Goldfish going "crazy"?

Question

My 3 yr old goldfish is acting weird. He has random spurts where he starts swimming around frantically, slamming into the side of the tank, jumping up so his body is out of the water, and smashing his body against the rocks. Then he will act normal until he does it again. What could be wrong?

Answer 1

It could be a sign that the fish has external parasites, and is trying to scratch them off. Observe yoiur fish, looking for other signs of disease.

Answer 2

this is either down to water quality or a parasite, check for white spots forming on the body/ fins. sometimes they act like this even before white spot shows itself.

keep the temp below 72f any hotter and the fish sometimes start to jump out.

probably worth checking parameters ph/ammonia/nitrite/nitrate, but if your not doing this then at least do a 25% water change weekly.

Answer 3

This could be because of your water. If your water has some kind of problem with balance of pH, Nitrates, Nitrites, etc, it might have ecstatic behavior.

Answer 4

Maby it is getting to warm in the tank. Goldfish prefer colder water.

Answer 5

Research what the tank should be like for your exact species of goldfish. It could be the temperature, pH, alkalinity.