gold fish help

[JarreT329]

so i bought a gold fish the other day to test out my water in my one tank. the tank had ick in it about a month ago and i have done some water changes and tried to clean it out, and now the gold fish is my experiment to see if the water is still diseased. so 2 questions.. #1. can gold fish get ick? right now he doesnt have any signs of ick on his body but he is acting sickly which brings me to my next question. #2. why does he keep floating back up to the top of the water quickly? he will swim downward and when he stops he floats up. is he dying? i havent really seen him eat in the past 3 days either and i have been putting small doses of food right by him a few times a day and he doesnt go for it.

 

[Bentley]

Ich cannot survive without a host for long, about two weeks I believe, depending on the temperature of the water. Drying the tank out completely would have killed the ich.

Yes, a gold fish can get ich.

It does sound like the fish is ill, perhaps dying. The swim bladder can be infected and cause the symptoms you describe. Constipation also can cause the symptoms.

If the tank was fishless for a month, you have lost the nitrogen cycle of the tank unless you've been adding ammonia to the tank.

How long have you had the goldfish in the tank (sad to me that you are using the fish as an experiment though)? What is the size of the tank?

 

[JarreT329]

the gold fish has been in there for about 3-4 days now. its a 10gal and yes its sad but i have only 1 gold fish in there before i add more goldfish. even tho the tank was fishless for a month, it had fish in it before which died from ick so it went through the nitrogen cycle before and i just gravel vac'd it a few times and done some water changes so i feel that the levels remained fine throughout the time of having no fish. i also have a liquid test kit and i have been checking the levels but obv you cannot test for ick lol

 

[miles]

I think the point was that although your tank fininished cycling once, after going a month with no fish (and thus no ammonia to feed the bb), most of your biological filter would have died off by now. I would suggest waiting a good long while before adding anything else, your tank will probably have to cycle all over again.

 

[Bentley]

Yes, miles, that is what I was trying to say, thank you.

the gold fish has been in there for about 3-4 days now. its a 10gal and yes its sad but i have only 1 gold fish in there before i add more goldfish.

A 10 gallon tank is too small for one goldfish. There is no room to add more. Depending on the type of goldfish, they can get 8 inches to 3 feet long. Even the small 8 inches (the more fancy types) is too small for a 10 gallon tank. They produce much more waste than tropical fish and would need constant water changes to keep up with their waste production in so small of a tank. It would be like a person living in a closet!

even tho the tank was fishless for a month, it had fish in it before which died from ick so it went through the nitrogen cycle before and i just gravel vac'd it a few times and done some water changes so i feel that the levels remained fine throughout the time of having no fish.

Not sure what 'levels remained fine' but if you mean the beneficial bacteria that complete your nitrogen cycle, they died off when the tank remained empty. They can only live a few days without fish or some other source of ammonia (fish poo, decaying food, or actual liquid ammonia being added to the tank daily). You will need to start over on the nitrogen cycle. Your poor goldfish may be suffering from ammonia poisoning too. How much water are you changing out to help the goldfish survive?

 

[JarreT329]

Your poor goldfish may be suffering from ammonia poisoning too. How much water are you changing out to help the goldfish survive?[/QUOTE]

the levels i meant were like ammonia and ph and all those, but i wasnt doing the water changes while he was in there, i was doing them prior to putting him in throughout the month of no fish.

 

[OrangeCones]

If you want the goldfish to survive, you need to do water changes while he's in there, not just before he was put in. What are your current readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?