Need help with Goldfish

[waddles99]

Im sorry to rain on your setup, because i am a clean water freak, but: proper aquariums need to have water changed 25% each month if not every other week. Goldfish especially are very dirty fish. Even with a filter it won't be picking up all you think it is. I know that when I start to vacuum my substrate I am amazed at what the filter doesn't pick up. You will be surprised how a water change a month can go along way. Sorry to say, but not doing water changes isn't really good for the fish. You NEED to. If you don't own a gravel vac, then you can try to use a bowl or cup. A 10 gallon tank is really easy to change the water. Also, the problem could be the acclimation. How long/how did you acclimate the fish? Did you just float the bag for 10-15 mins or do a drip/cup setup? Sometimes when the water is such a drastic change(i.e. petstore water to home water)it is necessary to do a gradual change to get accustomed to your water. Especially since half your water is essentially rainwater from a pond. It is too late now but in the future make sure to cup acclimate. Add a cup of your water to the fish's bad every 15 minutes until you've dumped in for 1-1.5 hours. This is imperative to reduce stress and properly acclimate! Anyway, I hope he gets better soon! And please make sure to do your water changes!

 

[Kneedles]

Im sorry to rain on your setup, because i am a clean water freak, but: proper aquariums need to have water changed 25% each month if not every other week. Goldfish especially are very dirty fish. Even with a filter it won't be picking up all you think it is. I know that when I start to vacuum my substrate I am amazed at what the filter doesn't pick up. You will be surprised how a water change a month can go along way. Sorry to say, but not doing water changes isn't really good for the fish. You NEED to. If you don't own a gravel vac, then you can try to use a bowl or cup. A 10 gallon tank is really easy to change the water. Also, the problem could be the acclimation. How long/how did you acclimate the fish? Did you just float the bag for 10-15 mins or do a drip/cup setup? Sometimes when the water is such a drastic change(i.e. petstore water to home water)it is necessary to do a gradual change to get accustomed to your water. Especially since half your water is essentially rainwater from a pond. It is too late now but in the future make sure to cup acclimate. Add a cup of your water to the fish's bad every 15 minutes until you've dumped in for 1-1.5 hours. This is imperative to reduce stress and properly acclimate! Anyway, I hope he gets better soon! And please make sure to do your water changes!

I will change the water regularly from now on, but the tank does not actually have any gravel in it (I should probably do something about that), so I do not need to clean it for the time being.
Yesterday, I acclimated the new fish by floating its bag in the tank water for approximately and hour. I thought that that was long enough.

 

[waddles99]

I will change the water regularly from now on, but the tank does not actually have any gravel in it (I should probably do something about that), so I do not need to clean it for the time being.
Yesterday, I acclimated the new fish by floating its bag in the tank water for approximately and hour. I thought that that was long enough.

Gravel is good because it harbors beneficial bacteria. Acclimating the fish by floating the bag only acclimates the fish to the temperature, not the water.

 

[appps]

Could you show me the sort of tank that I should be using, then?

I have never changed their water. I would if I could, but the tank is heavy to the point of being extremely difficult to carry, and I do not own the equipment to execute the water change in a more easy way.
Approximately half of the water that is in the tank comes from my pond, so I can understand why the new fish is not used to it.

Definatly sounds like a water quality issue then. I used to have a big four foot tank inside and when hubby wasnt looking I would unplug our garden hose and drag that inside and use that to syphon the water out the back door. He thought I should just do lots of bucket trips

Its not hard to do, just buy a $2 bucket so you know its clean, get a bit of plastic tubing from the hardware store (another couple of dollars) and just suck on the end to start is syphoning into the bucket (if you get clear tubing you can watch the water coming towards you and stop sucking before you get a mouthful!). Dont let the water in the fish tank go more than 1/3 of the way down as too much water changed in one go is also stressful to them.

Then just empty that bucket outside and refill with clean water. If its tap water, so chlorinated, add a few drops of water ager, its about $5 a bottle but you only use about 20 drops at a time so it lasts forever. That gets rid of any chlorine in the water. Then just slowly tip that back into the tank till your water level is back where you started. Dont refill with your pond water as it is also likely in need of changing.

Keep that bucket aside for that use only so you dont end up with any chemicals being used in it. Do that every week or two and you fishies will be much much happier

Edited to add, be very careful when you add new gravel to an exisiting tank, the gravel has lots of fine dust on it that will really murk up the water. Normally you would do that first and allow the tank to settle for at least a few days before adding fish. I think Id give a cup or two a real good rinse and then add a little at a time so that its not going to make too much mess of their water.

 

[Kneedles]

Definatly sounds like a water quality issue then. I used to have a big four foot tank inside and when hubby wasnt looking I would unplug our garden hose and drag that inside and use that to syphon the water out the back door. He thought I should just do lots of bucket trips

Its not hard to do, just buy a $2 bucket so you know its clean, get a bit of plastic tubing from the hardware store (another couple of dollars) and just suck on the end to start is syphoning into the bucket (if you get clear tubing you can watch the water coming towards you and stop sucking before you get a mouthful!). Dont let the water in the fish tank go more than 1/3 of the way down as too much water changed in one go is also stressful to them.

Then just empty that bucket outside and refill with clean water. If its tap water, so chlorinated, add a few drops of water ager, its about $5 a bottle but you only use about 20 drops at a time so it lasts forever. That gets rid of any chlorine in the water. Then just slowly tip that back into the tank till your water level is back where you started. Dont refill with your pond water as it is also likely in need of changing.

Keep that bucket aside for that use only so you dont end up with any chemicals being used in it. Do that every week or two and you fishies will be much much happier

Edited to add, be very careful when you add new gravel to an exisiting tank, the gravel has lots of fine dust on it that will really murk up the water. Normally you would do that first and allow the tank to settle for at least a few days before adding fish. I think Id give a cup or two a real good rinse and then add a little at a time so that its not going to make too much mess of their water.

Today I decided to remove most of the water that was in the tank; I placed my two goldfish and the oxygen weed in a glass bowl with some of the tank water while this was happening. I then filled the tank up with tap water and put my fish in a small sealed plastic bag with some of the old tank water in it. I then placed the bag in the tank with the new water, and gradually added the new water to the water in the bag to acclimate the fish to it over the period of approximately an hour before releasing both of the fish into the tank. I have not noticed any significant behavioural changes.
I have some water ager left over from when I owned tropical fish many years ago, but it is long-expired and probably unsafe to use, so I will purchase a new bottle when I get the chance.