Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

DS has a 3 week old goldfish tank with 3 goldfish and 2 other small fish. All of a sudden the goldfish are very lethargic, hanging around the bottom of the tank just not moving around much. Does anyone know what the problem is and is there anything we can do?

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

do you have a filter or do you just change the water?

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

How big is your tank? Goldfish need a lot of space- one goldfish needs at LEAST 10 gallons.

Goldfish produce a lot of waste.

Is your tank newly set up? Does it have gravel and a filter? If it is new, it is cycling and to be honest your fish will not last through the cycle process. Do you have a test kit (for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates?

A cycle process is when you set up a new tank the bacteria needs to cycle. At first (different times for different tanks) you will see a cloudy tank shortly after you set it up. This is a bacterial bloom. You need to test your water every day at this point. When you see the ammonia start to go up at least half of the water needs to be changed. after some time the ammonia will go down and nitrite will start to appear in your tank. Nitrite and ammonia are very dangerous to fish. After the nitrites start going down it will change to nitrAte. Nitrate isn't that harmful to fish; but you don't want to have too much b/c then it will be harmful.

Every tank has to go through a cycling process. My guess is your goldfish are slowly being poisoned by ammonia, that is if you have a tank. If you have a bowl, please, please get a tank. A bowl is no place for goldfish. I know you may think, but the pet store sold me all these fish with a small tank, they must know what they are talking about. Wrong! They also try to sell you tons of products, for example filter pads. I have had the same filter pad in my tank since I got the tank two years ago. Changing the filter pad or gravel makes the tank cycle all over again.

If you have any questions, let me know. I've had fish most of my life and most of my fish have lived long lives, my longest is 10 years. In the meantime google cycling.

HTH!

ETA: Live plants help the cycling process and lower ammonia and nitrite.

Message edited 5/1/2009 10:43:10 PM.

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

What Lisa said.



I had Ryukin Fantail Goldfish for quite some time and was constantly doing something. Testing water, cleaning filters, etc. They produce a lot of waste!

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

Thanks ladies
Unfortunately one fish is gone and the other are still looking very badl. DS is so upset.

We have a 10 gal tank and a filter. We set the tank up and ran the filter for a few days before introducing the fish. I got some tablets that are supposed to clear the ammonia as wll as a water conditioner. I also changed about 1/3 of the water. Im going to bring a water sample to Petsmart tomorrow. I dont know what else I can do we will see what happens.

Message edited 5/2/2009 10:16:12 PM.

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

Posted by FranM

Thanks ladies
Unfortunately one fish is gone and the other are still looking very badl. DS is so upset.

We have a 10 gal tank and a filter. We set the tank up and ran the filter for a few days before introducing the fish. I got some tablets that are supposed to clear the ammonia as wll as a water conditioner. I also changed about 1/3 of the water. Im going to bring a water sample to Petsmart tomorrow. I dont know what else I can do we will see what happens.

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

Thanks again - The water sample read really high on ammonia and nitrates.
The other two goldfish fish (orangie and blackie) are just barely hanging on.

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

I know I wrote you an FM, but do you plan on getting more fish if these die?

Re: Does anyone know anything about Goldfish

Yes but not until we get the tank back in shape