Tank disaster! Unhealthy fancy goldfish, really bad water parameters...

[Amalthea]

1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).

4 year-old fancy goldfish, approximately 6 inches long. Laying at the bottom of the tank gasping, occasionally rolling onto his side, or belly-up. Seems dizzy and disoriented but is fighting it. No other obvious physical symptoms or any kind of fungus/bleeding. (All other fish in the tank seem to be absolutely fine, so far.)


2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.

Ammonia - 8.0!!
Nitirites - +5.0!!
Nitrates, pH and chlorine are all in the safe zone. Temp is about 70 degrees and has always been so.


3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?

55 gallons. I have had the tank itself for 4 years, however, it was re-established a year ago when I moved. Things have been fine up until now.



4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.

Whisper EX70 Power Filter



5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?

4 goldfish. One small black moor (age under 1 year), one 8-inch white comet (age 2 1/2 years), one small Ryukin (age 1 year) and the sick fish is an orange fancy goldfish (age approx. 4 years) about 6 inches long.



6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?

I have never vacuumed. The tank is not in a place where a hose could reach it from a sink. I just did a 50% water change last night and have done three 65% water changes over the past week and a half. However, during normal maintenance water changes, I usually change about 30% of the water every few weeks.



7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?

He was the first fish I ever bought. He's been with the tank since it was established 4 years ago. The others have been added over the last few years.



8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

Yes. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of trying "Waste Control" by Nutrafin, which seemed to directly cause this whole mess.



9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

TetraFin goldfish crisps and TopFin goldfish pellets. No recent changes in diet.





Hi everyone,

I'm currently very worried about my fancy goldfish, Micky, who is acting very ill. About a week and a half ago, I noticed that there was waste build-up on my tank walls and decorations, so I decided to try Nutrafin's "Waste Control", which is a biological aquarium cleaner. It did its job, removing the visible waste from the gravel, decorations and etc, however, it turned the water a murky brown color and all of my fish seemed agitated. I added the recommended Nutrafin "Biological Aquarium Supplement" to control the ammonia and nitrite levels and condition the water, also did a 50% water change, but neither of those things did absolutely ANYTHING to help. (And yes, I gave the correct dosage with the supplement.)

I continued with the water changes every couple days, as the water would clear up very briefly and then get brown again. My filter cartridges were SODDEN with thick brown muck, to an extent that I've never seen before. I've had to replace them twice and last night I rinsed them thoroughly with hot and cold water in the tub because I couldn't get to the pet store to get new ones. (I did hear that it's not good to constantly change your filter cartridges, but the alternative was to leave the utterly disgusting cartridges in the filter, which - it seemed to me - would only further toxify the water.)

So, last night was another big water change, followed by Aqueon's "Ammonia Neutralizer", which is supposed to neutralize ammonia and nitrites (which are my big problem right now). Upon testing the water this morning, my parameters are EXACTLY the same and my poor old goldfish, Micky, is at the bottom of the tank gasping and listing from side to side, sometimes rolling over onto his back and then righting himself. He seems to be fighting to stay active but is having a hard time. He was my first goldfish and I'm very attached to him, so obviously I'm sick with worry. He's always been hardy and resilient so I know things are bad if he's acting so ill. Oddly, all of my other fish seem to be absolutely fine; as energetic and lively as ever. Of course, that doesn't mean that there couldn't be currently unseen ailments from the bad water.

Does anyone have any advice on how to help my tank? I'm deeply concerned about the welfare of my fish and nothing I've done so far has seemed to lessen the mess I've made of my fishtank. About once a month, I'd clean the sides of the tank with one of those magnet cleaners, but I never thought much of the rocks. Perhaps I should have. It seems to me that all the "muck" in the water is probably coming from those stones!


