Help! I have a 65 gallon tank that had beautiful, exotic goldfish in it. I have the water brackish and have live sand in it. I also have live plants. My fish were happy, healthy and loved the sand. A couple of weeks ago I introduced a new fish into the tank without quarantining it first. It was beautiful but had external parasites. It died and has killed all but 2 of the fish. Those 2 I have removed from the tank and are doing well. My question is, while replacing everything else in the tank do I have to remove the live sand and the plants and start over with them, too?
My Goldfish
- Thread starter maryellen
- Start date
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BigJim
Aquarium Advice Addict
Welcome to AA!
There's no need to replace anything in the tank. Let the tank run and dose it with pure ammonia to keep the biofilter going. The parasites will most likely die out without a host. Maybe dose the tank with medication heavily while there's no fish in it, just to be sure.
When you say "live sand", did you buy live sand intended for a marine aquarium?
Why do you keep your goldfish in brackish water? I've never kept goldfish, so I'm curious.
There's no need to replace anything in the tank. Let the tank run and dose it with pure ammonia to keep the biofilter going. The parasites will most likely die out without a host. Maybe dose the tank with medication heavily while there's no fish in it, just to be sure.
When you say "live sand", did you buy live sand intended for a marine aquarium?
Why do you keep your goldfish in brackish water? I've never kept goldfish, so I'm curious.
Thanks for the welcome
Yes, I do mean sand like marine aquarium sand.
Goldfish originated from Japan and the Japanese are responsible for breeding to get fancy goldfish. Japan is a relatively small island and because of that their natural water is brackish. The bottoms of the goldfish ponds are sandy. That is the kind of water they are healthiest in.
Thanks for the info. How much pur amonia should I use? The sand will not host parasites??
Yes, I do mean sand like marine aquarium sand.
Goldfish originated from Japan and the Japanese are responsible for breeding to get fancy goldfish. Japan is a relatively small island and because of that their natural water is brackish. The bottoms of the goldfish ponds are sandy. That is the kind of water they are healthiest in.
Thanks for the info. How much pur amonia should I use? The sand will not host parasites??
BigJim
Aquarium Advice Addict
Aim for 4ppm worth of ammonia. If you don't have a test kit, I recommend getting a good liquid kit, no strips. I'm a fan of API's Freshwater Master.
BigJim
Aquarium Advice Addict
The biofilter will convert the ammonia to nitrite, then nitrate. Just do a big PWC to get the nitrates down before you add fish.
Cool! Thanks soooo much for your advice. You have been extremely helpful. I will follow your advice. I have had goldfish almost all my life but this is my first attempt at live sand and live plants - especially in such a large tank. They have really enjoyed the sand. I've enjoyed looking at it.
BigJim
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you set up another tank, skip the live sand. Freshwater nitrifying bacteria are different from saltwater bacteria, so the benefits of live sand are nullified when you use marine live sand in a freshwater aquarium. Also, most live sand isn't very live after sitting on the shelf.
Not sure about plants in brackish water. Also, goldfish like to tear up plants. Make sure you get a tough, hardy plant to start with.
Not sure about plants in brackish water. Also, goldfish like to tear up plants. Make sure you get a tough, hardy plant to start with.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
When you say brackish, what is your salt level?
Yes, some people believe that a little salt is good for goldfish, but generally not more than 0.05%. I normally only add salt to treat diseases ... I belong to the "less is more" school.
Salt & plants generally don't mix, certainly not above 0.1%. Certain plants are more salt tolerant than others, so it all depends on what plants you have.
You can certainly skip the marine live sand ... the marine bacteria is different from FW ones, so basically, that is money wasted. You can just use regular sand (coarse sand is better for plants - & less anaerobic spots to cause problems), it will be colonized with the FW bacteria naturally, so in a sense it will be "live".
What parasite was it? Some parasite may be persistent in the sand for a while even without fish host. So an accurate diagnosis is important.
Yes, some people believe that a little salt is good for goldfish, but generally not more than 0.05%. I normally only add salt to treat diseases ... I belong to the "less is more" school.
Salt & plants generally don't mix, certainly not above 0.1%. Certain plants are more salt tolerant than others, so it all depends on what plants you have.
