Goldfish advice needed.

[sharkweek178]

If the fish get plenty of plant matter in their diet, they can eat a normal tropical fish food. They should get live aquatic plants as part of their diet regardless of what they are fed.

The fish in the picture in post 11 appears to be dying from poor water quality (ammonia). It also has black edging to the fins, which is often associated with ammonia burns. However, the black could also be colouration but I don't think it is.

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BASIC FISH FIRST AID
Test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Post the results in numbers here.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until the problem is identified. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in. It also removes a lot of the gunk and this means any medication can work on treating the fish instead of being wasted killing the pathogens in the gunk.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use the media. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens so any medication (if needed) will work more effectively on the fish.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

I have savinia minima and anarcharis in the tank for water quality. The water was added to the tank just a few days ago. I had the filter running in another tank so that it would be pre-cycled for occasions like this. The gold fish was the only inhabitant (besides some pest snails). I fed it sparingly and I always do frequent (every other day) water changes to my quarantine tank. I think the issues with water quality happened to it before I got it. It was a carnival fish and probably came from a feeder fish tank at a pet store.

 

[sharkweek178]

And if you read the prior post, you might have noticed that I spoke about the fish in the past tense. I found it this morning floating at the top of the tank. I didn't think its chances were great to begin with but I wanted to give it the best shot possible.
I have to tell my little cousin. I'm more mad about this whole situation. People giving away sick fish at carnivals to kids. First of all, most of them go to people who have no idea how to keep fish. It's not like most of them have a cycled tank waiting at home. And even then these fish are so mistreated to begin with that they only last a few days. So then the kids are upset that they lost their new pet. These jerks make money mistreating animals and upsetting kids. I'm going to do something about this. It's probably just going to be an email to the people who run that fair telling them why they shouldn't have this at their carnival.

 

[Endlersendlers]

And if you read the prior post, you might have noticed that I spoke about the fish in the past tense. I found it this morning floating at the top of the tank. I didn't think its chances were great to begin with but I wanted to give it the best shot possible.
I have to tell my little cousin. I'm more mad about this whole situation. People giving away sick fish at carnivals to kids. First of all, most of them go to people who have no idea how to keep fish. It's not like most of them have a cycled tank waiting at home. And even then these fish are so mistreated to begin with that they only last a few days. So then the kids are upset that they lost their new pet. These jerks make money mistreating animals and upsetting kids. I'm going to do something about this. It's probably just going to be an email to the people who run that fair telling them why they shouldn't have this at their carnival.

It is a shame that they do this. I think it’s a practice that could be stopped in the name of animal rights.

 

[sharkweek178]

It is a shame that they do this. I think it’s a practice that could be stopped in the name of animal rights.

Plus it's upsetting for kids. They think they have a new pet and it dies in a few days.

 

[Lcc86]

Sorry this happened to you, you tried your best to give this fish a proper life.

 

[Essjay]

According to Practical Fishkeeping, the UK government recently dropped making fairground goldfish illegal from the draft Animal Welfare Bill. Instead they can be used as prizes but only to people aged 16 or over, or under 16s if accompanied by an over 16. So a 6 year old accompanied by their 17 year old sibling can win a goldfish at the fair.
However, local councils can enforce local bans on goldfish as prizes, so it's local councils we need to work on. If every local council were to ban the practice, we wouldn't need a government law.

 

[sharkweek178]

According to Practical Fishkeeping, the UK government recently dropped making fairground goldfish illegal from the draft Animal Welfare Bill. Instead they can be used as prizes but only to people aged 16 or over, or under 16s if accompanied by an over 16. So a 6 year old accompanied by their 17 year old sibling can win a goldfish at the fair.
However, local councils can enforce local bans on goldfish as prizes, so it's local councils we need to work on. If every local council were to ban the practice, we wouldn't need a government law.

It might not even need a law. Maybe if the people who ran these carnivals understood the cruelty involved they would voluntarily stop having these vendors.

 

[Endlersendlers]

It might not even need a law. Maybe if the people who ran these carnivals understood the cruelty involved they would voluntarily stop having these vendors.

That would be nice but I’m not sure the carnival mentality cares. It’s a different world to make a fast buck and move on.

 

[Endlersendlers]

I’m going to play devils advocate now. The feeder fish is raised to be thrown in a glass box with a predator who will eat it whole or in pieces. The carnival folks may feel they bought its freedom and a chance at survival, which they did, but the damage was done in the inbreeding and careless raising. Maybe the real issue is the low standards for raising feeder fish.

Now if we go down that road, we can question the keeping of species that require live feeder fish in captivity, or consider minimal standards for any fish.

 

[sharkweek178]

A question here. I haven't lost a fish in quarantine until now. So I never worried too much about disinfecting after they left it. Now that I have and I don't know what pathogens it had, I'm wondering about the best way to go about it. I'll just dispose of the live plants and sand. More where those came from. The plastic deco, sponge filter, gravel vac, net, and thermometer: I was going to let that sit in a bucket of water with hydrogen peroxide added to it for a day. That would be enough time to disinfect and would also break down the hydrogen peroxide so that the stuff would be safe to use again. I could do the same thing with the tank itself. Clear it out, then fill it with tap water and hydrogen peroxide to kill any pathogens and let it sit for a day.
Is there a better way to go about this?

 

[Endlersendlers]

A question here. I haven't lost a fish in quarantine until now. So I never worried too much about disinfecting after they left it. Now that I have and I don't know what pathogens it had, I'm wondering about the best way to go about it. I'll just dispose of the live plants and sand. More where those came from. The plastic deco, sponge filter, gravel vac, net, and thermometer: I was going to let that sit in a bucket of water with hydrogen peroxide added to it for a day. That would be enough time to disinfect and would also break down the hydrogen peroxide so that the stuff would be safe to use again. I could do the same thing with the tank itself. Clear it out, then fill it with tap water and hydrogen peroxide to kill any pathogens and let it sit for a day.
Is there a better way to go about this?

I was thinking hydrogen peroxide too, as I first started reading that. But I’ll wait for the experts to drop in.

 

[sharkweek178]

I was thinking hydrogen peroxide too, as I first started reading that. But I’ll wait for the experts to drop in.

The thing I like about it is that after about 24 hours of contact with water, it goes from H2O2 to just H2O.

 

[Endlersendlers]

The thing I like about it is that after about 24 hours of contact with water, it goes from H2O2 to just H2O.

Exactly.

 

[sharkweek178]

A question here. I haven't lost a fish in quarantine until now. So I never worried too much about disinfecting after they left it. Now that I have and I don't know what pathogens it had, I'm wondering about the best way to go about it. I'll just dispose of the live plants and sand. More where those came from. The plastic deco, sponge filter, gravel vac, net, and thermometer: I was going to let that sit in a bucket of water with hydrogen peroxide added to it for a day. That would be enough time to disinfect and would also break down the hydrogen peroxide so that the stuff would be safe to use again. I could do the same thing with the tank itself. Clear it out, then fill it with tap water and hydrogen peroxide to kill any pathogens and let it sit for a day.
Is there a better way to go about this?

@Colin_T I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.