New Goldfish In Tank

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hey, thanks a ton! That was indeed an eye-opener! feel much better to know whats right!

In just two days of keeping the filter on continuously, i saw a vast difference in the tank clarity and the residue that use to settle on the items in the tank. Now, I have only the filter and one plastic trasparent container in the tank.
The two little ones have taken over that container as hiding place, leaving the big fish to float around outside. They dont chase each other/bite each other that often now. Guess they're getting comfortable around each other.
But fed times are still a challenge...have to make sure all eat, as the little ones are quite aggressive.

- I guess the sand option is best, BUT... BUT....what happens when you clean the whole tank? Sand would be a mess to remove and clean and how much of it will remain to put back in the tank after cleaning? I hope you're getting me here...cause emptying the tank of the gravel and stones itself is quite a task! Sand is so much more finer and in water its even verse.

With the sand, you don't need to take it out when cleaning it. With cleaning it, personally what i do is just wave a fish net above the sand, which create's a current strong enough to lift any poop off the substrate but not the sand itself. I also have a fish net with holes large enough for the sand to pass through, but not large bits of waste, and i just sift the sand through this to clean out the waste from it.
In my goldfish tank though i hardly ever clean the sand, its only a thin layer of sand and with the goldfishes constant rummaging through it and the powerful filtration in the tank, the sand has stayed spotless for months now. If you go for sand, i would aim to only cover 1-2inches deep of sand around the tank maximum .

- Btw, I use 'holiday food' (as available in the pet shops here) when i travel for a week or few days. Somehow, the fish look dull when i get back.
possible Reasons:
- the food does not last for a week and the fish are left without food for 3-4days.
- The food is not nutritional thus the fish get weak?
- the food is not the correct type?

regards,
Avanti

Its probably because such holiday foods tend to mess with the water quality a lot, which is why the fish look off-colour when you return back to them after holidays. Fish can go for a suprising amount of time without food, goldfish can go without for two weeks quite easily as long as you don't do this too often- doing this can be a safer option than using holiday fish feeders or foods, as such foods tend to be made of poor quality ingredients and can poisen the water quality, so not feeding the fish for a week or two would actually be safer for their health. The only time i would not advise doing this is with fish under 3inches long or young fry.
Regardless of what such holiday foods say, they are always bad for the water quality as regardless of what type of food you use, it will always go off if you leave it in warm tank water for weeks on end.

 

[AVANTI]

okie....thats a lot of clarity, thanks.

- a quick one on the 'Sand' - apart from 'sand' what else can be added at the bottom of the tank? i mean only 2inches of 'sand', the filters, rift wood and the fish in the tank?

- btw, i was wrong. the little ones have begun their chase again. guess a divider net is only option.

- lastly, do goldfish twitch and swim around in a frenzy when they get anchor worms? The earlier big fish (which died of anchor worms) did not appear to be uncomfortable, only that i felt it would be getting tortured internally and thus i removed each anchor myself.
But the little one (one of the two) got one yesterday (i.e when i saw) and its going crazy siwming around, getting blown by the filter water pressure as it swims just in front of the filter outlet, unusually active and restless.

regards,
Avanti

 

[AVANTI]

- a quick one on the 'Sand' - apart from 'sand' what else can be added at the bottom of the tank? i mean only 2inches of 'sand', the filters, rift wood and the fish in the tank?

- lastly, do goldfish twitch and swim around in a frenzy when they get anchor worms? The earlier big fish (which died of anchor worms) did not appear to be uncomfortable, only that i felt it would be getting tortured internally and thus i removed each anchor myself.
But the little one (one of the two) got one yesterday (i.e when i saw) and its going crazy siwming around, getting blown by the filter water pressure as it swims just in front of the filter outlet, unusually active and restless.

regards,
Avanti

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

- a quick one on the 'Sand' - apart from 'sand' what else can be added at the bottom of the tank? i mean only 2inches of 'sand', the filters, rift wood and the fish in the tank?

Anything you like really, however live plants will probably be eaten by goldfish. When it comes to fake plants, silk ones are much more better than plastic ones, not only do they look more realistic than plastic ones, but plastic plants can scratch goldfish so so silk ones tend to be better. When it comes to rocks and pebbles and stuff, avoid rocks which can change the ph of the tank like ones with metal ore in them or ones like sandstone and limestone etc.

You should always wash any ornements you put into the tank before you put them in the tank, as you don't know what sort of stuff could have got on them at the petshop like room sprays and stuff. Wood like bogwood, driftwood and mopani wood will leak tannins into the tank water, which will stain the water a sort of weak tea colour- these tannins are completely harmless to fish though (and can actually be beneficial to health of some fish, as tannins can have antibiotic qualities to them). However the amount of tannins such woods leak into the water can be quite a lot, so a lot of people soak the wood beforehand to help get rid of the worst of the tannins, as the wood will leach a lot of tannins into the water in the first couple of weeks in particular, which can turn the tank water rather dark. However the tannins will eventually stop being leaked into the water after a while, and water changes can be used to help keep the water clearer- quite a few people do actually like the look of all the tannins staining the water, the dark colour of the water can make fish which have colours like silver or gold stand out better in the water for example, and under the tank lights the water can have a nice pleasant golden brown glow to it at night etc .

