I knwo it sounds wierd but i heard if they stay still sometimes on theyre side they can be passing gas, which takes a few days, and is a result of them overfeeding too much..... (not being overfed, rather gorging themselves)

fish don't constantly swim. they may lay still in the water for a while at a time, whever i've seen this I have guess that they are just resting/sleeping. and if you have just taken it back and put it in the tank, it may be stunned, in which case they look dead but soon revive. It should be fine.

Hey Connie

A few tips for you:

1) You should never (at least in my opinion and the Pet Store I use to work at for 2 yrs) comets in with any type of goldfish that has doubled tail like the Black Moores, Mirandas and a few others. Cuz they are nothing but a bully (fin nippers) to them, especially if the comet are the first one in the tank and if they are they largest one. Try to stick with Fancy Tails and Morres and ones like them.

2) Try placing freshwater tank salt( not marine salt) in the tank with your fish (even goes with Tropical Fish too) for a few reason.
A ) The Freshwater Salt add better gill function for better breathing.
B) Helps to keep down the stress level in the if they is any.
C) Help to kill and prevent Ick, as you called them white spots.

Over all, by adding this freshwater Salt you'll see a difference in your fish, like they have taking a Vitamine B shot or something.

Most people i waited on at the pet store tripped out when i suggested for them to add this salt. First thing they say is We don't have an saltwater tank. But there is a salt level in all ponds and rivers, may not be a high level but there is still some in there.

With You keeping goldfish. If your tank starts to look cloudy, time for a partial water change. Like 50%. You don't hjave to do a complete cleaning in your tank. You don't want tostrip out all the natural bacteria the fish needs to life longer and healthier.

Hope I was some help for you in some way. I do have lots experience fish, 23 yrs with tropical and 2yrs with saltwater reef keeping.
I don't know everything but i can be of help.

Mark-

on the box tells ya of how much salt you need to add per gallon

even though i am not too much into goldfish, BUT, i do like how the blackmoore looks

sorry to heaR of the fish dying on ya

sorry to hear of that connie. Wish i could of been more of help with this. I had encountered this many times through out the years keeping tropical fish. And no matter what i have tried, nothing seem to help out. The only thing i was able to come up with, it was the end of the fish's lifeline.

So far, I had not ran into this with keeping saltwater fish.

how often do you vacuum the substrate, how big is the tank, how often do you clean your filter? black moors can get rather large, like any gold fish, but i had a golf ball sized one(with out fins) in a 100 tank with barbs and tetra and some dwarf cichlids with no problem of fin nipping, next time you see a sick fish in your tank, raise the temp up about 5 degrees, a sick fish in the wild will move to warmer shallow waters so its metabolism will be sped up so it can recover. then proceed with 25% water changes daily until you notice a difference, should be no longer then a week. if you have a smaller tank(30gal or under) you should be doing 25% water changer about every 4 days, if its under 15, almost daily, the bigger the tank the less maintenance. Gold fish also are pigs with lots of waist and emit alot of excess ammonia to a tank. maybe try something new. i suggest some kribensis... there purple:D and pink:D, or some cockatoo dwarf cichlids:D