Why did My Goldfish Suddenly Die?

You may have heard that goldfish are a resilient and hardy species, which is not far from the truth. They can withstand variations in their water parameters in time of need and will adapt to a variety of conditions when necessary.

That being said, they are not impervious to disease, parasites, infections, and bacteria, similar to any other fish species.

The problem is that many of these fish-related conditions will display no signs in the first phases.

This explains why they can sometimes cause sudden death with no apparent explanation. And fish disorders aren’t the only goldfish killers to consider. Your goldfish can die for a variety of reasons.

Today, we will assess the 7 most common reasons for sudden death in goldfish, along with the smartest and most effective prevention and treatment methods to use.

7 Reasons Goldfish Die

There aren’t many things that would kill your goldfish suddenly. In most cases, they will show some tale-telling signs that you can decipher with proper knowledge and a modicum of awareness. However, some issues are more inconspicuous than that. These include:

1. Ammonia Poisoning

Ammonia poisoning typically occurs gradually, but that’s not a universal rule. Rapid ammonia buildup can kill your goldfish literally within hours or even minutes. But how and why do ammonia levels increase in your fish tank?

There are several reasons for that:

• Lack of tank maintenance – Ammonia is the natural byproduct of microorganisms consuming fish waste, food residues, and dead plant and animal matter. These bacteria will produce ammonia, poisoning the waters fast. This is especially a reason for concern for goldfish keepers since this species is notorious for its waste-producing capabilities. You can counter this issue by performing weekly (or regular) tank maintenance to cleanse the environment of ammonia-producing sources and starve the bacteria that feed on them. The frequency of maintenance depends on how large and how crowded the tank is.
• Overcrowding – Keeping too many goldfish into a small tank is always a recipe for disaster. Not even the filtering system won’t stabilize the environment, due to how much waste the goldfish will produce. Not to mention, goldfish’s growth rate and maximum size depending on how large their environment is. The solution is simple. Provide your goldfish with as much space as possible. A minimum of 10 gallons per fish should be met either way. Otherwise, overcrowding will create a variety of problems, including abrupt ammonia boosts and fish stress that could kill your goldfish with little-to-no notice.
• Overfeeding – Goldfish shouldn’t eat more than once per day, at least when talking about adult fish. The fry may require food 2-3 times per day in smaller portions. Overfeeding your goldfish will only have nefarious consequences. They will experience digestive problems, gain weight fast, and witness rapid increases in environmental ammonia due to the excess food residues. You should only feed your adult goldfish once per day and only sufficient food for them to consume within 2 minutes. As a plus, try to limit their protein intake since goldfish are omnivorous and don’t digest protein as effectively. Only provide them with protein-rich foods once per week as a treat. Otherwise, keep the protein content in their foods low.
• Overcleaning the tank – Yes, there is such a thing as cleaning your tank more thoroughly than you should. Too often tank cleaning and too frequent water changes can have the opposite effect and actually destabilize the environment. Every aquatic habitat has cultures of beneficial bacteria spread around the substrate, on the tank’s walls, and inside the filter. These microorganisms feed on ammonia and nitrites, producing nitrates as byproducts and making the water tank safer for your goldfish. Overcleaning the tank or using antibiotics to treat your fish for bacterial infections can kill these microorganisms. This will cause ammonia to spike soon, leading to ammonia poisoning and sudden death among goldfish. To avoid this problem, only perform 25% weekly water changes and perform tank maintenance as necessary given your circumstances. And don’t use any sterilizing chemicals in the process to not affect the tank’s biofilm.

2. Chlorine Poisoning

Chlorine poisoning is especially common among novice fish keepers who use chlorinated water either when performing water changes or when introducing the fish in the tank for the first time.

Tap water contains chlorine which is harmless to humans, but deadly for fish. Water authorities use chlorine and other related compounds to sterilize the water and make it drinkable for humans.

The problem is that the same chemical is harmful to your tank inhabitants and can lead to chlorine poisoning fast.

Depending on the quantity of chlorine reaching your tank’s water, your goldfish can experience chlorine poisoning and die within hours or even minutes.

To prevent chlorine poisoning:

• Dechlorinate the water naturally – If you insist on using tap water for your tank for lack of better options, dechlorinate the water first. You can do that by placing the water to use in a container with a wide breathing surface. Leave it there for about 24-48 hours, preferably the latter, and the chlorine will dissipate naturally. This is pretty much a cost-free method of making tap water safe to use for your tank.
• Boil the water – Boiling tap water has a similar effect to the previous method. It just speeds up the process.
• Use dechlorinating solutions – There are many dechlorinating solutions available on sale. Many of them will remove chlorine, along with additional harmful compounds, clear the water of ammonia and heavy metals, and even promote the formation of protective mucus for your fish.
• Use different waters for your tank – You can use DI (Deionized) or RO (Reverse Osmosis) water for your tank to avoid the chlorine problem altogether. Both these options provide you with clean waters, lacking any dangerous contaminants, including ammonia, chlorine, heavy metals, bacteria and other dangerous microorganisms. Just remember that both these waters require remineralization to make them safe for your fish.

