Fish Help

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I have just got 4 goldfish for the kids and they seem to be just staying at the top of the water and doing what looks like trying to get air, I cleaned them out yesterday and the water has gone slightly murky but i have no idea why

Any help appreciated
 
You've dumped them in chlorinated water, possibly containing chloramine also, with no established bacteria, and without any filter they'll just be sitting in a high concentrate of their own waste, resulting in nitrite and ammonia which will burn their respiratory, eyes, scales, and this will shortern their life span and they'll eventually die, in a few days, weeks, or maybe years if they're hardy enough.

And if you do add a filter now, they'll still have to go through the high levels of ammonia and nitrite involved in cycling a tank, which they may or may not survive, either way it's not very nice for them.

I've done several huge posts about this for new fish keepers in the past, but without search I can't dig them up for you.

But the best thing you can do now is go out and buy a Fluval 1 or 2 internal filter for £10-15 and put it in, keep feeding them as normal and hope they survive the cycle, if they do then you'll just need to change 15% or so of the water every one or two weeks, and treat the water going back in with a product called aqua safe, or leave it to stand for a day or two before you put the water in the tank.

I won't go into too much lengthy detail, but the bacteria cycle is what establishes and keeps alive, the bacteria that eats the nitrite and ammonia and keeps both at zero, both of which are harmful and lethal to your fish.

The resulting waste of the bacteria are called nitrates, these are much much less harmful to your fish, and you can remove these by changing the water every week or two.
 
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Axis64 said:
The the water that is in there has been treated with aqua safe it came with the tank

It's still not enough to keep them healthy, all aqua safe is meant for is when you're changing the water in the tank, not to treat an entire new tank.
 
To cycle your tank a little quicker you could get a cupful of gravel from a fellow fishkeeper if you know any.

Also i think 4 fish is too many for a tank that small.
 
The murkiness indicates a bloom of harmful bacteria, that's what it's most likely to be, due to an uncycled tank with no established bio-system, and no means to do so apart from in the substrate, which counts for pretty much nothing, you really need a filter to establish it, then you'll get beneficial bacteria living in the substrate as well.
 
Axis64 said:
Where can i get a filter then i cant see any on the pets at home website??

Their website is crap, there is hardly anything on there.

Go into the store and ask for a Fluval 1 Internal filter.

I would suggest a 2 for that many goldfish in a small tank though, they're going to produce a lot of waste.

Just remember that this doesn't guarantee that they'll live, what it will do however is establish your bacteria, and once it's cycled they should be fine as long as you keep up water changes.

If you don't do anything they're going to die because of it.
 
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i'd take the fish atleats two of the fish back for now or give them to a freind for a week or so.

just until your tank is cycled and also do you have an air pump going into your tank because goldfish need a lot of air.

But take Mr. White's Advice :)

Q For Mr. White,

What type of fish do you keep mate ?
 
MadMan-JaMeS said:
Q For Mr. White,

What type of fish do you keep mate ?

Tank 1:
1 Tiger Oscar (8-9")

Tank 2:
2 Parrot hybrid cichlids (5-6")
1 Featherfin Syno (11-12")
1 Senegal Bichir (9-10")
5 Black widow tetras (2")

Tank 3:
5 Black neon tetras (1.5-2")
2 Indian algae loaches (3.5-4")
1 Hamburg Platy (2")
1 Emporer Tetra (2.5")
2 Neon tetras (2")

I gave Tank 3 to my father for a while since I wasn't using it, but he gave it back when he moved house, so it hasn't really got my sort of fish in it, but it looks nice.
 
Mr_White said:
Tank 1:
1 Tiger Oscar (8-9")

Tank 2:
2 Parrot hybrid cichlids (5-6")
1 Featherfin Syno (11-12")
1 Senegal Bichir (9-10")
5 Black widow tetras (2")

Tank 3:
5 Black neon tetras (1.5-2")
2 Indian algae loaches (3.5-4")
1 Hamburg Platy (2")
1 Emporer Tetra (2.5")
2 Neon tetras (2")

I gave Tank 3 to my father for a while since I wasn't using it, but he gave it back when he moved house, so it hasn't really got my sort of fish in it, but it looks nice.

Do you have any pics of them?
 
These pics are about 6 months old now, I don't have many of the widows, just pics they snuck into, I'll just post pics with the widows in for now, unless you want to see some others:

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Picture%205.png

Picture%207.png


His gills are perfect by the way, they've not been flared back in the past by poor conditions like a lot of catfish can get, I just caught him exhaling on every pic i took.
 
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