- lastly, do goldfish twitch and swim around in a frenzy when they get anchor worms? The earlier big fish (which died of anchor worms) did not appear to be uncomfortable, only that i felt it would be getting tortured internally and thus i removed each anchor myself.
But the little one (one of the two) got one yesterday (i.e when i saw) and its going crazy siwming around, getting blown by the filter water pressure as it swims just in front of the filter outlet, unusually active and restless.

regards,
Avanti

When you say the goldfish "twitch" what do you mean exactly i.e. are they flicking/rubbing themselves on objects in the tank, or the fish themselves are shaking/vibrating etc?
The higher levels of activity in the goldfish is good though, this is how goldfish should be and is mostly likely because now that you have the filter on 24/7, the water quality problems will be beginning to sort themselves out and the goldfish will be enjoying the increased oxygens levels because of the filter and its current.

Do you have any accurate test kits for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph though? Now that you have the filter on 24/7, the tank will be cycling and beginning to properly establish itself, and the water quality will be very unstable for the first couple of months while the tank is establishing itself, water quality problems will occur quite often in the early phases of the tanks maturity. So you need to have accurate test kits for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and ph as this is the only way to know exactly what is going on with your water quality and at what stage in the cycle the tank is at, and also so you can know if you when you need to do water changes while the water quality is unstable etc .

 

[AVANTI]

okie...i've got a BIG prob now. The bigger goldfish is dying!!!

Yesterday night the big fish was dying. It swayed around in the water making no effort to swim and then just stayed at the bottom of the tank. even its breathing almost cut off. all signs of it drifting away. i was shocked...still dont know whats happening. checked the body for any bleeding and found one on its back tail fin and one under its baby fin near the face.

Now, i have placed it in a fish bowl to monitor it since last night. It still stays at the bottom of the bowl but occasionaly swims up, grasps for breath and goes back to the bottom. when i tapp the bowl again it swims up and goes down. cant seem to figure whats the problem. i've tried doing a 40% water change adding the original tank water to the bowl too.

(seems like the little ones have chased chased and tired out the big one)

please help!!

 

[AVANTI]

Fish is dying!!!

Now, i have placed it in a fish bowl to monitor it since last night. It still stays at the bottom of the bowl but occasionaly swims up, grasps for breath and goes back to the bottom. when i tapp the bowl again it swims up and goes down. cant seem to figure whats the problem. i've tried doing a 40% water change adding the original tank water to the bowl too.

(seems like the little ones have chased chased and tired out the big one) - It comes up and looks fine only i give some food. its all active...then again in few mins its back to the bottom!!!

please help!!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Sounds like bad water quality problems which is making the goldfish ill, you should remove the goldfish from the bowl as it will be quite stressed in there and water quality problems like ammonia will build up very quickly in an unfiltered bowl unless you do once or twice 100% water changes on it daily.
Go down to your lfs now and buy;
a. An accurate test kit for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates (the Master range test tube kits are good)
b. A divider net for the tank, if you can't find one, buy the biggest net they have which will fit in the main tank, and suspend it in the tank with the goldfish in it with a pebble at the bottom of the net to weight it down.

You should do a 40% water change with dechlorinator on the tank right now, there's no point in putting tank water in the bowl because;
a. If you tank is suffering from water quality problems (which is not unlikely) which is making the fish sick, then you'll only be re-filling the bowl with bad water.
b. Water from the tank is no different from dechlorinated water from the tap, the amount of beneficial bacteria is very minimal and will not do anything to solve water quality issues in the bowl either way as the bacteria needs flowing water etc to survive. The goldfish is a great deal better off back in the tank in a net or divided section where at least the beneficial bacteria may be more established.

 

[afishdude]

just rember 75gallons for the first common goldfish and 30 gallons for each additional common.

 

[AVANTI]

((( My big fish died this morning.
It had developed internal bleeding and the back tail was completely red with red streaks! alas! Lived for 2yrs with me.

Left with the two little ones in the tank.
One of them is getting black marks on its body and fins - guess this is just the colour change that gold fish go through right?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

((( My big fish died this morning.
It had developed internal bleeding and the back tail was completely red with red streaks! alas! Lived for 2yrs with me.

Left with the two little ones in the tank.
One of them is getting black marks on its body and fins - guess this is just the colour change that gold fish go through right?

I'm sorry for your loss.
The bleeding under the skin is Septicemia, it is an internal bacterial infection, but i also have to warn you that it is most commonly brought on by environmental stress, so you should still do the things i asked you to do to try and find the cause of the fishes demise, so you can help prevent it happening again in the future.

The colour change in the other goldfish could be natural, although it is more common for black goldfish to turn something like orange than goldfish of other colours to start turning black. The black markings could also be physical damage of some sort, can you get any pics of the black markings?

 

[AVANTI]

Wel...here are the pics of the 'black patch on the fins' of one of the fish.

http/i33.photobucket.com/albums/d85/avan...c1-blackfin.jpg

http/i33.photobucket.com/albums/d85/avan...c2-blackfin.jpg

Btw, if stress is one of the reasons for internal bleeding, then the two smaller fish chasing it non-stop i feel is the main reason right??

let me know if the black marks are more than just colour change...
avanti

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Wel...here are the pics of the 'black patch on the fins' of one of the fish.

http/i33.photobucket.com/albums/d85/avan...c1-blackfin.jpg

http/i33.photobucket.com/albums/d85/avan...c2-blackfin.jpg

Btw, if stress is one of the reasons for internal bleeding, then the two smaller fish chasing it non-stop i feel is the main reason right??

let me know if the black marks are more than just colour change...
avanti

The colour change looks relatively normal, but because it is affecting a fin area on the fish i would watch it closely as blackening around the edge of the fins can indicate healing where there was damage, if it turns red though it is septicemia, and if the fins start to develop a whitening around the edges it means its finrot etc.
The stress from the bullying from the other fish could have certainly brought on the septicemia, however it could also have been water quality problems too which is why you should test your water quality .