Hello everyone,
I currently have two small goldfish in a 29 gallon tank. I use an emperor 400 filter. My nitrite levels and ammonia levels are 0. Nitrates are maybe around 20-30 ppm and my ph is about 8. I do about a 10 percent water change every week and replace my filters about once a month. Currently, the temperature in my tank is about 76 degrees F. My fish have lived in this tank for a little over a month now. My last vacuum gravel was last weekend and I try and do this about once a month. I have added some new ornaments/plastic plants to my tank recently...and I admit to not rinsing off one of them before placing it in the tank.
So here is what is happening....I have a goldfish that shows symptoms of constipation (I am pretty new to aquariums so I may be wrong about this?) He swims actively like a normal fish sometimes....but then he also just rests at the bottom of the tank as well. The fish poop from both fish has also been long and stringy although only one out of my two fish appears sick. To correct this problem, I am fasting my sick fish and placing him in an epsom salt bath twice a day for at least 15 minutes. I also put some cucumber and spinach leaves in a blender and blended them in some aquarium water so that the healthy fish would have a better diet then the flakes I had been feeding them (I am fasting my sick fish so I have not been feeding him this).
My sick fish has also developed reddish spots on the back of his fins.
I would like to know if:
A) If there is more I can do to help cure my fish? Do you think it is still constipation or is it something else?
B) How long does the epsom salt bath treatment take? I have been doing the for a day and a half now....I don't know that he is getting better.
C) I have read that tetracycline (spelling??) is a useful treatment in such cases; however, I have also read that this medication is not very good if my ph is high. Is there any other medication I can use that would help my fish get better?
D) How big of a deal is a ph of 8 for goldfish? It is this high due to the coral substrate I use to help keep the ph level constant and it also elevates the low ph (around 6.5 if I remember correctly) of my tap water.
Thanks in advance for your answers!
I currently have two small goldfish in a 29 gallon tank. I use an emperor 400 filter. My nitrite levels and ammonia levels are 0. Nitrates are maybe around 20-30 ppm and my ph is about 8. I do about a 10 percent water change every week and replace my filters about once a month. Currently, the temperature in my tank is about 76 degrees F. My fish have lived in this tank for a little over a month now. My last vacuum gravel was last weekend and I try and do this about once a month. I have added some new ornaments/plastic plants to my tank recently...and I admit to not rinsing off one of them before placing it in the tank.
So here is what is happening....I have a goldfish that shows symptoms of constipation (I am pretty new to aquariums so I may be wrong about this?) He swims actively like a normal fish sometimes....but then he also just rests at the bottom of the tank as well. The fish poop from both fish has also been long and stringy although only one out of my two fish appears sick. To correct this problem, I am fasting my sick fish and placing him in an epsom salt bath twice a day for at least 15 minutes. I also put some cucumber and spinach leaves in a blender and blended them in some aquarium water so that the healthy fish would have a better diet then the flakes I had been feeding them (I am fasting my sick fish so I have not been feeding him this).
My sick fish has also developed reddish spots on the back of his fins.
I would like to know if:
A) If there is more I can do to help cure my fish? Do you think it is still constipation or is it something else?
B) How long does the epsom salt bath treatment take? I have been doing the for a day and a half now....I don't know that he is getting better.
C) I have read that tetracycline (spelling??) is a useful treatment in such cases; however, I have also read that this medication is not very good if my ph is high. Is there any other medication I can use that would help my fish get better?
D) How big of a deal is a ph of 8 for goldfish? It is this high due to the coral substrate I use to help keep the ph level constant and it also elevates the low ph (around 6.5 if I remember correctly) of my tap water.
Thanks in advance for your answers!