please help me keep my fish alive!

[lemonandherb]

OK, so we are very new to this aquarium thing and have recently got 2 new gold fish. We originally brought a baby bio orb (15 litre / 3.3 gallon) tank for 2 gold fish around 2 - 3 inches in size each. After a day of seeing our new baby's in this circular prison we decided to buy them a 54 liter rectangle tank (11.87 gallons). The new larger tank is brand new with a stronger filter that we aloud to run for 24 hours before placing the fish in there new glorious home.

we have de-chlorinated the water and done an ammonia test and are readings say every thing is fine. we have also been feeding them every day / every other day.

Here is where it gets sad :'( one of our fish seems happy as larry, swiming around basking in the gold fish glory, while our other fish just sits at the bottom of the tank barely moving for around half hour periods. this happens around 5 times a day. we have done a water change to try help the situation but still no change...

please tell me whats wrong! he just sits around not moving looking unwell and sad.

would greatly appreciate some advice!

thanks in advance guys

p.s if needed we can post some pics

 

[Fishkeeper26]

I hate to tell you but the goldfish are going to need a much larger tank soon.

As far as water, what are the exact readings from your ammonia nitrate and nitrite test? Also what are you using to test?

Are there any visible physical symptoms on the goldfish?

There most likely is a high concentration of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate that is causing this because your tank can't cycle overnight.

 

[lemonandherb]

I hate to tell you but the goldfish are going to need a much larger tank soon.

As far as water, what are the exact readings from your ammonia nitrate and nitrite test? Also what are you using to test?

Are there any visible physical symptoms on the goldfish?

There most likely is a high concentration of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate that is causing this because your tank can't cycle overnight.

wow, really? the tank looks almost far too big for them if anything? but thats not a problem, we are happy to upgrade them again however we want to keep them healthy and happy till the time comes.

like i said before, we are very new to keeping fish so have only done an ammonia test which is reading as 0 ppm (mg/l) which we was told was good? however as for a nitrate test we haven't been given the knowledge to perform that yet.

we are doing regular water changes to keep it fresh and the tank has only really had them in for a few days in total.

thanks for the reply

 

[lemonandherb]

View image: 600207 3735122990062 127304177 n

heres a pic although its not really done any justice as it makes the tank look a lot smaller

 

[markunas]

I suggest going to your LFS and buying a freshwater master test kit. It's a liquid test kit that will allow you to get accurate readings on pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My guess would be either your nitrite or nitrate is high. Gold fish also poop a lot so I would suggest a 25% water change once a week.

If your nitrate and nitrite are high that means your tank has not been cycled and I've found that adding a small amount (a capful) of vodka once a day for three days will help your beneficial bacteria grow quickly (you can also buy solutions you add to your tank that contain these bacteria).

 

[Mumma.of.two]

VODKA?!?! You've got to be joking.

What kind of goldfish are they? Fancies require 20g for the first fish and 10g for each after that. Commons, shubukins and comments require 50g each but do much better in ponds. Goldfish grow rather large pretty quickly if kept happy and healthy.
Please read this info in cycling and proper tank maintenance.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...-to-Starting-a-Freshwater-Aquarium/Page1.html
If you then have any questions please ask away!

 

[butterfly_koi]

VODKA?!?! You've got to be joking.

I've heard of using vodka but that's only with saltwater aquariums it is strongly not advised to use with freshwater

 

[ML42]

uhm yea this is a hardy one to determine, there can be many things stressing your Goldfish besides the usual parameters, I suggest if you are changing so much maybe you are stressing the fish out to much fish need time to get acclimated, but in the other hand they can also feel changes very quickly and be stressed out this leads to ick and other problems but right now, what I would suggest is arm yourself with something to treat Nitrites because if the tank hasn't cycled and you added the fish unconsciously knowing the cycle will start with their poop and go haywire from there so I suggest some NITE-OUT they sell it at petco this helps with ammonia and nitrites, for the Nitrates I suggest WC about 15-25% if they peak, also maybe a little reading on the Nitrogen cycle will help, and if you have questions we can help you, a lot of local fish stores(petco/petsmart) are really not LFS of real caliber and so the advice given is sometimes way off, don't be shy we have all been there done that type scenario.

 

[Fishkeeper26]

I would get a liquid test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite (a lot of people use the API master test kit). From there we could get a better reason to what's going on with your fish.

Also, I wouldn't add any other chemicals (other than water conditioner when doing water changes).

As far as water changes, I would do rather large water changes weekly. At least 50% per week, if not more. How are they doing today?

 

[jlk]

A good liquid test kit and water changes, water changes, water changes! Your fish's behavior indicates a possible water quality issue which would be expected in an uncycled tank. Until you have a liquid test kit (such as API freshwater master test kit), I would change 50% of the water daily with temperature matched, properly conditioned water. Once you have the means to test your water, you can adjust your water changes based on your toxin levels- this may mean more frequent 50%wcs or less frequent. With two goldies in a small tank, expect the wcs to be frequent. Please read the link Mumma provided and ask any questions you may have!

 

[lemonandherb]

hey guys, first of all thanks so much for all your replys, we have been doing a lot of reading up on what the cause could be,

unfortunately now both fish seem to be in the same motionless state. they were swimming around and more vibrant for a short period however now they have both stopped at the bottom of the tank being mundane looking and unhappy.

tomorrow we are going to the pet store to buy a proper water testing kit to get some accurate readings and also plan to do a 50% water change as recommended.

thanks again for the reply's, keep them coming will post back tomorrow

 

[Borderlesscott]

Definately sounds like a cycling problem, get yourself a bottle of seachem stability or prodibio start up - some will say they don't work, though I have 1st hand experience with both and they worked for me along with water changes. Hope the Goldfish pull through.