Goldfish help

[babba007]

My kids goldfish are dying! We bought a 20l tank, complete with filter a few days ago. I washed the gravel and ornament as instructed, threw in some elodea and added the drops to take out the chlorine. Today I bought 4 fantails. One is dead and the others aren't looking too good. I have googled, but it came up with swim bladder problems, I think its water related. What have I done wrong? Any ideas? Two distressed boys ....aaarrrggghhhh!

 

[James..94]

Have you got a rainwater tank?
If so swap the water over. Since I did that they have been heaps healthier and have even started breeding.

 

[grannieannie]

I have an 8 year old fantale (Sushi) and I have bladder problems with him too.....they don't die from it, but what I read on the net is that you should... feed frozen food for goldfish & Koi, it has brine shrimp & vetetables and it's apparently food that sinks to the bottom, not that flakey stuff that floats. Feed that to them twice a week. My pet shop feeds it's fish the floating flakes, but this site said "never" feed goldfish flake food !! They need their water aired....little bubbles in it....that does something special to the water and helps their bladders some how. I think I just looked up.....upside down gold fish.....to find info on the problem. Sushi doesn't have this problem very often, but he's been floating on his back quite a bit lately and I've been worried about him. Good luck !!

 

[sandswimmer]

If the tank has only been set up for a few days, it will be an ammonia problem. Fish excrete waste in the form of ammonia, which is highly toxic. In a well-established fish tank, beneficial bacterial colonies that live in the filter and gravel do the bulk of the filtration. They convert ammonia into nitrite, and then nitrate (which is considerably less toxic than ammonia). In a new tank, these bacterial colonies are yet to form, and thus ammonia builds up in the tank. Also, because the fish are likely to be stressed out from moving to a new environment, they will be excreting large amounts of waste. In a perfect world, a tank should be up and running for several weeks before fish are added, but the only way to combat your current problem would be constant water changes to remove the ammonia from the water.

 

[Echiopsis]

Sandswimmer pretty much got it. Get a single fish to start to get the nitrogen cycle started then add one fish at a time over 6-8 weeks. Each time a new animal is added the bacteria needs to catch up to keep things balanced. Its called cycling.

 

[Smithers]

If the tank has only been set up for a few days, it will be an ammonia problem. Fish excrete waste in the form of ammonia, which is highly toxic. In a well-established fish tank, beneficial bacterial colonies that live in the filter and gravel do the bulk of the filtration. They convert ammonia into nitrite, and then nitrate (which is considerably less toxic than ammonia). In a new tank, these bacterial colonies are yet to form, and thus ammonia builds up in the tank. Also, because the fish are likely to be stressed out from moving to a new environment, they will be excreting large amounts of waste. In a perfect world, a tank should be up and running for several weeks before fish are added, but the only way to combat your current problem would be constant water changes to remove the ammonia from the water.

Do not feed them for a day or so,..let them settle and buy a bottle of prime,..its a bottle of beneficial bacteria that will combat the ammonia spike your probably having. A lot of fantail gold fish tend to go belly up easier than single tailed goldfish. 20ltrs I'd stick with 2 very small goldfish. When adding new water mix your dechlorination medium well before adding it to your tank. make sure the water is the same temp as old water. When cleaning tank don't clean the filter medium with tap water,..use the water out of the tank to not kill all the beneficial bacteria and don't totally clean it leave some muck it's got good stuff in it,..more beneficial bacteria. Try not to feed you fish anything than a good quality flake food,..as goldfish are not good digesting meat and can get intestinal worms from feeding those meat based frozen food blocks. Don't feed more than one flake per fish per day,...or more than they can eat in 5 mins and get rid of any uneaten food pronto it will create more ammonia. If it's swim bladder issue there's rarely any fixing this problem. The warmer the water the less oxygen so don't have it near a window as the sun will heat the tank and increase algae through uv rays. When changing water only do 10% each week,..but as Sandswimmer and I think you have ammonia issues you'll be best to do a third or half water change over a 3 day period. There's more to fish keeping than a lot of shops will tell you unfortunately it's the sale they are generally interested in. All the best.

