Guppy And Goldfish

[Krystina]

I have a 70 litre tank, fully cycled, I check the ppms at the end of every week and they're perfect.

I have 3 fancy goldfish,
2 comets,
3 white clouds,
and 3 guppies.

6 fish died during the cycling of my tank ):
I tried so hard, I had so many buckets of water around with fish in them. I even went and got some of some ladies established bio filter to put in my tank but the whole thing just crashed.

Recently, I've noticed my guppies dorsel fin is seized up, like, stuck, like when a betta get's exposed to too much ammonia, but it's not ammonia burns. Then there's a big LUMP under his dorsal fin. This lump is turning darker orange than he is. I love him, he's my favourite guppy. I've isolated him, he's still happy and swimming around, but it's so depressing having to do this. I've only had him for about.. 4 months. What should I do? ): I don't want to lose him.

And now,
My fancy goldfish,
She has one eye.
Recently, I've been finding her "lifeless" behind ornaments, stuck in fake plants and even belly up.
I've had to remove her from the tank 3 times now. Put new water in a small bowl and within an hour, she's happy as anything, so I give my tank a 20% water change, put her back in and she's back at it again. She even ends up getting stuck to the filter. All my other fish are happy as anything. Test the ppms and they're all perfect. I've got the air pump running for 3-7 hours a day. Yesterday, she was floating upside down on the gravel, so I scooped her out and put her in new tank water. She didn't improve at all that night and she was laying flat on her side. I thought she was gone, I was getting ready to empty the water, but I though "I'll just leave her and see how she is in the morning". Morning comes and she's gracefully swimming around her bowl. I feed my fish peas and Tropical Bites pellets.

I put her back in the main tank, she seems better, but she's gulping at the surface, swimming down, then darting back up. All my waste producing fish are within 6 months old.

Thanks!

 

[dh058977]

I have a 70 litre tank, fully cycled, I check the ppms at the end of every week and they're perfect.

I have 3 fancy goldfish,
2 comets,
3 white clouds,
and 3 guppies.

6 fish died during the cycling of my tank ):
I tried so hard, I had so many buckets of water around with fish in them. I even went and got some of some ladies established bio filter to put in my tank but the whole thing just crashed.

Recently, I've noticed my guppies dorsel fin is seized up, like, stuck, like when a betta get's exposed to too much ammonia, but it's not ammonia burns. Then there's a big LUMP under his dorsal fin. This lump is turning darker orange than he is. I love him, he's my favourite guppy. I've isolated him, he's still happy and swimming around, but it's so depressing having to do this. I've only had him for about.. 4 months. What should I do? ): I don't want to lose him.

And now,
My fancy goldfish,
She has one eye.
Recently, I've been finding her "lifeless" behind ornaments, stuck in fake plants and even belly up.
I've had to remove her from the tank 3 times now. Put new water in a small bowl and within an hour, she's happy as anything, so I give my tank a 20% water change, put her back in and she's back at it again. She even ends up getting stuck to the filter. All my other fish are happy as anything. Test the ppms and they're all perfect. I've got the air pump running for 3-7 hours a day. Yesterday, she was floating upside down on the gravel, so I scooped her out and put her in new tank water. She didn't improve at all that night and she was laying flat on her side. I thought she was gone, I was getting ready to empty the water, but I though "I'll just leave her and see how she is in the morning". Morning comes and she's gracefully swimming around her bowl. I feed my fish peas and Tropical Bites pellets.

I put her back in the main tank, she seems better, but she's gulping at the surface, swimming down, then darting back up. All my waste producing fish are within 6 months old.

Thanks!

Firstly welcome to the forum, im sorry to say that your tank is way way over stocked and the stocking isnt the best to go with it. Your guppies would enjoy a much higher temp than the minnows and goldfish. When you say the levels are 'perfect' what are the actual readings for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate? How are you testing them?

You really should consider changing your stocking and/or getting a much larger tank. What filter are you using on the tank atm?

