new member and i need advice

[jnj0627]

Hi I'm new to this site I've been cruising around it for a while and its answered alot of my questions but I need some advice for starters me and my fiance have two tanks we have a 55 gallon and a ten gallon we inherited the 55g tank from my mom and she had 6 huge goldfish in it and 4 danios. Us being new to tank owning we bought a dragon fish or a violet gobie I don't the proper term for it but it was the firstfish we bought and the idiots at PETCO said it would be fine with the gold fish well after going to our LFS we realized. We had to get the goldfish out of there so we got rid of them and kept the danios stripped the tank and started fresh we were feeding the dragon fish frozen blood worms on a daily basis well the dragon fish got mouth rot and I'm not sure if it was the bloodworms or the goldfish but we stopped feeding him the frozen blood worms and treated him and he seems to be doing better but sadly it got pretty bad before we noticed because he's very evasive and its really bad and I'm not sure what to do we're. Doing the water changes regularly and keeping it at a good tempature but I feel like he's suffering at it just makes me sad is there anything else we could do to save him? All suggestions are welcome I just feel so bad for the little Guy

 

[bruinsbro1997]

to AA!

Hi I'm new to this site I've been cruising around it for a while and its answered alot of my questions but I need some advice for starters me and my fiance have two tanks we have a 55 gallon and a ten gallon we inherited the 55g tank from my mom and she had 6 huge goldfish in it and 4 danios. Us being new to tank owning we bought a dragon fish or a violet gobie I don't the proper term for it but it was the firstfish we bought and the idiots at PETCO said it would be fine with the gold fish well after going to our LFS we realized. We had to get the goldfish out of there so we got rid of them and kept the danios stripped the tank and started fresh we were feeding the dragon fish frozen blood worms on a daily basis well the dragon fish got mouth rot and I'm not sure if it was the bloodworms or the goldfish but we stopped feeding him the frozen blood worms and treated him and he seems to be doing better but sadly it got pretty bad before we noticed because he's very evasive and its really bad and I'm not sure what to do we're. Doing the water changes regularly and keeping it at a good tempature but I feel like he's suffering at it just makes me sad is there anything else we could do to save him? All suggestions are welcome I just feel so bad for the little Guy

Sorry to hear about that

What is your water change schedule? What is your concentration of ammonina, nitrites, and nitrates?

Also what exactly is a dragon fish? There are quite a few fish that go under that name. Could you get a pic?

 

[jnj0627]

We do a water change every Tuesday and when I was trying to research it it's technical term I guess was a violet gobie all the nitrates and nitrites and the ammonia is all good since we stripped the tanks and cleaned everything and got rid of the gold fish the other fish seem to be doing great since we treated the tank he just had the worst of it these are the best pictures I could get of him he's in our 10 gallon tank right now we made it into a recovery tank just for him.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

That sounds good so far

When you say they are fine, what are they exactly? Fine should be 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and <20-40 nitrates. Are you using strips? Strips are inaccurate, so if you or your fish store is using those to test your water, we can basically be guessing what your water quality is. A liquid test kit is a lot more accurate and cheaper in the long run.

Not sure about the goby, sorry
However, I do know that some gobies are brackish. That could be a reason why it is not sick, because it is not in brackish water.

 

[Gboy66]

We do a water change every Tuesday and when I was trying to research it it's technical term I guess was a violet gobie all the nitrates and nitrites and the ammonia is all good since we stripped the tanks and cleaned everything and got rid of the gold fish the other fish seem to be doing great since we treated the tank he just had the worst of it these are the best pictures I could get of him he's in our 10 gallon tank right now we made it into a recovery tank just for him.

Well we need to know exact numbers of nitrite, ammonia, and nitrate. Is the tank cycled? I am assuming not. Cycling is when these three things go through a process of basically balencing out. There has to be an ammonia source for it all to work. That is the very short version. Buy a liquid test kit, the api master freshwater test kit to be exact, and tet your water. Untill then, most good fish stores (not petco) will test your water for you.

 

[jnj0627]

We took a sample into petsmart and they said it was good to go although we bought the strips because they we're cheaper and we assumed they worked (after all we watched them use the strips) but after being on this site for awhile we realized oops. So payday we will be investing in the master freshwater testkit. We tried our best at mimicking brackish water conditions so we know about that. He's just the first fish we bought and don't want to lose him. Also as soon as possible we'll try to get you a more accurate reading of the water levels. I appreciate the time and patience thanks for the help.

 

[redsea]

Welcome to Aquarium Advice, thanks for joining!

 

[LyndaB]

we stripped the tanks and cleaned everything

what exactly do you mean by "stripped"..... do you still have your mom's filter?

 

[jnj0627]

No because of the goldfish we changed it.

 

[LyndaB]

Then I would definitely get my hands on an API master kit. Your tank is most likely toxic right now. Some species are not hardy enough to handle the cycling stage, which is where you are right now, since you tossed the seeded filter media. Lots of water changes are in your immediate future.

 

[jnj0627]

Just got the master test kit Ph. 7.6 ammonia. 25 nitrite 0 nitrate 40

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. We are glad you found us here at AA.

 

[Gboy66]

Just got the master test kit Ph. 7.6 ammonia. 25 nitrite 0 nitrate 40

Ok those nitrates are really bad. Immediatly fo a water change to get them below 20

 

[starquest]

Hi jnj, and welcome to the forum! I am so sorry to hear about your difficulties. It's really hard getting started, esp. taking over another's tank, which was how I started. I'll give you a link for some really good articles, which included an article on how to cycle a tank when you already have fish:http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...started-check-out-these-resources-154837.html. Be sure and check these out, cause they will help you to know how to proceed, as well as to help you to understand what questions to ask.

 

[wvanderborg]

Hey. I'm one of those "idiots" who work at petco. Ill admit about 90% of their staff doesn't know about aquatics but once in a while ull find someone like me who actually does... lol. The dragonfish is a brackish specie. Very delicate. And they don't like bright lights. I tried keeping them for years and was always unsuccesful so I moved to the easier poly sengalus (dinosaur eel) on a fifty five id reccomend doing 2 marineland biowheel 350 filters. That's what I have on mine and my waters crystal clear all the time.