Please help!

[rebeil]

Alright let me start off by saying I am far from a fish expert. I have had a goldfish tank for about 7 months. I chose goldfish because they are my favorite fish. My fantail has been with me this entire time and has tripled in size and eaten very well and just over all thrived in my tank. On Sunday I moved (down the street) so I put my 4 goldfish in a 5 gallon bucket and filled it with the water in their tank and emptied the rest of the tank. I immediately set up their tank at my new house but my boyfriend threw away their carbon filter and I had to replace it. I put their gravel in it and the water they came in and added new (treated) water. The problem is 2 of my fish were extremely stressed out and I lost one of them last night and it seemed my fantail was getting better but today he has been swimming sideways and laying sideways on the tank and he has faded quite a bit in color.

So I guess my question is what can I do to help him? If anything?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hello. I'm sorry for your loss.
I'd start off with a large water change.
What size tank?
What are the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
So the whole filter cartridge was thrown out?

 

[Alkane]

+1 for large water change.

My guess would be a spike in nitrogenous waste from the move (a combination of stirring up detritus in the gravel and the loss of your biological filtration). Test your water before you do the water change( if you can) and after.

Probably not from pH as you just moved down the street. Temperature could be a factor too make sure any water added in large quantities is +/- only a few degrees of the tank temperature.

Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

[rebeil]

Yes the entire thing was thrown away and I had to replace it, so I basically reset the tank. Im not sure of the levels I need to buy more test strips but it's a 29g tall tank if that helps you. How much of a water change? It's weird because my other two small goldfish seem to be fine it's just my big guy thats having the problems.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I would suggest a liquid test kit over the strips. The strips are known for being highly inaccurate. The API master test kit is the most recommended. Weaker fish can show signs of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate poisoning before others. Id suggest back to back 50% water changes and at least 50% daily until you can get a test kit.
It's advised never to toss out old media because it contains a lot of the beneficial bacteria.
Here is the beginners guide. Your not a beginner but it contains heaps of helpful info.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Also what is your filtration like? Fancy goldfish require 10x the tanks volume turned over an hour so a 29g tank would need 290-300g of water filtered an hour. In your case even more because you are overstocked by one fish.

 

[rebeil]

Okay so I just did a 50% water change I'm including a picture I just took of my fish, this is really hard to watch, and the second picture was taken about a month ago.

 

[rebeil]

Also my filter is Biowheel 350 gph it said it was for 70 gallon tank.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Poor fella can you get a test kit today or early tomorrow? Or get the pet store to test the water (with a liquid test)? All you can do at the moment is keep changing the water and hope for the best. There is no such thing as too many water changes especially at a time like this. If you can do another large water change now that will help. It's hard to say without a test but I'm guessing your ammonia is sky high at the moment.
On a positive note you filters great!

 

[rreekers]

sorry to hear about your fish i hope the others pull through.. like everyone (especially mumma, because she is always very helpful) has already stated all you can do is water changes.

what type of declorinator are you using?
and i agree you really should get a liquid test kit, the strips are worthless.