 

[ZoddyZod]

you mention a bowl for the fancy goldfish. Does this mean there is no filter in place?

again, what are the readings for ammonia and nitrite in the bowl? If no filter is running, then 'perfect' will not be an accurate description.

As for the comets....they get BIG and are only really suited to pond life.

 

[Krystina]

my biggest fish is 10cm, and that's my comet.

My main tank has a AquaClear 05 HOB filter. I change particular inserts every month, another every 2 months, and another every 5 months.

My ppms are;
pH; 7.6
Amm; 0
Nitrite; 0
Nitrate; 0

The lady at the petshop said that the White Clouds and Guppies are both fresh water fish, and were in the fresh water section. I used the White Clouds to cycle my tank, as she directed. Two ended up dying, one died from ammonia and the other got sucked up by the HOB filter. I've now covered the in-take to prevent this from happening.

I have another filter, but it's too powerful and my fish get stuck to it. This is how one of my guppies died, and a few of my other fish nearly died. The filter is really small though. I put the fancy in a 10 litre tub with straight clean water and put an air stone in the tub. I also put in Stress Coat. The ppms were all neutral.

I'm also testing the ppm's with the liquid kits that you put into test tubes.

 

[ZoddyZod]

I'm doubting that nitrate reading. Nitrate is the waste product of the bacteria that process nitrite, therefore there should normally be some present.....unless you have a very heavily planted tank with hardly any fish, which isn't the case here.

what test kit are you using?

with regards to the size of the comets, their eventual adutl size is around 12".....so again, they are not suitable aquarium residents for a 70L tank.

 

[Krystina]

I'm using the liquid testing kits that you mix in the test tubes. Cost me $60.
They're the readings. My fish are tiny, like, babys. Think they might be around 4-5 months old. They're grown though, they use to be miniture.

In my filter I have, firstly;
A sponge,
material that removed ammonia,
rocks for bacteria to grow,
material to make the water clear (carbon)
carbon with a sponge ontop.

then the water flows out.

My filter is running 24/7, except for when I'm doing monthly 50% water changes, and weekly 20% water changes.
That includes servicing my filter monthly.

 

[dh058977]

Regardless of the size of your fish now you should consider their fully grown adult size. As adults they are way too big for your tank, they will never reach adult size in such a small tank as they will be badly stunted. There is no need for carbon in your filter unless you are removing meds. When you say 'servicing' what exactly do you do to your filter?

 

[Krystina]

If my fluro light has been left on for more than 4 hours a day, green/brown algea starts to produce in my filter. It get's too much, basically, so I take the filter and clean everything in a bucket of tank water. I throw away the old inserts you're suppose to replace every month and replace them with new ones. I don't leave the light running for more than 2 hours now and the problem is gone, but I still service it every month.

A fish is a fish, really. Bettas live in puddles, then people over estimate and think they need a great big 100Litre tank for it.
My sister has a 140Litre tank with 3 fully grown comets and 4 fancies, and 5 medium sized kio which are about.. 15cm and a red barb. . She's had them for years, and they're still all alive. They all use to be in a 80L tank. Cramped, but they lived. It's so unnessacary to have so much water for one fish. Some rule is like 10 gallons per goldfish or something silly like that..

None of my fish have randomly died. There has always been a cause eg; stuck to the filter over night/while I'm out. Had a disease when I brought them home (I always QT my fish before I put them in my tank).

They have PLEEENTY of room to swim, I could honestly put 5 more fish in there.

My tank is fine,
I just wanted to know what was wrong with my fancy and what my guppie has contracted and if it can be cured.

 

[dh058977]

Your tank is not fine. You say none of your fish have randomly died but the point is they have. A healthy fish would not get stuck to a filter and if your water quality is as good as you claim and the fish were ok in such a small tank then you wouldnt have an issue with two fish and by your own admition in the opening post, 6 dead fish due to cycling (no fish would have died if you had cycled your tank correctly).

If your test results are accurate then your filter is most likely not cycled and it never will be if you keep changing the media. You are correct in washing it in old tank water but you should never replace it unless it is completely falling apart.

The fact that you believe your fish have plently of swimming space proves that you are not going to take the advice given to you by more experienced fish keepers.

