Lulu Fish Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 welcome newbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hi Lulu Fish don't normally come down with saprolegnia or columnaris if the water is pristine. If you had two adult fantails in a 54L tank, you would have been overstocked. Or, you might not have been performing enough partial water changes. Some people would say that 54L is not enough water volume for even one fancy gold fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Hi and welcome. You have realised the original tank was too small for goldfish. They are big waste producers too - like the apple snails. Mixing meds and tonics is not a good idea either as some can react with others. Goldfish do not need company to be happy. Ignore your heart What sort of filtration do you have? 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. Are you sure the fish had finrot and not ammonia poisoning or other problems due to the poor water quality? Best thing to do in these cases is to improve the water quality. Did you ever test it for ammonia, nitrite or nitrates? This would have helped with a proper diagnosis. Forget adding products and do more water changes. 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? 54L is not big enough for 3 goldfish to grow. All you can do is get the water quality fixed then keep an eye on the fish for any sign of further trouble. I found this on a goldfish specialist site... Stocking level - what are the SURFACE dimensions (length x width) of your tank? As a guide, in a coldwater aquarium, you should allow: 60 square cm for each 1 cm of fish body length excluding the tail or 24 square inches for each 1 inch of fish body length excluding the tail. For example, in a 60 x 30 cm tank you can keep a total of 30 cm (12 inches) of combined fish body length, such as three 10 cm-long fishes, or two 15 cm-long fishes. There is no way round this! If you overstock, you will always be up against problems; remember, too, that small goldfish grow, so you need some spare capacity for growth of your existing stock. Do your sums, and, if you are overstocked, find temporary accommodation for your surplus fish until you either get a second or a larger tank. Lessons learnt: Apple snails are extraordinary creatures BUT not in a 21 l tank - leaves about 1 l of waste a week They are great little poo machines aren't they? :roll: :slfg: Water that is crystal clear is not necessarily healthy water This is so true and inversely, cloudy water is not necessarily unhealthy either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Welcome and good luck with your fishkeeping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lulu Fish Posted July 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 You only need to clean the filter once the return water flow has started to drop. I imagine the filter wool clogs quickly though as goldfish are so messy. A fluffy spot is often a fungus that has grown on top of a small wound. Stringy white poo can be a sign of bacterial infection Not sure what the little white tubes could be though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 Not sure what the little white tubes could be though! ceramic noodles? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 I thought that was what the balls were :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsarmina Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 you also don't need to throw out the filter wool every time you clean the filter. just give it a rinse and put it back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheepsnana Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 I thought that was what the balls were :dunno: Black bio balls Ceramic noodles Images are borrowed from a quick Google Image Search. All photo's and their rights belong to the photographer, etc etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted July 23, 2012 Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 White tubes are probably ceramic noodles. The fact that the fish died means that it had a weakened immune system, and that points to water quality at some stage in its life. A larger volume of water means that dangerous things happen less quickly, perhaps giving you time to fix things. A small heater might also help to smooth out temperature fluctuations. I keep my gold fish tank at about 18 deg with a heater. I probably overdo it, but I am running 5 filters in my 180L gold fish tank I have a Aquaclear 50 hang on back filter (rarely clean it ), a submersible Juwel powerhead with sponge filter inside (rarely clean) that provides a little water movement, a corner filter with some wool to clean the water, and an air driven sponge filter with some K1 Media above that, and also a plant refugium to try and remove nitrates. On top of that I do 30% water changes once a week. I've seen fins get ripped from accidents but never had any fungus attack the fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 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? You should really be stocking with the fish's fully grown size in mind, in the case of fancy type goldfish you are looking at a fish that will grow to around 20cm. keeping a fish in a small tank only stunts its growth in the same way as keeping a kitten in a cat carry cage would stunt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted July 25, 2012 Report Share Posted July 25, 2012 Gold fish are really meant to be kept in a pond ... but probably too cold for the fancy ones unless you've got a deep pond. The stunting is thought to be a result of growth inhibiting hormones released which won't matter in a large body of water but do in a small tank. So, you have to do more frequent partial water changes if you want them to grow. Other fish don't seem to have this hormone inhibition issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.