Saved goldfish :)

[Mumma.of.two]

Again, thank you both! I think I will have to get them a heater for winter though it reaches 0C in the early mornings mid winter. We my have moved by then so they would have a place in the house hopefully.

 

[Dwohlge1]

I have a heater on mine. I keep it at 72 degrees for my two fancies in the winter

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I have a heater on mine. I keep it at 72 degrees for my two fancies in the winter

Thanks. That's what I'm going to have to do for winter.

Just did the nitrate test and got 80ppm from what I can figure. The colors all look the same to me! I'm getting impatient and I'm going to do another PWC. I don't like seeing them in such bad water.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I continued to PWC every few hours yesterday and got nitrate down to about 20ppm. I them drip acclimated them for an hour and put them in their new tank. I swear I must have sat there an hour watching them enjoy and explore their new home. I didnt have a spare filter so I rigged up my only spare powerhead (its rated 290gallons/hour) to a bottle with their old tanks gravel, the tiny bit of sponge that came from their old filter and some floss. It seems to be getting good water movement and collecting most if the waste. I've left the tank bare bottomed so it's easier to clean while I've only got the temporary filter. I also put most of the rest if the old gravel in a media bag next to the filter. I am trying to win a good second hand canister filter on eBay for them. I'm planning daily vacs and PWC until I have one.

I was reading that it's not a good idea to feed them flake food because it can cause them to swallow air. What should I feed them? Pellets and greens? Should I feed bloodworms and/or brine shrimp? Do I soak the pellets beforehand?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

The moore has one cloudy eye. Should I be doing anything about that?

 

[TyTy98]

I have been trying to convince my husbands friend to surrender his goldfish for a while now. Yesterday he finally gave in and let me take them and their tank home. My plan was to trade them in, clean up the tank and use it for my Betta. The problem is, I've fallen in love! They are beautiful! So now my goal is to try my very very hardest to convince hubby to let me have one more large tank.

From what i can gather they are in a 7ish gallon tank (cant find my tape measure!). When I picked them up I saved all their water, brought it home and used it to fill the tank. I had to top off about a gallon with fresh water. This morning I tested the water and got:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160+!!!
pH 7.6
I have just done a 50% PWC and plan on doing another one tonight. I haven't vacuumed the gravel yet because I don't want to clean the tank too much, too fast. Am I right in assuming that changing too much water at once can be harmful? How fast does everyone recommend cleaning up the tank. I don't want to shock the poor little guys.

If I can't convince hubby on the one more tank idea I am going to have to rehome them at my LFS. Will they be ok in the small tank for a week if I keep up the PWC? I only know the very basics about goldfish is there anything anyone can think of I might need to know? I fear I may be missing something.

Thank you.

They are beautiful! Keep them indeed. It would be amazing if they had babies

 

[CatmanDru]

This is more a question for me than for Mumma: with outside temperatures swinging from 20 C to 30 C,

1) by how many degrees would the temperature swing inside the 40 gallon tank?

2) would that daily temperature variation be harmful to goldfish?

 

[jsoong]

Good job on re-housing the goldies! they should be much happier in clean water.

Feeding - sinking pellets are ideal. If you use sinking pellets, you don't have to soak them. It will be better to soak floating pellets so the fish don't gulp too much air. Flakes are generally poor quality & not nutrient dense, so best avoided.

It is a good idea to feed veggies every few days. Good for the digestion, & lots of vitamins & other good stuff. Plus, the fish loves veggies.

Go easy on the blood worm, etc. Food that is too high in protein might give the fish constipation, os feed sparingly. <BTW - instead of expensive lfs fresh food, just feed shrimp instead .... I use cooked baby salad shrimp .... chop up a few for the fish, the rest for me for lunch!>

As for the 10 degree temp swing, that is a bit much to be optimal. Fancies like to have less than 4 degree swings a day. However, that temp swing is just air temp, the tank should be a bit more stable than that, with slower temp change. You can minimize the swing by not having the tank in the sun, and make sure you have lots of surface movement in the heat. <That improves aeration, and also the increased water evaporation cools the tank.> If you are going to get a heater for winter, you may as well get one now. Set it at mid 70's & you should be good.

 

[jsoong]

As for the cloudy eye, can you get a close up? It doesn't look too bad in the pic. I would be inclined to just watch for now. Clean water will do wonders for minor ailments.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Good job on re-housing the goldies! they should be much happier in clean water.

Feeding - sinking pellets are ideal. If you use sinking pellets, you don't have to soak them. It will be better to soak floating pellets so the fish don't gulp too much air. Flakes are generally poor quality & not nutrient dense, so best avoided.

It is a good idea to feed veggies every few days. Good for the digestion, & lots of vitamins & other good stuff. Plus, the fish loves veggies.