Whichever option you might go for, always monitor the water’s chlorine levels before using it. You don’t want any miscalculations, as these can spell death for your goldfish within minutes.

3. Overfeeding

As I’ve already explained, overfeeding is a significant problem that can actually cause sudden death in extreme scenarios.

This is usually due to your goldfish experiencing digestive problems and because of subsequent ammonia boosts resulting from decaying food residues and excess fish waste.

The problem seems complex, but the solution is simple. It generally involves 3 options that are not necessarily mutually exclusive:

• Ensure a moderate feeding pattern – Provide your goldfish with an omnivorous diet, one meal per day, and enough food for them to consume in 2 minutes max. If they have food leftovers constantly, shorten their portions to see how they do. The goal is to figure out the line that marks your goldfish’s satiety. As a side note, larger fish will naturally eat larger portions than smaller ones.
• Clean the tank regularly – Sometimes, despite your best efforts, food residues will be inevitable. That’s not an issue, so long as you perform regular tank maintenance and vacuum the substrate from time to time. The cleaning frequency depends on the tank’s size and how many fish you have. You can probably get away with maintenance work every 3-4 weeks for a 30-gallon tank housing 1-3 goldfish. Add more goldfish into the mix and expand the tank, and you may need to do more frequent cleaning work.
• Consider a bottom-dwelling fish species – This option is a personal favorite of mine since it forms a natural way of handling food residues. The diet of many bottom-dwelling fish species consists mainly of food leftovers and dead plant matter accumulating on the substrate. Many catfishes and loaches are available in this sense, so long as you can accommodate them in your goldfish tank.

4. Disease or Parasites

Despite being hardy and resilient, goldfish are naturally vulnerable to all diseases that plague other fish species as well.

Swim bladder disease, White Spots (Ich), fungal infections, parasites, bacteria, kidney failure, and others can affect your goldfish on short notice.

Many of these fish conditions are contagious and will spread to other goldfish and tank inhabitants if given the opportunity. Some may even be responsible for sudden death among your goldfish.

The solution typically encompasses several critical phases, such as:

• Quarantine the sick fish – Quarantine is necessary for 2 primary reasons. First, you may not know what you’re dealing with or how severe the situation is. Second, moving the sick fish into a quarantine tank allows for adequate treatment without disturbing the main tank’s aquatic life and environment.
• Perform water changes and ensure pristine water parameters – Daily water changes may be necessary, along with maintaining impeccable water conditions. Have a filter and a heater ready to keep the fish comfortable during the treatment phase.
• Use targeted medication to handle the issue – Once you’ve figured out the problem, use adequate medication as suggested and instructed by a professional.

After that, monitoring the fish’s condition over the following days is crucial to determine its response to treatment.

If the treatment is successful, your fish should show signs of getting better within the first 2-3 days of quarantine.

5. Impaction

Impaction is nothing more than a pretentious term for digestive problems mostly linked to constipation. For starters, did you know that goldfish and bettas rank as the fish with the most constipation-related issues?

This is due to their excessive sensitivity to digestive problems associated with overfeeding and poor diets.

Impaction can take on many forms, causing severe bloating and even sudden death. The solution is to work on your goldfish’s diet to keep them healthy and prevent any digestive problems along the way.

We’ve already discussed the essentials at a previous point. To summarize:

• Only feed your goldfish once per day
• Never feed goldfish more than what they can consume within 2 minutes
• Limit the animal-sourced protein intake
• Always monitor your goldfish to see how they’re eating and whether they’re experiencing digestive issues, including bloating

6. Temperature Shock

This is another common problem, usually stemming from improper water changes or when moving goldfish into different tanks.

It may also be the result of dramatic shifts in water temperature, leading the fish to experience temperature shock, which can be deadly.

There have been many reported goldfish deaths over temperature shock, which signifies that there’s a real problem to consider. The most obvious solution here is investing in a heater.

The heater will stabilize the tank water’s temperature, keeping your fish safe and healthy long-term.

Another way of preventing temperature shock is to warm the water to ideal conditions when performing water changes. This will allow for a seamless transition that your goldfish won’t even notice.

7. High Level of Stress

Fish stress is an issue in all fish species, including goldfish. Your goldfish will experience stress for a variety of reasons. These include poor water conditions, dirty tanks, poor diets, aggressive tank mates, disease and parasites, etc.

Your goal should be to prevent these problems, which, consequently, will prevent fish stress.

To see if your goldfish is experiencing dangerous stress levels, monitor its behavior. Stressed fish tend to hide more, display low levels of energy, have a lower appetite, and even manifest erratic swimming patterns.

You may also see your goldfish spending more time out of sight or near the substrate, attempting to avoid contact with other fish.

Depending on the cause for their stress, you should also look for other symptoms, many of them related to the underlying triggers.

Check your fish’s body for signs of parasites and disease and assess its behavior to notice any irregularities.

Conclusion

As obvious as this may seem, goldfish never die without a reason, unless they’re very old and near the end of their natural lives.

Other than that, everything that kills your fish overnight should alarm you. Your job should be to protect the rest of the fish and to take what happened and turn it into a learning lesson.

Hopefully, this article will fall into the latter category, helping you prevent unnecessary goldfish deaths.