Thanks for taking the time to read all of this,
Shannon

 

[Amalthea]

My scary nitrite and ammonia situation!!http://yfrog.com/3umickyej

Poor Micky, laying on the gravel

 

[logansmomma1228]

Can you quarintine the sick fish? Maybe putting him in all new water completely will help. Plus if it is a disease then you don't want the other fish to catch it. I would definitely vacuum the gravel as a lot of waste can build up in there. you could get a bucket to drain the water that comes out into.

BY NAME, DISEASES OF GOLDFISH AND KOI

That link goes to dropsy but there is a ton of other things on there. Not sure if it will help any but maybe there is some parasite that you cannot see. Good luck!

 

[dkpate]

Wow! I am suprised the fish are still alive with those ammonia and nitrite levels! You need to do partial water changes every day, twice a day if needed, and vacuum 1/2 the gravel each day, switching sides.
Goldfish are very messy, and you need to do pwc's at least every week from now on, probably a vacuum every week too.
I would see if the clean water helps the fish before I medicated the tank. But look at dropsy and make sure he doesn't have that. If his scales look pinecony then he might have it.
You can try feeding boiled, de-shelled peas which is a laxative for fish, because he might have a swim bladder issue, which goldies are prone to.

 

[BigJim]

+1 for dkpate. You're going to need to change your water frequently. I'm not sure you could even cycle the tank with those ammonia levels.

 

[jsoong]

Don't worry about the exact symptoms or cause of ailments at this point ... with that kind of ammonia & nitrites, you need to get the water quality rectified fast!

Something must have happened to your biofilter to get NH3/NO2 like that. <Assuming the test is accurate - test some plain water if in doubt to make sure the kit can read zero.> Whatever the cause, big water changes are in order. I would start with a 75% water change & good gravel vac. Make sure your change water is parameter matched & put the new water in slowly (say over 1/2 hr) to minimize shock to the fish. Also, don't forget the dechlor. If you have it, Prime or some other ammonia binding dechlor may be used (in the ammonia binding dose) as a stop gap until you get things under control.

Although it is better to do a bunch of smaller pwc's rather than a big one, when you see levels like that, it is an emergency & should be brought down ASAP. <I have even done 100% change when in a real bind!> Thereafter, you will need to do frequent pwc's daily or even twice a day to keep the levels low (NH3<0.5, NO2 < 0.25) until the biofilter is reestablished.

If the fish does not improve with clean water, then it is time to try other treatment. But clean water first, everything is secondary.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Ammonia at 8! Eeek! As others have said I'd go for 50% water changes, TWICE a day. Anything to get the ammonia levels under 1.

Since there's nothing else to lose at this point, perhaps you could buy an entirely new filter, or at least change the filter pads on the one you have.

As for the gravel, a *lot* of waste can be lurking underneath there, even after a short time.

 

[Tivaala]

just a thought, you said you cant vacuum the gravel as its not near a sink. i have the same thing so i stick the end of the hose in a bucket, (just a normal diddy kitchen type one) vacuum til buckets full, stop, carry it to bathroom and empty it, start again. its a pain and it kills my back but since i dont feel like buying 80 miles of hose....

 

[mommytron]

i agree with everyone here. do more PWCs. personally i would stop adding chemicals all together and just clean your tank manually. from the sounds of it maybe when you finally decided to clean your tank with the chemical, maybe it just stirred up all the muk that had been hiding in everything and exploded. it seems like if you are able to do a water change, you should be able to vacuum. are you using a siphon?? i found a great video on how to use the self-starting siphon vac to clean the gravel, and it's super easy. just shove the big tube end into the gravel until it sucks up a bunch, then shake it out of the end. repeat. i strongly recommend with everyone else here to get your ammonia/nitrite levels down before messing with anything else. you shouldn't ever need to add chemicals if you are performing regular water changes and vacuuming. good luck and i hope your fishy gets better

 

[mommytron]

oh, and i found the video on youtube. also, you said you rinsed your filter cartridge in the tub. did you use tank water or tap water?? tap water could kill the bacteria in the filter. you always want to rinse it with some of your tank water