Your arguement about your sisters tank that is also over stocked is a total non starter, Im sure i could keep you alive in a cupboard for life but it doesnt mean that you have enough space to grow and be healthy does it?

In answer to your question, your fishes problems most likely stem from poor water quality caused by overstocking and constant cycling due to changing media.

If and when your fish reach thiss size, do let us know if they still have plenty of swimming space.

 

[Krystina]

My guppy defiantly doesn't have ammonia burns or fin rott.
If he did, his fins would be destroyed.
His dorsal fin is fused together as one, I noticed this at the start of this week. It's suppose to be long and flowy, but it's just.. frozen. The lump under his dorsal fin might be causing this to happen, like cutting off it's growth? Would aquarium salt fix this?

And I don't plan on growing my fish that big...

 

[ZoddyZod]

And I don't plan on growing my fish that big...

How do you plan to not let them grow?

 

[dh058977]

My guppy defiantly doesn't have ammonia burns or fin rott.
If he did, his fins would be destroyed.
His dorsal fin is fused together as one, I noticed this at the start of this week. It's suppose to be long and flowy, but it's just.. frozen. The lump under his dorsal fin might be causing this to happen, like cutting off it's growth? Would aquarium salt fix this?

And I don't plan on growing my fish that big...

Ah I see, then could you let me know how you plan on stopping them from growing?

 

[Krystina]

And my ammonia spiked and caused half of my fish to die. I knew it was going to happen, that's why I just chucked all my fish in my tank because you need bacteria to built up the bio filter, and it kinda takes far too much time to do that with chemicals, and wha-laa, tank fully cycled within a month. I was sick of having buckets of water around everywhere.

So you're telling me, I should go buy a great big tank like the one pictured and a tiny little goldfish, and put it in there? That, I say, is the biggest waste of water and power. Everyone might as well throw their fish in the ocean, because that's just stupid.. I'm not a fish enthusiest, I'm a teenager, studying, who wants to come home and look at my fish, play with my birds and go on games while I continue being a teenager.

My filter is high powered, if they swim within 10cm of the nosel, they get sucked onto it and can't get away, so I have to turn the filter off to release them. But I've covered it so it didn't a problemmm.

My tank is FINEEEE. I'm not going to seel off my room and turn it into one big tank.

Can you atleast tell me what's wrong with my guppy?

My guppy defiantly doesn't have ammonia burns or fin rott.
If he did, his fins would be destroyed.
His dorsal fin is fused together as one, I noticed this at the start of this week. It's suppose to be long and flowy, but it's just.. frozen. The lump under his dorsal fin might be causing this to happen, like cutting off it's growth? Would aquarium salt fix this?

And I don't plan on growing my fish that big...

Ah I see, then could you let me know how you plan on stopping them from growing?

I don't plan on having my fish next year as I'm moving. People gladly buy fish all the time, much cheaper than the pet shop.

I'm not even interested in growing them that big!

 

[fluttermoth]

And I don't plan on growing my fish that big...

Genius

If I get a shire horse foal and keep it on my lawn don't feed it too much, it'll be fine, right?

We all give advice base on best possible practice for the welfare of the fish. The only reason we recommend large tanks for goldies (and other fish) is because that is what they need to live long, happy and healthy lives.

We don't like coming on telling people they've got things wrong, we've all just learnt, over many years, what different fish need.

Just because goldfish are tough enough to survive these kinds of conditions doesn't make it ok to do it

Healthy fish don't, ever, just stuck to filters; that means there's something very wrong.

Honestly, if that's your attitude towards living things, then maybe you shouldn't be keeping them. That last post of yours has left me speechless, tbh.

As to what's wrong with your guppy, I'd guess maybe a bacterial infection, you could try a med for that, although with your attitude, I don't know why you'd bother; it's just a fish, right? Why spend any time or money on it?

 

[dh058977]

If you removed the goldfish which are too big for your tank and added a heater you could have a really nice tropical setup. I still maintain (as will most others on here) that a healthy fish would not get sucked in by a filter.