What Killed My Goldfish?

[Ktulu]

Since I have very little practical experience with fish keeping, I assume the obvious answer to the question is... me. However, I'd like to learn from this experiance if at all possible and maybe prevent something like this from happening in the future.

Long story short...

My wife won the fish at a carnival in June. We had it in a flower vase for a couple days. 100% water changes twice a day with distilled water. We bought a 3 gallon Eclipse tank and some AquaSafe. For almost two months he seemed happy and healthy.

We fed him 1 Tetra Goldfish Crisp a day and we did about a 33% water change every other day. Ammonia never went over 1 ppm and was typically lower. About two weeks ago the ammonia started coming up 0 and we started getting low nitrite readings on a regular basis. We kept up the water changes and lite feeding.

Over the weekend we noticed the fish sitting on the bottom of the tank. The water tested NH3 at 0 and N2 was 2 ppm. 2 ppm was the highest I'd seen it. I immediately changed 2/3 of the water. We changed the water a few more times. The fish ended curling up and sitting on the bottom. Sometimes it would swim ok but others it would do uncontrolled barrel rolls as it tried to swim. He died late Sat night.

The fish had no visible signs of illness besides his behavior and eventual curling. He didn't have any white spots, cottony stuff, fat belly, protruding scales, etc. When my wife noticed him sitting on the bottom, he looked just the same as always. We had never seen him sitting on the bottom like that before. Even when he was dead he looked the same except curled up.

What happened?

 

[orange shark]

nitrites will have killed it

 

[Dark Wolf]

Could be a number of things. If N2 is Nitrite, it could have been the Nitrite that killed him.

You talk about the uncontrolled barrell rolls, it sounds a little like swimbladder disease, but i'm not very familiar with it, so i could be wrong.

Other then that, it could just be the fact that it was a fair fish, they are kept in such poor conditions, they are pretty much on the way out when you win them.

I also just noticed the size of your tank, 3 gallons is really, really small, for a common goldfish (which i'm assuming it will be), and you could have inadvertantly stunted it's growth (basically, the fish's body stops growing, but it's organs don't). Although also being in a plastic bag for who knows how long won't have helped the cause.

Sorry to hear about it, and i hope you'll learn some valuable tips for next time, if there is going to be one.

 

[Matty P]

Yep 3 gallons is way too small for a common goldfish. Is N2 not nitrogen gas??

 

[Dark Wolf]

That's why i asked, my chemistry knowledge is very, very poor

 

[Fish2u]

N2 = Nitrogen
NO2 = Nitrite
NO3 = Nitrate

 

[Matty P]

N2 = Nitrogen
NO2 = Nitrite
NO3 = Nitrate

N = Nitrogen
N2 = Nitrogen gas
NO2 = NitrIte
NO3 = NitrAte
B)

 

[Musho3210]

NH4 - ammonia, i think NH4- or something is ammonium
N2O - nitrous oxide

common goldfish need huge tanks since they are so active, something like a 75 gallon tank, in my opinion i think they only belong in ponds.

Also using pure distilled water is bad since it has a very very high risk of a ph crash.

 

[Ktulu]

Sorry about the typo. N2 should have been NO2.

Distilled water was used initially but I changed to tap and de-chlorinator when we moved the fish to the little tank.

Am I wrong in assuming I could keep a 1.5" fish in a 3 gallon tank until it got a little bigger?

 

[Musho3210]

yes you are wrong due to how active they are and how dirty they are.

 

[Dark Wolf]

yeah, they need lots of swimming room, and would soon outgrow a 3 gallon tank. If you are looking for a fish for a 3 gallon, why don't you do a bit of research into bettas?

 

[Musho3210]

i wouldnt put any fish in a 3 gallon, not even a betta, i would do an invert tank (shrimp, snails etc)

 

[Matty P]

i wouldnt put any fish in a 3 gallon, not even a betta, i would do an invert tank (shrimp, snails etc)

Yeh an invert tank sounds like a better idea