Fish TB - what to do about the tank?

[Mez]

My son wanted a pet, and I was fool enough to believe what they said at the pet shop when they said that gold fish were easy and the tank would settle down in a couple of weeks....

We (me and my 8yr old son) set up the 13 litre tank in July, left it for a week, and then added 1 goldfish and 1 subunkin.

The tank took several months to settle and in spite of changing the water daily (often > 50%) and adding Aqualibrum, we lost the Subunkin. I also added a powered internal filter since the sponge filter supplied with the tank wasn't up to much.

The gold fish survived although it did develop a black mouth (as if wearing black lipstick) but seemed fine in itself.

In the last couple of days, it has become sluggish and now is lying on the bottom of the tank on its side in a bent C shape. It is barely breathing.

Water measurements are
ammonia = 0
nitrites=0
ph and nitrates fine.

From the references that you suggest looking at, this appears to be fish TB ... If the fish dies as I expect, should I clear out and sterilise the tank before adding new fish? If it is TB, I am loath to get my son involved!

Having just got the filter system working I am loath to do this unless I have to.... javascript:emoticon('')
Sad

If I do have to set up the tank again, is there a better way to get the filter system going again rather than stressing more poor fish (as well as me!) -- will the shrimp trick work in a fresh water tank?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Hey Mez, welcome to AA.

Sorry to hear about your fish. I notice a few things right off the bat.

First off, there is a pretty big misconception behind goldfish and bowls. Goldfish get huge, by fish terms, and are extremely messy. The general rule for them is 10-15 gallons per fish. And you put 2 in about 3.5 gallons. Pet stores are usually just out to make a buck, sadly.

My advice... go to your nearest store and get a cheap 10 gallon tank. You can get them here for around $12. Fill with water and let it stabalize, add in the filter and the old filter media to seed the tank with good bacteria. Also add in any decorations that you already had in the tank. Add the goldfish in there, and keep an eye on the water parameters, mainly a spike in ammonia. You may have to do some water changes at first.

My guess is that it might not be ammonia, but instead just stress from being cramped. Just a hunch, not sure. But worth a try regardless.

HTH, and that the goldfish pulls through!

 

[Mez]

thanks very much for the feedback - it is good to hear from some people who know about these things and aren't out to make a quick buck.

Unfortunately 'cheap' 10 gallon tanks here in the UK appear to be around £80 - ( $150), and we don't really have space for something that big in our house.

Unfortunately the fish has now died.

I will think very hard before I get anything else for the tank.

So much for a good birthday present for my son!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry to hear about the fish.

A glass tank there is that expensive? Wow!

If you wish to set the tank back up (hope you do!) look into betta fish, or perhaps a dwarf gourami. These fish stay small. There also a number of "micro fish" that are not too common, that would be a good choice to look into. Whatever you dom stay away from goldfish.

Look at the nitrogen cycle article in the articles section at the top of this page. It would be a good read.

Good luck with the tank!

 

[DepotFish]

No tb, sounds more like a general water quality issue. Were you using test strips?

 

[Mez]

thanks for the advice. If there are chemicals in the water, they weren't ammonia or nitrites or nitrates.

I was using the chemical testing kits rather than the test strips and whilst the tank was settling the tests monitored levels of nitrites and ammonia. The ammonia dropped off first as expected and then the nitrites. For the last month the ammonia and nitrite have both been at zero and the nitrates was 40.

I think that I am actually going to get a hamster for my son - to my surprise they are easier to look after- and he thinks they are cuddlier.

I am going to clean out the tank, bleach it and leave it for a while before I do anything with it.

If I do start it up again, I will definitely check out this site again - you give very good clear advice!

Thanks for your help,

Mez

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Piscine (fishy) TB is really quite rare, and is not easily transmitted to humans. Even when it is it doesn't cause human TB. It causes cysts called tubercles (hence the name) under the skin. It is not difficult to treat but often misdiagnosed because in med school they didn't teach them to recognize tropical fish diseases in humans. Bending of the spine prior to death is common. TB usually causes smaller irregularities which progress slowly.