Hi everyone, just decided to join up today, all my goldfish are dead or dying and I really need some help. Have learnt a lot from reading various posts, and am now convionced the guy at my local aquarium shop has been giving me the wrong advice.
I have a 60litre Juwel tank, the type with a built-in filter system. I "got the nitrogen cycle going" in September for a month with a couple of goldfish, the local shop then tested the water and said it was fine. Within a few weeks the original goldfish had died, which we put down to their being in bad water while the nitrogen cycle got going. We then bought two new goldfish, and a few weeks later two fan-tails and four tiny minnows, and then four weeks ago a bubble-eye. We had a goldfish fold over double, which a post on another site suggested was due to nitrite poisoning - but my local shop tested for nitrite and said it was fine. Then one of the fantails and the other goldfish became too weak to swim and both died, the other fantail has started having problems staying the right way up (I gather from the shop that this is swim bladder trouble? I've since learnt that fantails are selectively bred, meaning this sort of problem is common so I don't think I'll get any selectively bred fish again), so only the minnows and bubble-eye remain. Our local shop has now tested for pH - which is very high - about 9.0 - so the shop sold me some chemical ph buffer' although by their own admission they weren't sure how to use it - and other posts seem to suggest this isn't the way to go anyway.
I'm planning to test the gravel to see if that's causing the high pH, but the main help I need at the moment I think is what aspects of the water quality should I be testing, how often, and with what product(s)? The local shop insists I don't need my own testing equipment, but I bet this forum will disagree. I think they want me to keep coming to them for tests so they can sell me new chemicals. It was only the other day, for instance, that I discovered you could (should?) test water for ph. I'm now wondering what else needs testing?
Any advice hugely appreciated, I really want to do this properly. Especially confused as I have heard many stories of people neglecting their goldfish (no filter, 100% tap water changes once a week) and they go on for years. Very confused, please help!
I have a 60litre Juwel tank, the type with a built-in filter system. I "got the nitrogen cycle going" in September for a month with a couple of goldfish, the local shop then tested the water and said it was fine. Within a few weeks the original goldfish had died, which we put down to their being in bad water while the nitrogen cycle got going. We then bought two new goldfish, and a few weeks later two fan-tails and four tiny minnows, and then four weeks ago a bubble-eye. We had a goldfish fold over double, which a post on another site suggested was due to nitrite poisoning - but my local shop tested for nitrite and said it was fine. Then one of the fantails and the other goldfish became too weak to swim and both died, the other fantail has started having problems staying the right way up (I gather from the shop that this is swim bladder trouble? I've since learnt that fantails are selectively bred, meaning this sort of problem is common so I don't think I'll get any selectively bred fish again), so only the minnows and bubble-eye remain. Our local shop has now tested for pH - which is very high - about 9.0 - so the shop sold me some chemical ph buffer' although by their own admission they weren't sure how to use it - and other posts seem to suggest this isn't the way to go anyway.
I'm planning to test the gravel to see if that's causing the high pH, but the main help I need at the moment I think is what aspects of the water quality should I be testing, how often, and with what product(s)? The local shop insists I don't need my own testing equipment, but I bet this forum will disagree. I think they want me to keep coming to them for tests so they can sell me new chemicals. It was only the other day, for instance, that I discovered you could (should?) test water for ph. I'm now wondering what else needs testing?
Any advice hugely appreciated, I really want to do this properly. Especially confused as I have heard many stories of people neglecting their goldfish (no filter, 100% tap water changes once a week) and they go on for years. Very confused, please help!