You can certainly skip the marine live sand ... the marine bacteria is different from FW ones, so basically, that is money wasted. You can just use regular sand (coarse sand is better for plants - & less anaerobic spots to cause problems), it will be colonized with the FW bacteria naturally, so in a sense it will be "live".
What parasite was it? Some parasite may be persistent in the sand for a while even without fish host. So an accurate diagnosis is important.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
The ammonia is used to maintain the bio-filter while there is no fish in the tank. <So the new fish will not be stressed with a new cycle.> The bio-filter will convert that to nitrates. <Check that levels are zero after a few hours.> You add ~4ppm daily, and all the ammonia should be gone by the next day at the latest. If there is residual ammonia, you will need to rebuild the bio-filter before adding new fish.
When all is ready, do a large pwc, add the new fish, and stop adding ammonia. Check the levels daily for a while to make sure the biofilter is able to handle the new fish. <PS - always quarantine new fish to prevent tragedies !>
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can keep your existing sand, any marine bact would have long been replaced with the FW strains. But for future tanks, pool filter sand is a good cheap option. Play sand will be OK if you get the coarse ones. <Some of the playsand is very silty & compacts down to almost like concrete ... that is bad even as play sand ... as my kids can barely dig through it.>
I can't really tell you how salty the tank is. I have just been conservative about it and watched the fish carefully.
I have had gravel in the tank for years but liked the look of sand so I researched and researched and finally decided to put play sand on the bottom and live sand on top of that. The fish loved it and for the last
1 1/2 years they have thrived and so has the sand and the plants. All of the time I would put a new fish in the quarrintine tank until I was sure it was okay. The one time I don't do that, I have an infected fish. I don't know what kind of parasite it is but it killed all but 2 fish. I have saved the two and they are now doing well. They are in another tank until this one is healthy again.
I have had gravel in the tank for years but liked the look of sand so I researched and researched and finally decided to put play sand on the bottom and live sand on top of that. The fish loved it and for the last
1 1/2 years they have thrived and so has the sand and the plants. All of the time I would put a new fish in the quarrintine tank until I was sure it was okay. The one time I don't do that, I have an infected fish. I don't know what kind of parasite it is but it killed all but 2 fish. I have saved the two and they are now doing well. They are in another tank until this one is healthy again.
jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you don't know what kind of parasite it is, you might want to be safe & quarantine the big tank. Some people would play it really safe & bleach everything, but that would kill your bio-filter & you would have to cycle from scratch. I think it would be safe to leave the tank plant only, without any fish for a certain period of time & the fish parasite should die off.
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How long would depend on the parasite. Common parasites like ich would be dead within a week without a fish host if you keep the tank warm (say 80F+). the higher tank temp is to speed up the bug's metabolism so they have to find a fish host or die (& not lay dormant in the substrate.) There may be some worms that can last a few weeks or more, but based on the speed of fish kill, it is not likely to be intestinal worms & such. So I think if you leave the tank fallow for 2-4 weeks (while feeding the biofilter with ammonia, or a pinch of fish food a day) you should be reasonably safe.
You might want to do a good vac & remove much of the MULM (I know this will be hard to do in a sand bottom planted tank. You just hover the vac over the sand & suck up the surface stuff, trying not to remove too much sand in the process.) Getting rid of the organic detritus will remove areas for bacteria to breed ... in case the original disease is bacterial.
.
How long would depend on the parasite. Common parasites like ich would be dead within a week without a fish host if you keep the tank warm (say 80F+). the higher tank temp is to speed up the bug's metabolism so they have to find a fish host or die (& not lay dormant in the substrate.) There may be some worms that can last a few weeks or more, but based on the speed of fish kill, it is not likely to be intestinal worms & such. So I think if you leave the tank fallow for 2-4 weeks (while feeding the biofilter with ammonia, or a pinch of fish food a day) you should be reasonably safe.
You might want to do a good vac & remove much of the MULM (I know this will be hard to do in a sand bottom planted tank. You just hover the vac over the sand & suck up the surface stuff, trying not to remove too much sand in the process.) Getting rid of the organic detritus will remove areas for bacteria to breed ... in case the original disease is bacterial.
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