Go easy on the blood worm, etc. Food that is too high in protein might give the fish constipation, os feed sparingly. <BTW - instead of expensive lfs fresh food, just feed shrimp instead .... I use cooked baby salad shrimp .... chop up a few for the fish, the rest for me for lunch!>

As for the 10 degree temp swing, that is a bit much to be optimal. Fancies like to have less than 4 degree swings a day. However, that temp swing is just air temp, the tank should be a bit more stable than that, with slower temp change. You can minimize the swing by not having the tank in the sun, and make sure you have lots of surface movement in the heat. <That improves aeration, and also the increased water evaporation cools the tank.> If you are going to get a heater for winter, you may as well get one now. Set it at mid 70's & you should be good.

Thank you! I will be getting some better food today. They only came with flakes but I'm going to chuck them now. I watched the tank this morning and it only gets direct sunlight for about half an hour really early in the morning (about 5:30-6:00am) other than that it's completely sheltered.

 

[librarygirl]

Just wanted to say good job on saving the fish. They are cuties!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

As for the cloudy eye, can you get a close up? It doesn't look too bad in the pic. I would be inclined to just watch for now. Clean water will do wonders for minor ailments.

It doesn't look too bad. Not completely clouded over just half of it. I have noticed he/she does have a little trouble seeing and very occasionally bumps into something. I will try get a better pic later in the day when the glare is reduced.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Just wanted to say good job on saving the fish. They are cuties!

Thank you! They are so, so cute! I just couldn't rehome them. Since getting them home and in their new tank I found out they use to get beer/beer bottles and other disgusting things put in there tank. Makes me even happier they are in a proper home now.

 

[jlk]

Good work so far!!! A quality sinking pellet for goldfish is best (Hikari brand is my personal fav) along with some fresh plain cooked veggies though i also feed some fruits & cooked shrimp/tuna/salmon. The black moors eyes are very sensitive to nitrate levels & they are easily burned by high levels which is the most likely cause of the cloudiness. Lets give him a week or 2 in healthy water to see if it clears up on its own. If it doesnt, we can look at other options although it may be permanently damaged from the high nitrate levels. Moors are visually impaired in the best of conditions so just make sure he is getting sufficient food at mealtime & is not being out-eaten by his by his buddies who can see better. Worse comes to worse, you can always seperate him with a plastic divider/sheet plastic for meals so he can eat at his own pace. Keep us posted!

 

[Scouser]

Thank you! They are so, so cute! I just couldn't rehome them. Since getting them home and in their new tank I found out they use to get beer/beer bottles and other disgusting things put in there tank. Makes me even happier they are in a proper home now.

Wow that's horrible!

Even better that a person actually cared enough to rescue the little blighters!

Great job!

(just noticed all the exclamation points lol, think I got excited)

!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Good work so far!!! A quality sinking pellet for goldfish is best (Hikari brand is my personal fav) along with some fresh plain cooked veggies though i also feed some fruits & cooked shrimp/tuna/salmon. The black moors eyes are very sensitive to nitrate levels & they are easily burned by high levels which is the most likely cause of the cloudiness. Lets give him a week or 2 in healthy water to see if it clears up on its own. If it doesnt, we can look at other options although it may be permanently damaged from the high nitrate levels. Moors are visually impaired in the best of conditions so just make sure he is getting sufficient food at mealtime & is not being out-eaten by his by his buddies who can see better. Worse comes to worse, you can always seperate him with a plastic divider/sheet plastic for meals so he can eat at his own pace. Keep us posted!

Hikari it is then! I just fed them some peas and the Moore managed to get a good amount The other two basically inhaled their share lol. I hope his eye improves. I'm not sure if I'm imagining it but it doesn't seem as bad as yesterday when I noticed it. Maybe it's just the way the lights hitting it this morning.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Wow that's horrible!

Even better that a person actually cared enough to rescue the little blighters!

Great job!

(just noticed all the exclamation points lol, think I got excited)

!!!!!!!!!!

Lol! Don't worry I'm excited too!! Thank you.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I've got some more questions. I feel like a noobie
What snails are good for goldfish tanks? Apple/mystery snails like warmer temps than in gf tanks so what others do you recommend?
Does it matter what sex the fish are at all?

 

[Dwohlge1]

I've got some more questions. I feel like a noobie
What snails are good for goldfish tanks? Apple/mystery snails like warmer temps than in gf tanks so what others do you recommend?
Does it matter what sex the fish are at all?

I have a mystery snail with mine. I had about 20 pond snails in my 44g while I was cycling it. My Oranda ate them all within an hour when I moved him over. It was impressive.

 

[jlk]

I dont know about snails. I have heard rumors that some goldfish will eat them but i dont know if theres any truth to it! In respect to sex, i dont think that will be an issue for now. They all look quite small. Sexing goldfish can be difficult as well. Until they are mature & in prime breeding condition, you probably will not what you have (boys or girls). Goldfish generally do not waste energy on reproduction unless they can afford to expend it. The males will develop breeding tubercules on their gill plates & pectoral fins; females will be rounder & slightly lopsided when viewed from above. Theres also other things you can look for (thickness of pec fins, whether their vent is convex/concave etc). Males will chase & bump the females though i have a tank of males & they do this to each other! I really wouldnt be concerned with their sex unless their behavior becomes an issue.