Gold fishes-What did I do wrong?

[McCord6]

I had 2 gold fish that are about 2 inches long up until Saturday. Hubby and I are still wrecking our brains out figuring out how they died. They were in REALLY good shape and form, 2 inches long each and we had them for 6 to 9 months. They were in a Fish vase that had glass stones and a small rainbow rock for hides. They been in that for 4 months now since my Slider Turtle decided to have my 3rd one for breakfast. Well, I cleaned their vase, took another one and put them in that one just until I can get it cleaned up. I bleached watered the vase and stones like I always have and scrubbed it really good, made sure it was rinsed out REALLY good before refilling with fresh water, replace their stones and rock and put them back in there. I always have cleaned their vase the same way everytime but this time, as soon as I put them back in the vase, 1 hour later, they BOTH died! It didn't make sense at all. They were BEAUTIFUL goldfishes, their scales shine PERFECTLY orange and gold, their tails were perfect shape and they are the LONGEST living goldfishes I have ever had! Im heart broken over this. They were just so PERFECT and all of the sudden...they are dead with no explaination. I got one of them from the fair in March and the other one (with teh one the turtle ate) was given to me for my birthday in May. They can't be old from what I heard that goldfishes can live for up to 10 years.

Does anyone have any idea what I could have done wrong with them that caused this so SUDDENLY?

They are fed once a day, gold fish pellets and their vase is cleaned every other week. They never had to have a filter or air circulizer since they are in a vase. Hubby said he will get me 2 more for Xmas (they are only 25 cents EACH and I still have a year worth of food still) and I just don't want to make the same mistake twice if I can find out what it was!

 

[lishah2000]

Goldfish should not live in a bowl! They need a lot of water and it needs to be changed very often. A water change once every other week in a bowl will kill them. Mine live in a 30 gallon with a filter and extra air and I still do a water change at least once a week. They create A LOT of waste.

Just to give you an idea how they should grow - in my pond they grow from 1 inch to over 6 inches in less than six months.

Anytime you use bleach to clean you need to rinse well. Then either let everything sit in the sun for a day or two or use a dechlorinator.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

One other thought is that you should never clean out everthing, meaning water and rocks. There are beneficial bacteria in the rocks that keep the balance of fish and tank. A well balanced tank will be clear, never cloudy. (it is a good idea to have some very porous ones in there for the bacteria that you NEVER wash off)

I never use bleach. Too harsh. A good filter is important too.

 

[CoopCrazy]

I would say either water temps fluctuated or there was still bleach in the vase.. I do agree you really shouldnt ever clean the whole vase.. They need the good bacteria in the water.. Sorry for you loss...

 

[patandchickens]

Yes, this happens sometimes with goldfish in bowls. The problem is that when you do a complete water change, esp. if you are using bleach or something like that, there is always a certain chance that something will go wrong. Maybe you did not rinse quite as much as you thought you did, this one time; maybe something with bleachy water still on it dripped into the tank before it was refilled; maybe your hands were a bit bleachy this time when you reset things; maybe there was a blip in water quality from your well or municipal supply; there are any number of things that could have gone wrong.

The solution is to get a TANK with a FILTER for the goldfish -- and it needs to be a decent size tank with a pretty effective filter, because goldfish are filthy creatures, especially when fed the amounts that many people [unnecessarily] feed them -- and that way you will never again be doing a bleach-out or total water change. Also you will have happier healthier fish with a bit better odds for the future.

Good luck, sorry bout your fish,

Pat

 

[McCord6]

Quote:
I agree they create alot of waste. I didn't know about the bowl, I have had a friend who had her fishes for 5 years in a vase just like mine. It's a 3 gallon vase. The Vase was given to me by her, not hers but new, and it did say it's for gold fish and betta fishes so I thought it was okay, and she told me to change the water every other week so I thought i was doing things right. Guess Im going to have to wait on getting a few more fishes until I get another tank or whatever comes to the turtle (it's my 4 year old son's turtle, he won't be happy about me if I rehome him).

 

[Godsgrl]

Did you put chlorine drops in the water before you put the fish in? It's really important to add the drops everytime new water is added to the tank. Sorry about your fish.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I have a county fair gold fish courtesy of my 6 year old grandson now that lives in a fish bowl! Have had Goldy

wink for 3 years now. I keep two bowls on hand for her, when she is in bowl one I clean the other bowl and let the water set atleast overnight or add chlorine remover and let the water temp settle to room temp before adding her to the clean bowl. I never bleach the bowls.

Goldy likes her fish bowl! lol The bigger the bowl the more they will grow. My outside gold fish get huge in the fish pond.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
That's actually supposed to be dechlorinating drops.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the chlorine drops! And one common mistake people make is they overfeed their fish. Fish need very little food to get by.
Just a pinch. If they eat it a pinch more. Excess food will foul the water quickly.