 

[babba007]

Thanks for your help everyone. I asked the shop assistant if I could use tank water and she said no. ?? Unfortunately I have four little floating dead fishies What now? Should I just let the tank sit for a while until I buy my 2 very upset kids some new fish? Should I still run the filter?

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Run the filter and let the water cycle.
Running that filter will create good bacteria and let the ammonia build turn into nitrite then convert into nitrate.

Also when you put the fish in let them get used to the tank. Put them in slowly.

 

[dossy]

gold fish are normaly hardy fish, i will agree with the fact that its ammonia killing the fish. if you just let the water sit it will not help because bactiria needs ammonia to grow/ stay alive, if you wish you can buy your fish then get a 500mL bottle or bactiria and treat the water with it every 2nd day and slowly increse the food. do not introduce any new fish after the orignal ones for atleast 6 weeks and do not wash the gravel or the filter in the 1st 4 weeks

one other tip i could give is add a live plant to the tank, this provides oxygen to the water, reduces the amount of excess nutriants ( stops alge growing) and absorbs ammonia, nitrate and nitride and it can make the tank look nice as well.

as smithers said the shop keeper will probly not tell you much just because they are interested in the sale so normaly starting out invlves afew dead fish but as you learn new things it makes it easyer

i have a 125L tropical freash water tank and i have not done a water change in nearly 2 years and i have not added any bactiria or cleand it because of the fish and plants keep it clean and chemicaly balanced
( i have 4 medium sword leave plants and a water fern)

 

[Amazing Amazon]

Have your local aquarium shop do a thorough water chemistry analysis.

 

[dossy]

i should also add that i scrap the tank once a fortnight to stop any algey that might grow and i do add about 18L a month due to evaporation.

 

[SLACkra]

IMO check out this website Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish. As previously mentioned your tank has not cycled, there is no bacteria and thus you have ammonia problems which is killing your fish. Also most goldfish get fairly big and a 20 litre tank is not big enough.

Also as previously mentioned a significant number of aquarium shops will give you some pretty **** advice, so I recommend you double check every single piece of advice you recieve.

Andrew

 

[Dannyboi]

They are goldfish chuck em in and they will be alright the ammonia issues are generally only faced with tropical aquariums. If anything I would guess your boys or you are feeding them too much, this causes the water to go cloudy.

 

[babba007]

We didn't even get the chance to feed them. Was told not to feed for the first 2 days. We used to have a 4 foot tank with tropical fish and a few yabbies and had no problems at all. I though by getting goldfish it was a no brainer....obviously not. The boys just wanted to get a couple of goldies each, so I just got a small tank. Thanks everyone for your advice, I will definately use it.

 

[grannieannie]

Awww, so sorry the boys lost their fish :-( but hang in there, you'll get it right soon.

 

[slim6y]

The easy fix is to see Paul (scleropages - http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/member/scleropages-3852/ )

He runs an aquarium shop somewhere in Brissie (Oxley???) - very good and knows what he's on about... that's always the best place to start!

 

[Echiopsis]

They are goldfish chuck em in and they will be alright the ammonia issues are generally only faced with tropical aquariums. If anything I would guess your boys or you are feeding them too much, this causes the water to go cloudy.

Ignore this, its complete and utter rubbish.

 

[babba007]

Its obviously not correct, because I prepared the tank and water and they still died.

 

[AUSGECKO]

Ignore this, its complete and utter rubbish.

Agreed, only add a one or two fish to start off with, get some Prime, bacterial supplement, a gravel vacuum and get your PH Ammonia and Nitrite levels tested regularly for the first couple of months and be patient. Remember that once your tank is set up and running well, the worst thing you can do is empty all the water out, never change any more than 30-50% of the water. You will need to do small water changes, don't just "top it up" as someone else suggested as your nitrate levels will build up and increase the chance of disease.

 

[Dannyboi]

Ignore this, its complete and utter rubbish.

So your saying a goldfish that is a relative of the European carp is not a hardy fish? or are you saying that putting too much food in a tank is a fine idea? either way its not rubbish.