There's an LJ group called goldfish_bowl you can join for goldfish-specific advice. If you are going out of town you can buy "weekend feeders" which goldfish like just fine.
You have three possibilities for an unresponsive fish. First is he is sick and not long for this world. Second is he's adjusting to the new tank - something about it is radically different from the water that he was in before. Unfortunately, this usually also ends in sick. Third is he can't find the food - goldfish aren't the swiftest creatures in the tank.
Oh, and - he might also be lonely. But that will not interfere with his eating. I would recommend sticking to one fish at a time for at least a month. Goldfish really are very dirty fish, and your tank will need time to adjust.
I think... he has died. I'm not 100% sure. See above for his situation.
He was with us and seemingly happy for just about a month. Not sure what went hinky.
I had no idea goldfish were so dirty. Are there clean and easy aquarium fish? The guys at the one store told me I was a fool not to go directly to salt water.
I'm sorry about your fish. He has some sort of internal damage that is causing him to to be able to regulate his flotation, and he will die soon if he is not dead already.
If he was happy for a month, you're doing something right. It's probably a water quality issue. For goldfish, it's a good idea to change the water (siphoning out the gravel as you do so) once a week, about 2 gallons for your tank, more if there's a water quality problem. Do you have a test kit you can use to measure the water quality? I will guess you have high nitrates.
If you do not want to get another goldfish, you might try corydoras - they are fun little fish. Get six. You will need a tank heater to make sure the temp never drops below 70 degrees. They'll eat flake food, your goldfish food, whatever. It's really fun to feed them frozen bloodworms.
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What do you mean by unresponsive?
And you get what you pay for when it comes to fish, so don't get the ten-cent one.
Goldfish poop a lot. A really lot.
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He was sort of floating around near a rock, kind perpendicular rather than parallel to the floor.
Now I would normally have assumed he was a goner, but a guy at the fish store told me his fish slept that way. But now he's been there for 24 hours.
I think he was a $6 goldfish.
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You have three possibilities for an unresponsive fish. First is he is sick and not long for this world. Second is he's adjusting to the new tank - something about it is radically different from the water that he was in before. Unfortunately, this usually also ends in sick. Third is he can't find the food - goldfish aren't the swiftest creatures in the tank.
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I think... he has died. I'm not 100% sure. See above for his situation.
He was with us and seemingly happy for just about a month. Not sure what went hinky.
I had no idea goldfish were so dirty. Are there clean and easy aquarium fish? The guys at the one store told me I was a fool not to go directly to salt water.
Reply
If he was happy for a month, you're doing something right. It's probably a water quality issue. For goldfish, it's a good idea to change the water (siphoning out the gravel as you do so) once a week, about 2 gallons for your tank, more if there's a water quality problem. Do you have a test kit you can use to measure the water quality? I will guess you have high nitrates.
If you do not want to get another goldfish, you might try corydoras - they are fun little fish. Get six. You will need a tank heater to make sure the temp never drops below 70 degrees. They'll eat flake food, your goldfish food, whatever. It's really fun to feed them frozen bloodworms.
Reply
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