Kelsta

Oh duh... I get it now. I should really just concentrate on work instead of posting all day... I'm losing my sense of humour in all the confusion - next I'll be emailing my customers about how to care for goldfish... :oops:

Yes, I can imagine how well that goes down... like a lead balloon, I should think. Staff at LFS's never appreciate being given advice on how to care for fish. But they're the ones who seem to need it the most! I wholeheartedly agree that it's not always the buyers fault because a lot of people are un-educated about how to care for fish, and presume that it's normal for fish to die after a few months, or that they're just being cute when they flash, and don't know what to look for in a healthy fish. Over the weekend I saw someone buyimng a fish with a terrible case of white spot, AND a little bit of fin rot, but the staff member sold it anyway! The whole tank was infected, but the spots were really obvious on that fish so you know that person is going to wonder why thier fish got sick and died aye? It's up the the store to stock and sell healthy fish, and quarantine and treat those that aren't - not just sell them to unsuspecting first-timers! Or slow learners who keep coming back for more fish every month...

Wha...? Sorry, I don't get it?

Ooooh... too true. It is rather like a family. I don't know where I'd be without everyone here! Yeah, I'm not planning to upgrade my tank or add new fish right now, but maybe one day... I just couldn't get over what I was seeing at the stores and wondered if anyone else had noticed. It's all gone to the dogs aye. Well, nice to meet you - I don't think I've talked to you before. Ciao

Oh, do you have a family member that breeds them?

Has anyone else noticed the poor condition of the Goldfish in all the Wellington stores lately? They all seem to have bad breeding (wierd shapes, deformities, etc) and HEAPS of disease! I mean, the stores ALL have issues with white spot, fin rot, swim bladder problems (floating & swimming sideways), Eye diseases (white bubbles and cloudy eyes) parasites, flukes (or something like that because many of the fishes gills are literally GONE - all open and red and swollen). And many have gammy mouths - you know, either stuck open, or wierd shape like they've had a stroke and can't close one half, and the list goes on and on! What on earth is wrong with all the pet stores...?? Are the suppliers shipping defective fish?! I have a full tank, but I like to look when I'm in there and can't believe my eyes lately. it's like a horror movie...

Just a quick update. We're moved in and settled well at the new house and the fish seem happy in their new living room. The injuries that the two goldfish had have healed up very nicely. The melafix and salt must have done the trick. All the water tests are coming back fine. So all is well and let's hope it stays that way!

Absolutely, we'll go and visit after the move and see how she's getting on. You just never trust anyone to look after them the same way you would, but you just gotta learn to let go. Unfortunately the new house isn't such a sun trap, but that will be good for the fish - the one and only good thing about less sunshine! Oh well, I'll post again after the weekend and let ya know how it all went.

Thanks Caper, Gosh everyone on this site is so helpful and compassionate It's so nice to talk to people who really do care about the welfare of your fish and try to help and give moral support - how refreshing. Fortunately nothing else seems to have gone wrong and they are healing up very nicely so we've stopped panicking. Fingers crossed they don't mind the move aye! (We're moving house this weekend) :roll: We also gave our biggest and most rambunctious fish away to a friend yesterday... we had one too many in the tank and she was upsetting the mood - just very busy all the time and rather lacking in manners. More like a comet, really. She seemed to need more room than anyone else! I'm happy our tank is so tranquil now, but it was SO SAD giving her away!! Well, it was for the greater good. Gotta get over it and move house now!

Thanks but we've been using ice packs from the freezer. They only bring it down about half a degree, but it all helps! When all else fails and the temp keeps climbing, we do a water change, but even the tap water's quite warm in summer.

Well... I do tend to pay close attention to them - probably too close at times! But Flossie really has been in the wars. We're still completely mystified as to what happened, but nothing further has occurred and they're all behaving quite normally, so we're hoping it's simply one of those things that clears up by itself. It's good to hear that your goldie had the blood streaks as well and they just cleared up. Perhaps it's a stress reaction. We'll try and keep the temperatures more stable. It's so hard to stop it from fluctuating in this weather though! Fingers crossed everything returns to normal now! :roll:

Hmm, actually I did wonder about spawning - we have never sexed the fish so could easily have a mixture of males and females in there and I wondered whether the females were being chased and hurt themselves trying to get away - although I've never actually seen it happen. But you have a good point. Perhaps they did actually spawn and ate all the eggs - goldfish do that! I wouldn't be quite so worried if it was only the missing scales, but that other fish also has the strange blood streaks in his tail fin. They look like veins, and they are not supposed to be there. Well, they're new anyway. I guess all we can do is keep an eye on water conditions, complete the treatment, and we've already removed the ornament just to be on the safe side. What you said makes sense. If there was a virus or disease they would all have it I guess. Lets hope they don't all have it when I get home tonight!

