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blackberry75

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 11, 2021
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Quick back story, my stepson agreed to pet sit his brother's goldfish while their mom moved. She's refused to take them back. They came in a 29g tank. All 12 of them. The tank was disgusting and every fish had ich, fin rot, fungus, and a few where septic. I did what I could but there where heavy losses. We're down 7 goldfish and 3 surpises I didn't know where in there. There's a algea eater (pleco?), a snail I thought was a tank decoration but is actually alive, and a little silver thing about an inch long with a hump back which I've no clue where it's been hiding.

I've just moved them all to a 65g. I know very little about fish and just learned about cycling. The fish have been in the new tank for a week already. I bought a master test kit and have 0 ammonia but nitrite and nitrates are high. How freaked out should I be. I've been doing daily water changes to dilute the nitrite/nitrates. I'm at work right now so I don't know exact numbers but will retest when I get home and post those. Ph is stable at 7.2 temp is high, hovers between 75-77 depending on time of day.
 
blackberry75 said:
Quick back story, my stepson agreed to pet sit his brother's goldfish while their mom moved. She's refused to take them back. They came in a 29g tank. All 12 of them. The tank was disgusting and every fish had ich, fin rot, fungus, and a few where septic. I did what I could but there where heavy losses. We're down 7 goldfish and 3 surpises I didn't know where in there. There's a algea eater (pleco?), a snail I thought was a tank decoration but is actually alive, and a little silver thing about an inch long with a hump back which I've no clue where it's been hiding.

I've just moved them all to a 65g. I know very little about fish and just learned about cycling. The fish have been in the new tank for a week already. I bought a master test kit and have 0 ammonia but nitrite and nitrates are high. How freaked out should I be. I've been doing daily water changes to dilute the nitrite/nitrates. I'm at work right now so I don't know exact numbers but will retest when I get home and post those. Ph is stable at 7.2 temp is high, hovers between 75-77 depending on time of day.
Click to expand...

Hopefully you have a good filter running and I really don’t know a lot about gold fish but I know that you need patience with tanks. Also oxygen is very important so a good idea is an air stone. From what I’ve read on here, goldfish need 30 gallon for one fish and 10 more for each additional fish added. Sounds like you are doing the best with what you haven but may need more tank.

I would suggest reading up more on this site and there are many other good ones out there and videos on YouTube to help you.
Good luck, sounds like you are doing what you can to correct a bad situation.
 
Kudos to you for helping save those fish. Great job. I also got a little chuckle from your comments about finding the 3 surprises. Nano is right, make sure you have a good filter on there, and after they're well you might look at rehoming about 4 or 5 of the remaining gold fish. They are super messy anyway. I also provided a link here on aquarium cycling that will help with your nitrates and nitrites issue. https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/2-aquarium-cycling-index/
 
Thank you for replying. As for filtration, I don't think I have very good items. I'm running 2 sponge filters that I bought, one rated for a 40g and one rated for a 60g. Plus the two internal filters that the fish came with; no clue what they're rated for. The owner of the local pet store took pity on me and sold me some damaged goods at a huge discount. Polyfill, ceramic rings, purigen; I also bought some ammonia chips and that's what I've been using in the filters. He also gave me some sickly looking plants that I put in a bucket to see what would live. They all look great now. Could they be contributing to the nitrite levels or are the levels just part of the process?

The good news is, come spring, 5 (the biggest ones) are going to a pond. I just have to help the adopter clean it out. Not sure what to do about this little hump backed thing or the pleco, I've read they get huge.

Heck, I'm just happy their fins are growing back and the ick and white fuzzy fungus is gone. Now is I can just keep them alive and healthy until spring, this whole aquarium thing should get easier. Right? Lol
 
Haha! It will get easier. It's supposed to be fun. Good plan for the goldfish. Plants generally consume things from the water column leading to more perfect water parameters. Depending on what kind of pleco it might get huge. If it's a common pleco, you should start trying to rehome it or plan on it going to the pond as well. They are poop machines, worse than the goldfish and get over a foot long
 
Really depends on what kind of pleco you have. There are a few varieties that stay around 6 inches- bristle nose, clown, rubber lip, pitbull... If you happen to have one of these guys you could keep him! They are fun to watch (well I think they are cute, anyway) and will help a little with algae control.
Can you take a pic of the little hump back fish- maybe somebody can identify? I'm curious myself! :D
 
The pleco's about 3 inches right now. It doesn't have any of the whiskers like the pictures I've seen online of bristle nose, just two little ones near its mouth. Its dark with a cream/yellow pattern, kind of a cheetah or leopard. It's actually quite pretty to look at and I've always been creeped out by plecos before.
 
blackberry75 said:
The pleco's about 3 inches right now. It doesn't have any of the whiskers like the pictures I've seen online of bristle nose, just two little ones near its mouth. Its dark with a cream/yellow pattern, kind of a cheetah or leopard. It's actually quite pretty to look at and I've always been creeped out by plecos before.
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Haha! It's not the common pleco then, I don't know what kind but good it's not the big poop machine
 
Oh, it poops plenty. So does the snail. Its like the kid just bought whatever pooped the most and threw it in the tank, along with all the feeder fish he could afford. Not mad at him, he's a kid. Just wish an adult would have put the brakes on it before it got so out of hand. The fish are the ones who've suffered for it. No point bellyaching about it now, so I'll stop.

I wish it was easier to identify plecos. It kinda looks like a bristle nose without the bristles, but looking on google there's lots of species with similar patterns. Oh well, I'll see if it stays this small while having a back up plan in case it starts getting huge.
 
charliebankston said:
I think that's a common pleco. The other looks like a guppy. How big is it?
Click to expand...
The little one is about 1-1.25in. The pleco is about 3in right now. If he gets to be about a foot, my friends will put him in their pond, but he's to small right now. The bass might eat him at this size
 
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