Fish Thread

[chicknmania]

Hello, we have a 55 gallon tank containing one large (and older) fancy goldfish, one medium size (6 month old goldfish) and one large (7 inch long) dojo loach, that we bought as an adult and have had about 6 months. .

Recently, we've had some fish deaths. We lost our other large (and older single tail goldfish) last summer, and also our golden Dojo loach who was old. they died
within a few weeks of each other. We have had them in the same tank for all of those years. We have had huge amounts of rain the past couple of years, and we have well water.

I suspect that possibly the excess rain may be washing weird stuff into our well water that would normally be in lesser amounts. Just a theory. Recently, we acquired two small calico fancy goldfish, and lost them within a matter of weeks. I should add that I had made a recent water change shortly before they died, and noticed later that our water softener was totally out of salt...so...I'm guessing that might be why they died). I Last winter, we also acquired a fancy goldfish, (we bought it with the medium sized goldfish we have now) and it also died after a couple of months. We have had fish for years and have never had this much problem with fish deaths. Our water tests for Ammonia have always been zero to 0.25ppm, and I have been doing a partial water change and cleaning the tank and vacuuming the gravel about every week to ten days. I change the filters approximately once a month. I did a partial water change (the water softener is now full) on February 26, about a week ago. I've noticed since then that our older fancy goldfish (she's around 12 y.o) has not been as interested in eating as normally, and I also notice that in my calico goldfish before they died.. Yesterday, I noticed her fins turning pink. Last night, she was acting very distressed, and her veins were showing brightly in her fins and tail. I have never seen her this way. I tested the water and it was 0.25 ppm for ammonia, and over 7.6 for PH. (I don't currently have a complete test kit, so I couldn't test for nitrates, etc, but I do know our water is higher in nitrates and has always been) I did a partial water change (about 18 - 20 gallons), put in clean decorative fixtures, and cleaned the tank and vacuumed the gravel, and she is acting better now, but still slightly distressed. Also, we have always filtered the tank with two 55 gallon capacity filter pumps. One pump died, and one was ancient and covered with algae that I couldn't get off, so I also switched that one out and we now have two new pumps; one 45 gallon capacity and one 35 - 45 gallon capacity, so, I'm assuming that the two pumps should be up to filtering our 55 gallon tank, correct? (we like to use two, just in case one fails). However, I'm wondering if maybe they DONT provide sufficient filtration, and that's part of the problem? Our other goldfish is acting fine, although he is darker so I can't tell if his fins are bloodshot. And, of course, our loach doesn't have a problem.

So, just wondering if anyone has thoughts on why we've had all these problems lately? And what else can I do? Should I try changing out the substrate for fresh? I am worried about making too many big changes in a short period of time.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

@chicknmania or should I call you M. Clean? LOL It sounds to me like your getting rid of all the good bacteria . Dont toss your filters or wash them in sink/fresh water. When you do a water change rinse them in that water.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Hello, we have a 55 gallon tank containing one large (and older) fancy goldfish, one medium size (6 month old goldfish) and one large (7 inch long) dojo loach, that we bought as an adult and have had about 6 months. .

Recently, we've had some fish deaths. We lost our other large (and older single tail goldfish) last summer, and also our golden Dojo loach who was old. they died
within a few weeks of each other. We have had them in the same tank for all of those years. We have had huge amounts of rain the past couple of years, and we have well water.

I suspect that possibly the excess rain may be washing weird stuff into our well water that would normally be in lesser amounts. Just a theory. Recently, we acquired two small calico fancy goldfish, and lost them within a matter of weeks. I should add that I had made a recent water change shortly before they died, and noticed later that our water softener was totally out of salt...so...I'm guessing that might be why they died). I Last winter, we also acquired a fancy goldfish, (we bought it with the medium sized goldfish we have now) and it also died after a couple of months. We have had fish for years and have never had this much problem with fish deaths. Our water tests for Ammonia have always been zero to 0.25ppm, and I have been doing a partial water change and cleaning the tank and vacuuming the gravel about every week to ten days. I change the filters approximately once a month. I did a partial water change (the water softener is now full) on February 26, about a week ago. I've noticed since then that our older fancy goldfish (she's around 12 y.o) has not been as interested in eating as normally, and I also notice that in my calico goldfish before they died.. Yesterday, I noticed her fins turning pink. Last night, she was acting very distressed, and her veins were showing brightly in her fins and tail. I have never seen her this way. I tested the water and it was 0.25 ppm for ammonia, and over 7.6 for PH. (I don't currently have a complete test kit, so I couldn't test for nitrates, etc, but I do know our water is higher in nitrates and has always been) I did a partial water change (about 18 - 20 gallons), put in clean decorative fixtures, and cleaned the tank and vacuumed the gravel, and she is acting better now, but still slightly distressed. Also, we have always filtered the tank with two 55 gallon capacity filter pumps. One pump died, and one was ancient and covered with algae that I couldn't get off, so I also switched that one out and we now have two new pumps; one 45 gallon capacity and one 35 - 45 gallon capacity, so, I'm assuming that the two pumps should be up to filtering our 55 gallon tank, correct? (we like to use two, just in case one fails). However, I'm wondering if maybe they DONT provide sufficient filtration, and that's part of the problem? Our other goldfish is acting fine, although he is darker so I can't tell if his fins are bloodshot. And, of course, our loach doesn't have a problem.