Hi there Well, just when we thought everything was finally setteld down and we could just cruise for a while... yeah right! OK, we have 4 medium fantail goldfish and 1 small Black Moore Water changes: 50-75% once a week, and often another 25% mid-week if we have time. Ammonia: almost none - not really detectable NitrIte: none NitrAte: 0.25 pH: slightly alkaline - just above 7 Not a new tank - fully cycled for ages 143 litres - I know, slightly over stocked. Now we came home on Friday night to discover that one of them had some 'injuries' - lost about 3 scales in a patch one one side, and about 3 one her other side but in different spots - it looked like she had got stuck in an ornament and wiggled through, scraping off some scales in the process. That's not like her, but we removed the ornament just in case, and treated with Salts and Melafix. Couldn't see anyone chasing anyone else, and we're really quite mystified because she isn't the type to be adventerous. The the next day, our Black Moore had a scale missing on his belly too! And that evening we noticed another one on his other side. Really starting to get worried now. Thought perhaps it was the heat, but they've been happy all summer with no signs of stress. Temps have been high - between 21 and 25. We use ice packs and water changes to cool it down as much as possible. And then! I noticed a third fish with something wrong - very small blood-red 'veins' in his tail fin - they streak from the start of his tail and go down in the same pattern as the fin towards the end. He has three. I don't know what this is, but it seems very abnormal to me!? Can anyone help? I want to do something for them but don't know what it is yet. I hope someone can tell me what's wrong with them??

Yeah, that's why we give them the algae discs. They love all the other stuff too though.

Oh really? Ours are all nice and plump-looking. We feed them anything and everything and they love it all. Algae discs, blood worms, brine shrimp... goldfish flakes, and soaked crumbles & pellets. Not to mention whatever 'slime' they eat off the glass and gravel etc. I love the little mouth-shaped patterns we can see on the glass when we do the water changes! So cute

Re the Paradise Fish - I've seen them together in the pet store and I've actually watched the Paradise Fish attacking the goldfish in the tank with him. He would chase them and nip at them. Also, I've been told that you should not keep more than one Paradise Fish together in a community tank because they can be so aggressive. Apparently if there's only one they're more likely to behave - but the one I saw wasn't behaving! Just watching that for myself was enough to make up my mind not to have Paradise Fish with my goldies.

Thanks very much for that reply - that's very helpful. I did actually do a quick internet search and found that they can change colour for a variety of reasons including substrate, temperature, ammonia etc. They are back to normal now thanks

Yeah I like a community tank too if they all get along well. It's nice to have the variety aye. How come all your chichlids died?

Yeah, depends on what kind of fish you keep aye. Some like it a bit acidic, some like it neutral , some like it a bit alkaline.

Sorry - LAST post on this I promise! I just got a very helpful email back in addition to the report I got this morning. I've got no time to check out the link, but I'll paste the email below, and those who want to investigate further can. I don't want to be responsible for a flood of enquiries from fish keepers! :oops: Here are the important bits of the email: Greater Wellington Regional Council treats and supplies all the tap water used in Wellington (as well as Porirua and the Hutt Valley). We distribute to main reservoirs in each city; the city councils manage distribution from reservoirs to consumers. The water supplied to Ngaio is typically a mix from two water sources and treatment plants: water from an aquifer beneath the Hutt Valley, treated at our Waterloo water treatment plant; and river water from the Wainuiomata and Orongorongo river catchments, treated at our Wainuiomata water treatment plant. The water we supply is managed to meet the requirements of New Zealand's drinking water standards. The Waterloo plant has a Ministry of Health 'B' grading, while Wainuiomata has an 'A' grading. An analysis of chemical/mineral content of the treated water that we supply , at the point it leaves each of our treatment plants, is available for the year to June 2007 via the following link: http://www.gw.govt.nz/section668.cfm Although Ngaio's water is from two treatment plants, the level of content of each chemical/mineral is not greatly different between them, so it should give a fair indication of what's in the water you get through the tap at home. The Wellington Aquarium and Water Garden Society may also be able to provide you with useful information: http://www.fnzas.org.nz/clubs/wellingto ... orporated/ One of their members had a similar enquiry some years ago. I seem to recall that some members collected untreated aquifer water for their fish, which is available from Hutt City Council's public tap at the corner of Buick and Jackson Streets in Petone.

Yep, although Broadmeadows could get theirs from the Johnsonville one? I'd have to speak to someone to actually find out where our water is coming from and what some of these test results mean. I'm certainly no scientist but I'm sure someone might take the time to explain a few of them in brief if one asked.

Sorry, forgot to metion, best let them know your suburb so they can give you the stats for the nearest pump houses/resevoir. The test results I have vary a bit between pumphouses. Unless they just give you the whole city - not sure I haven't looked at any of it except the Ngaio report - I'm supposed to be working after all!

Caryl, OK thanks for the advice. I guess it does seem a bit silly to have to add something ALL the time as I doubt the pH of the tap water is going to change any time soon! If you say the goldfish are fine with that pH then I'm happy. Afterall, they've been happily living in wgtn water for over a year now.

Hi Matthew I initially just emailed the WCC at: [email protected], and they forwarded my query to: Selina Zhang Investigation & Design Engineer Wellington Water Management Ltd 75 The Esplanade, Petone, Private Bag 39804, Wellington Mail Centre 5045 T: + 64 4 910 3806 • F: + 64 4 910 3801 E: [email protected] W: www.capacity.net.nz She emailed me back with the Analytical Report attached. I'm sure you could email her directly? I can't see any way to post an attachment on this site... I was so impressed with their quick reply!

Hi, just thought the fellow Wellingtonians out there might like to know that I got the latest drinking water supply test results from the WCC, and the pH is currently around7.6 - 7.9 depending on where you are. We have goldfish who like it at a neutral 7, so this calls for some pH down, I think. I emailed the WCC yesterday evening, and they sent me the report this morning - just done on the 5th of Feb. I was very impressed, and I guess you could do the same no matter where you live in NZ. Some of the things they test for I've never heard of and couldn't interpret the results if I tried, but I understand chlorine and pH...! Thanks, over'n'out