rhinokiwi

Two happy fish today! No more sitting on the bottom, just a bit of hovering at the top, but for the most part swimming together again :dnc1: Water changes have been the saviour. Glad I found this forum I am in the Hutt Valley.

Thanks for all the help. The filter does create a bit of a splash from the 'waterfall' that trickles out of it so I guess that's helping a bit. Obviously my main issue here is the size of the tank I didn't realise that tropical fish would be easier to look after than a couple of goldfish or I would have let the kids pick those gorgeous neons after all. I'm rather annoyed at myself as I do research for a living and obviously didn't research this properly before trusting the "fish expert" at the Animates store. I have reduced their feeding to very small amounts. The Black Moor has been swimming more this evening and now the Blue Fantail has taken his place on the bottom of the tank (must be a premium spot behind that ornament!). Thanks for the offer of the heater and air pump disgustipated but I think I will try and get a larger second-hand tank for them. Should have bought a blardy cat! :bggrn:

Thank you so SO much for the quick response and helpful advice. These fish are my kids' pets and I don't want to lose them this early on if it can be helped. I have been doing a 25 to 30% water change once a week but have obviously been too eager with my tank cleaning. Until the fish are better (fingers crossed) I will try a proper 25% water change every two days. When I did it this afternoon they were both rather lively, swimming, eating the little bit of food i gave them and creating more waste (!) but once I finished they returned to the same behaviour as before. They are both about 6cms long.

Hi everyone This is my first time here, just registered. I am totally new to keeping fish and really need some advice. The main problem is that I have so much conflicting information that I don't know if I'm even doing the basics right. I bought a 21 litre "goldfish learner kit" from the pet store about a month ago. I followed the assistant's advice on 'cycling' the tank, introducing fish, etc. We have a small Black Moor and a small Blue Fantail. All seemed to be OK and apart from a few murky water days which cleared up after water changes, it's gone OK. Until two days ago when the Black Moor got some white spots which got worse the following day. Seeing they were of a 'cotton wool' texture, I worked out it might be a fungal infection. I did a water change which perked him up and cleared up some of the spots instantly and then added some Wunder Tonic yesterday. This morning he is back to more white spots and he's sitting at the bottom of the tank, hardly moving for most of the day. And now the Blue Fantail has started acting oddly, hovering near the top of the tank. I now realise that the tank is way too small for fancy goldfish - which is annoying when the box states that it's for goldfish and the pet store assistant said we could have two fish in it! Anyway, I can't afford a new tank so will have to try and make do for now. It has a filter that sits on the side of the tank and has a charcoal and wool filter plus a biogrid. The instructions that came with the filter were terrible and I was mistakenly cleaning the biogrid each week when I think I was supposed to just leave it be. I've been adding "good bacteria" each week and doing a 25% water change also. Previously, I wasn't conditioning the new water properly (I didn't know I had to wait for the water conditioner to work before I added the new water to the tank - darn instructions!). Specifically, the things I need help with are: 1. Should my tank have a pump as well as a filter (for the oxygenation of the water)? 2. As I have a charcoal filter will my tank actually be cycling? 3. When I do a water change I am removing most of the water so that I can filter out the waste (they are goldfish, they poop a lot!) and then returning the water to the tank. Should I just remove the 25% and leave the remaining water in the tank in the hope that the filter or bacteria will remove the waste? Perhaps I'm doing TOO much! 4. If these little guys don't survive what type of fish would be suitable for this size tank? 5. Is there anything I can do now to try and help the sick fish? Help! (and thanks)