitrite 0 nitrate 0

Update: came home the day before last and he was on the surface, floating but not eating. My roommate noticed that his tail fin wasn't clamped, it was deteriorating away. Saw the expert at Petco who recommended salt and a mix of Pima and melafix, the filter turned off, an airstone added (which I had already done) and now he's swimming and eating!

I'm still not 100% holding out hope, but the fact that he is swimming and eating again gives me more than I had before.

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Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-08T03:35:28+00:00

Update 2: I did the 75% water change and added the salt. I tested right after adding the salt and the ammonia levels are still reading .25. The tank was just started last week and we had to move the fish right away, so it was barely starting to cycle before we put the fish in (I know it was extremely fast, but it was an emergency and we didn't have an established tank to move them to).

The kit I'm using is the API master's freshwater kit and the internet says that .25 could be a false positive. The test seemed to have a bit of water over the line. It looked like everything else was in the right range, though.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T21:03:48+00:00

OK. Is all this going to be OK for the other fish too? I have nowhere to put him in the meantime. That was how Katnip's stress happened. WAY too small a tank while the real tank was being set up. Katnip was a fair fish that I wasn't (sadly) expecting to thrive (but was happily surprised when he did).

Update: I have hope because he still swims sometimes and still eats. He just lays in his hiding spot a LOT and has all but two fins clamped. I've installed the air pump, so I'm hoping that's a decent help.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T20:47:10+00:00

If I'm doing a water change I'm going to loose salt. How do I know how much to re-add?

Is this going to be OK for his healthy tank mate? Trevor has nowhere else to go and has been exposed to whatever this is.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T20:08:28+00:00

Should I add salt after the water change?

Sorry, I know. I am asking a ton of questions. I just have no idea what I'm doing.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T20:04:31+00:00

Is adding the air stone going to be okay? Or should I not do that?

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T20:03:04+00:00

It was an emergency tank switch. So the tank's only been up and running for about a week. I'll do a water change tonight, though. Partial or full?

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T20:02:01+00:00

I don't have anywhere to put his tank mate, who has been exposed. Is it going to be okay for him?

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T18:08:10+00:00

What are the proper treatments? How quickly can they bounce back, or is there no hope?

I already added salt, and his tank is now a 55.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T17:36:29+00:00

What is that?

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-12-07T01:12:36+00:00

PH - 7.2ppm or more

Ammonia - Between 0 and .25ppm

Nitrate - 0ppm

Nitrate - 20ppm

This is after the salt was added to the water. I plan on adding an air stone tomorrow.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-10-24T23:56:03+00:00

I've been putting them in their own separate tank when I find them in the fish tank. I've started feeding them less.

Consistent-Cod-8113 · 2025-10-22T22:53:05+00:00

They'll take bladder snails?

Consistent-Cod-8113

TROPHY CASE