The Strangest Thing I've Ever Seen!

[Brianne-xx]

Me and my boyfriend bought some goldfish from a shop for my boyfriends little brothers birthday. When we bought them, we thought they looked healthy, which is why we picked them. I had to put them in a bucket overnight, because we had to give them to him te next day. Obviously I put the bag in first so they could get used to the water. I put dechlorinator in as well. My boyfriends mum and dad had been cycling the tank for quite a while in secret, putting filter aid and bacteria stuff in to build it up, and doing regular water checks. When I put them in the bucket, they just stayed at the bottom of the water, so I thought it's a new tank, they must just be scared and shy. They only come up when I gave them food. Then we put them in the tank the next day for my boyfriends brother, making sure they got used to the water. They stayed at the bottom of the tank, and only come up when we fed them. We got a fish feeder to put them little worms in, and still doing regular water checks. Then the worm feeder fell down, and one of the fish were hiding in it. My boyfriends dad was watching the fish last night, and they were doing what they normally do. Then this morning, one of the fishes scales were sort of shedding, and the other fish was eating it's face and body, where the shedding was. It died, and it looked a mess! It's face looked like it had been dissolved, and the scales looked like they had rotted away. It only had it on it's face and its side. The other fish is still on the bottom of the water, acting like the other fish.
Does anyone know what this is? Please help, thank you .

 

[AstonN24vantage]

not sure but you didn't need to make 2 topics

 

[Brianne-xx]

Didn't mean to, I'm on my ipad and it wouldn't load the pages!!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hi Brianne,

it's quite normal (although a bit gruesome) for fish to eat other fish when they have died so i expect the damage you saw was predominantly done after the fish died.

when the fish were in the bucket i assume it didn't have a filter at all and certainly not one that was fully cycled, during that time the fish will have produced ammonia in their waste which is toxic to the fish, I think it's highly likely that the fish sustained ammonia poisoning during this period which can be deadly.

it's also possible that the filter was not fully prepared in the new tank and further ammonia damage could have been sustained while the fish were in the tank.

first port of call is to test the water in the tank for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, if you can post the results up here then we can advise if they are OK or if any action needs to be taken.

 

[Brianne-xx]

Hi Brianne,

it's quite normal (although a bit gruesome) for fish to eat other fish when they have died so i expect the damage you saw was predominantly done after the fish died.

when the fish were in the bucket i assume it didn't have a filter at all and certainly not one that was fully cycled, during that time the fish will have produced ammonia in their waste which is toxic to the fish, I think it's highly likely that the fish sustained ammonia poisoning during this period which can be deadly.

it's also possible that the filter was not fully prepared in the new tank and further ammonia damage could have been sustained while the fish were in the tank.

first port of call is to test the water in the tank for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, if you can post the results up here then we can advise if they are OK or if any action needs to be taken.

Thanks, I'll get dave (my boyfriends dad) to tell me the results, and I'll post them up.
I think I'm going to start my tank again, because the fish shop I went to, all the fish were half dead, but as its my second tank, And I have moved from goldfish onto neon tetras, my fish had white spot, and all my guppies, just my guppies, suddenly died. So I think its from the shop. As this tank was new when everything was done, my grandmas got my goldfish hehe!
Then all I'll need is help how to do a fish less cycle because mine was already done for me hehe.

 

[waterdrop]

o darn, I was in the lonelier topic

 

[Brianne-xx]

I accidentally posted two, my ipads so silly. But thank you for your advice, I appreciate it!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

there's a link in my signature for a full fishless cycle, i'd suggest you read and follow that.