So, just wondering if anyone has thoughts on why we've had all these problems lately? And what else can I do? Should I try changing out the substrate for fresh? I am worried about making too many big changes in a short period of time.

Goldfish need large water changes. I do 70-90 % every 10 days. They also need the filter media rinsed on a regular basis as they produce a lot of waste. Here we have well water that we need to run through a few filters and a softener to remove all the rust. My water comes out of the well at nearly 6 for ph, than buffers up to 8 in the tanks. My goldfish handle this shift without problems so I do the large water changes. You should have zero ammonia in your tanks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

@chicknmania or should I call you M. Clean? LOL It sounds to me like your getting rid of all the good bacteria . Dont toss your filters or wash them in sink/fresh water. When you do a water change rinse them in that water. View attachment 2042540

I have always regularly washed my filter media, especially with the goldfish. As long as you aren't removing and washing everything enough bacteria hang around in my experiences. Tropical fish are more touchy, but I was their filters out on a regular basis to make them last longer instead of changing them.

 

[chicknmania]

Usually we do have 0 ammonia. There are times when I do a 70 per cent water change, but I was reluctant to make a huge water change, I was afraid it might make things worse. I'll test the water again today. Filters have been recently replaced enough that they shouldn't need rinsed. That's the thing, I do things somewhat different than you, but I've never had problems like this before, so what has changed???? And we have an enormously expensive water conditioning system that is only about five years old, it should be doing a decent job on our water without a lot of effort on our part, but then again, it should never have run out of salt.

 

[chicknmania]

Normally I never take everything out at the same time and wash it. I took out all the decorations that looked scummy but left the filters and the substrate, there should be plenty of bacteria. Normally, I only take out half the decorative stuff at a time and replace half with each filter change, so no, I'm not Mr. Clean. I took more out than usual this time because of the unusual circumstances. Red veins in the fins mean poor water quality. I needed to make it a lot less poor.

 

[chicknmania]

How often does everyone change the substrate? Ever? I was told once by a fish store employee that it should be changed every year, but i think that's excessive. And thanks for the advice about rinsing the filters, I will try that as well.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Usually we do have 0 ammonia. There are times when I do a 70 per cent water change, but I was reluctant to make a huge water change, I was afraid it might make things worse. I'll test the water again today. Filters have been recently replaced enough that they shouldn't need rinsed. That's the thing, I do things somewhat different than you, but I've never had problems like this before, so what has changed???? And we have an enormously expensive water conditioning system that is only about five years old, it should be doing a decent job on our water without a lot of effort on our part, but then again, it should never have run out of salt.

If you aren't doing big enough water changes the nitrates will slowly increase over time. If you are afraid to do bigger water changes you can do smaller ones more often.

On average my single tailed goldfish have lived 15 years plus, and the fancy varieties live 6-10 years on average. With goldfish it's fresh water, fresh water, fresh water. Also make sure to not over feed as it adds to the problem.

What's the temperature of your tank currently? The colder the temperature the less they should be fed. Anything under 60, you probably should suspend feeding or at least cut it way down. Food will rot in the gut at colder temperatures as digestion will slow or stop like it does at temperatures below 50.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Normally I never take everything out at the same time and wash it. I took out all the decorations that looked scummy but left the filters and the substrate, there should be plenty of bacteria. Normally, I only take out half the decorative stuff at a time and replace half with each filter change, so no, I'm not Mr. Clean. I took more out than usual this time because of the unusual circumstances. Red veins in the fins mean poor water quality. I needed to make it a lot less poor.

Red veins do mean there's too much nitrate in your tank. So start doing water changes, perhaps daily or every other day for a week or two to exchange all the water.

 

[chicknmania]

OK, I will do that. I used to change the water twice weekly but kind of got lazy on that the past couple of years.