Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
Again, thank you both! I think I will have to get them a heater for winter though it reaches 0C in the early mornings mid winter. We my have moved by then so they would have a place in the house hopefully.
Dwohlge1 said:I have a heater on mine. I keep it at 72 degrees for my two fancies in the winter
Mumma.of.two said:I have been trying to convince my husbands friend to surrender his goldfish for a while now. Yesterday he finally gave in and let me take them and their tank home. My plan was to trade them in, clean up the tank and use it for my Betta. The problem is, I've fallen in love! They are beautiful! So now my goal is to try my very very hardest to convince hubby to let me have one more large tank.
From what i can gather they are in a 7ish gallon tank (cant find my tape measure!). When I picked them up I saved all their water, brought it home and used it to fill the tank. I had to top off about a gallon with fresh water. This morning I tested the water and got:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160+!!!
pH 7.6
I have just done a 50% PWC and plan on doing another one tonight. I haven't vacuumed the gravel yet because I don't want to clean the tank too much, too fast. Am I right in assuming that changing too much water at once can be harmful? How fast does everyone recommend cleaning up the tank. I don't want to shock the poor little guys.
If I can't convince hubby on the one more tank idea I am going to have to rehome them at my LFS. Will they be ok in the small tank for a week if I keep up the PWC? I only know the very basics about goldfish is there anything anyone can think of I might need to know? I fear I may be missing something.
Thank you.
jsoong said:Good job on re-housing the goldies! they should be much happier in clean water.
Feeding - sinking pellets are ideal. If you use sinking pellets, you don't have to soak them. It will be better to soak floating pellets so the fish don't gulp too much air. Flakes are generally poor quality & not nutrient dense, so best avoided.
It is a good idea to feed veggies every few days. Good for the digestion, & lots of vitamins & other good stuff. Plus, the fish loves veggies.
Go easy on the blood worm, etc. Food that is too high in protein might give the fish constipation, os feed sparingly. <BTW - instead of expensive lfs fresh food, just feed shrimp instead .... I use cooked baby salad shrimp .... chop up a few for the fish, the rest for me for lunch!>
As for the 10 degree temp swing, that is a bit much to be optimal. Fancies like to have less than 4 degree swings a day. However, that temp swing is just air temp, the tank should be a bit more stable than that, with slower temp change. You can minimize the swing by not having the tank in the sun, and make sure you have lots of surface movement in the heat. <That improves aeration, and also the increased water evaporation cools the tank.> If you are going to get a heater for winter, you may as well get one now. Set it at mid 70's & you should be good.
jsoong said:As for the cloudy eye, can you get a close up? It doesn't look too bad in the pic. I would be inclined to just watch for now. Clean water will do wonders for minor ailments.
librarygirl said:Just wanted to say good job on saving the fish. They are cuties!
Mumma.of.two said:Thank you! They are so, so cute! I just couldn't rehome them. Since getting them home and in their new tank I found out they use to get beer/beer bottles and other disgusting things put in there tank. Makes me even happier they are in a proper home now.
jlk said:Good work so far!!! A quality sinking pellet for goldfish is best (Hikari brand is my personal fav) along with some fresh plain cooked veggies though i also feed some fruits & cooked shrimp/tuna/salmon. The black moors eyes are very sensitive to nitrate levels & they are easily burned by high levels which is the most likely cause of the cloudiness. Lets give him a week or 2 in healthy water to see if it clears up on its own. If it doesnt, we can look at other options although it may be permanently damaged from the high nitrate levels. Moors are visually impaired in the best of conditions so just make sure he is getting sufficient food at mealtime & is not being out-eaten by his by his buddies who can see better. Worse comes to worse, you can always seperate him with a plastic divider/sheet plastic for meals so he can eat at his own pace. Keep us posted!
Scouser said:Wow that's horrible!
Even better that a person actually cared enough to rescue the little blighters!
Great job!
(just noticed all the exclamation points lol, think I got excited)
!!!!!!!!!!
Mumma.of.two said:I've got some more questions. I feel like a noobie
What snails are good for goldfish tanks? Apple/mystery snails like warmer temps than in gf tanks so what others do you recommend?
Does it matter what sex the fish are at all?