afishoutofh2o
Aquarium Advice Regular
Romulus died this morning. We are now down to 1 lonely fantail (Blaze named for her orange blaze on her forehead).
It has been a steep learning curve these past 24 days. I have lost 6 lovely fantails in total. This is their story...
Twenty-four days ago I foolishly purchased "a bag of goldfish" and a 2 gallon tank. I had some remote childhood memory of having goldfish in a bowl and, without having done my homework, thought this would be fine. (An aside, wouldn't it be something if one had to take a class or two on basic fish care & aquarium maintenance before one could purchase any fish!)
Once I got them home and read the aquarium guide included in the 2 gallon kit I realized my new goldies were in trouble. The next day I purchased a 10 gallon tank with AquaClear 20 filter, water conditioner, two 2 gallon buckets, a siphon, an air curtain, and a Tetratest Laborett (pH, KH, GH, NO2, CO2, NH3/NH4). I kept one fish who looked overwhelmed in the 2G tank and safely transferred the remaining 6 fish to the 10G tank (still too small, I know. I am saving for a larger tank). The first week went by without much distress, but then I had to go to a conference for the weekend and the 20% tank changes were put on hold for 3 days. The day after I got home I returned to my usual 20% tank changes and then I noticed that a couple of my fish had white spots on their caudal fins. ICH! After doing some reading I purchased some Malachite Green treatment and gave one dose. After some more reading I realized that the ICH was more a symptom of my uncycled tank than a "new" problem. My first fish died day 13 (Bubbles, sniff). I then did 75% changes on both my tanks and have treated the ICH with aquarium salt. Now I am doing daily or twice daily tests and water changes once or twice a day (depending on the test results).
Today we have had our 6th death (Romulus) and only Blaze remains. The ICH is gone (apparently).
And now that I know better, I'll do better - I am saving up to purchase a 40-60G tank in the coming months and will cycle first before adding any goldfish!
RIP
Bubbles Little black telescope fantail - died day 13
Tiger Stripy calico fantail - died day 13
Fin Round body black telescope fantail - died day 15
Splash Round body patchy calico fantail - died day 16
Remus Mostly orange fantail - died day 17
Romulus Mostly orange fantail (slightly larger than Remus) - died day 24