Lulu Fish

Thank you so much for the responses - this fishkeeping is doing my head in and costing me a fortune - but I can understand why it is an addictive hobby! (not by choice might I say - children and pets dah dah dah...) The water quality WAS good (6 months earlier was when I realised that the clear water can be highly toxic - that was when I started doing weekly 25% water changes. I had a filter pre-fitted with carbon and changed this every 4 weeks - now I am just using normal filter wool and changing it every two weeks. As soon as I noticed the one fish with stringy white poos again and it's fin ripped, I tested the water and it was all good - I took a sample to the local pet store to test as well and they got the same results. The first fish died within 24 hours and he seemed fine initially - no sign of illness - he was eating everything okay - I worried about Goldie's fin and him not eating - then the next day Snowy developed a big fluffy spot and died (it was a bitterly cold night - don't know if temperature could have anything to do with it?) My new fish in the 54 l tank (as you mentioned 60x30 cm) is total body lenght only about 6 cm max at the moment. I have been told that it is not really an issue?! The new tank has got the bacteria balls, filtration wool and little white tubes which I believe is also some sort of bacteria? Is it true that it can be damaging to clean the filter too often? And then how often should one change it then (considering the size of the tank) ? All information/advise much appreciated - thanks

Hi ! New at this and need some advise: Had two happy goldfish - fantails - one died within 24 hrs of me noticing a fluffy growth - desperately tried to save the other one - added Pimafix and Melafix as well as Wunder tonic - Goldie did not get better - went to the vet who recommended a specialist aquarium shop who recommended Furan 2 - he seemed to get better (this was almost 3 months ago) - then I made the mistake (human heart vs thinking head) bought another fish to cheer him up and keep him company - a week later Goldie deterioted again with what looked like finrot (or could have been bullying). I seperated them in the tank (put the feisty one in a nursery tank to prevent Goldie from stressing) - I did another round of Furan 2 and two days before the treatment was complete - Goldie departed. Here are my questions now: 1) I cleaned out all the gravel and ornaments and "disinfected" it with formalin - then rinsed it a few times and mixed in Prime, Stress Zyme and Stress Coat with the gravel to put the good bacteria back to fight whatever caused the ilnesses - was this the right thing to do - or what else could I have done? I don't want the feisty one getting sick. 2) How long to wait before placing him in the new tank (much bigger at 54 l) with two other fish? When will I know it is okay to transfer him - what else can I do to make sure he is disease free? Lessons learnt: Apple snails are extraordinary creatures BUT not in a 21 l tank - leaves about 1 l of waste a week Water that is crystal clear is not necessarily healthy water Any advise will be much appreciated thanks