Sorry if I'm not in the right section I'm new. ALSO SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR THE EXTREMELY LONG POST! So let me start off by saying when my sister was in 4th or 5th grade (she's in 7th now) she brought home a little goldfish from her science class after they were finished with their lab.
Now I've had a couple bettas, glo fish, and a couple goldfish throughout my childhood.
When she brought him home she still had another Goldie named Stanley RIP. this was when I thought goldfish had lifespans of a couple years and you just kept them in bowls.
I ended up doing a lot of research since she had him and we upgraded him to a 10gal temporarily. I ended up getting a white comet and an orange and white I think common goldfish. I got them knowing I would be upgrading their tank before they would be miserable or outgrow the 10gal.
I bought a national geographic brand aquarium with the stand included that was a 46gal. While I was buying that at Petsmart I also bought a common pleco(yes I know that was a mistake) and I got the cutest shubunkin.
I temporarily put all of them into the 10gal and I apparently thought I wouldn't lose any fish when the new tank cycled. My shubunkin died within a few weeks. At this point I had my pleco, my sisters goldfish ginger, my white/silver comet and my orange and white goldfish. I had bought aquarium salt, this greenish goop by tetra I believe that temporarily helps with ammonia etc and I was being religious about using it correctly. My tank is still bare bottom and I bought driftwood off of dr foster and smith and I boiled it for awhile before I put it in my tank to help with the tannins. But my white fish died. I don't know what was wrong with him. He would never swim. He always stayed in a corner of the tank and then when I got home on Easter he was lying at the bottom dead. But what really got me was how my sisters fish died. Ginger and my orange and white fish started getting weird black/brown splotches that kept growing in size on their bodies. It almost looked like a bruise. They acted fine especially ginger. I did a 50% Water change almost a week ago and they seemed to be getting much better. Ginger was covered by these weird splotches more than my fish. A couple days ago he started acting weird and would start to swim then stop moving his fins and his body would keep going in the direction he was swimming and he would bump into the tank and the driftwood. At first I thought his sight was going bad and I was freaking out. I was calling my sister to come upstairs and when I looked back at him he was lying at the bottom on his side and he was still barely alive. I got him out and (I read this online bare with me) I carefully held him in a wet papertowel and I ran very cold water into his gills to try to shock him and bring him "back" he was still barely alive. But it was too late. He died and I still have no idea what caused this weird splotch thing to happen. My fish that had it is getting better and it's fading back to his normal color.
I don't have test strips yet so I can't tell you what my parameters are yet. But I'm ordering the API freshwater master test kit. I've just never seen it before. All my childhood fish just died from the lack of water changes.
Now I've had a couple bettas, glo fish, and a couple goldfish throughout my childhood.
When she brought him home she still had another Goldie named Stanley RIP. this was when I thought goldfish had lifespans of a couple years and you just kept them in bowls.
I ended up doing a lot of research since she had him and we upgraded him to a 10gal temporarily. I ended up getting a white comet and an orange and white I think common goldfish. I got them knowing I would be upgrading their tank before they would be miserable or outgrow the 10gal.
I bought a national geographic brand aquarium with the stand included that was a 46gal. While I was buying that at Petsmart I also bought a common pleco(yes I know that was a mistake) and I got the cutest shubunkin.
I temporarily put all of them into the 10gal and I apparently thought I wouldn't lose any fish when the new tank cycled. My shubunkin died within a few weeks. At this point I had my pleco, my sisters goldfish ginger, my white/silver comet and my orange and white goldfish. I had bought aquarium salt, this greenish goop by tetra I believe that temporarily helps with ammonia etc and I was being religious about using it correctly. My tank is still bare bottom and I bought driftwood off of dr foster and smith and I boiled it for awhile before I put it in my tank to help with the tannins. But my white fish died. I don't know what was wrong with him. He would never swim. He always stayed in a corner of the tank and then when I got home on Easter he was lying at the bottom dead. But what really got me was how my sisters fish died. Ginger and my orange and white fish started getting weird black/brown splotches that kept growing in size on their bodies. It almost looked like a bruise. They acted fine especially ginger. I did a 50% Water change almost a week ago and they seemed to be getting much better. Ginger was covered by these weird splotches more than my fish. A couple days ago he started acting weird and would start to swim then stop moving his fins and his body would keep going in the direction he was swimming and he would bump into the tank and the driftwood. At first I thought his sight was going bad and I was freaking out. I was calling my sister to come upstairs and when I looked back at him he was lying at the bottom on his side and he was still barely alive. I got him out and (I read this online bare with me) I carefully held him in a wet papertowel and I ran very cold water into his gills to try to shock him and bring him "back" he was still barely alive. But it was too late. He died and I still have no idea what caused this weird splotch thing to happen. My fish that had it is getting better and it's fading back to his normal color.
I don't have test strips yet so I can't tell you what my parameters are yet. But I'm ordering the API freshwater master test kit. I've just never seen it before. All my childhood fish just died from the lack of water changes.
