Help with our goldfish

Sanchez

Sanchez

Sanchez

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
2,718
So, we went to a large pet shop chain a few weeks ago and bought a small 'my first fish tank' set. Set it up for a week with the filter that came with it, added the tap safe and then went back to get a couple of small goldfish to put in it. Left em for the usual 15 minutes to climatise etc. 6 hours later and the poor buggers were dead.

Roll on a few weeks later and we change the water, again added the tapsafe along with some stress zyme and some bacterial addative. Added 2 more fish today and 1 of them has already croaked it! The other, we took out and just plonked into a bowl of normal tap water and the little thing is swimming about fine now.

Can anyone tell me what to I can do to stop it from carking it!? I'm tempted to just empty the tank again, rinse it out and add water and the other fish (no addatives etc). I know their only goldfish but we've followed all the things were told and they still haven't survived.
 
arnt you meant to leave the tank filled up for along time for the filter to get full of bacteria stuff, before introducing the gold fish?

or summin like that.

or

put the gold fish into the tank, still within their plastic bag, to let the temperatures adjust
 
I wonder if they were ill to begin with? Whenever my family has had goldfish we just put them in a fish bowl of normal tap water. Always live a long time, just make sure to feed them and clean them out the right amount I guess.
 
Maybe its something in your tank, my best bet would be to buy some testing kits, but these can be expensive!

So could be something in the tank thats polluting the water
 
Something must be polluting the water. Its a long time since i have kept fish (used to keep marines)

I could go on a bit about humane rubbish, but ill refrain.

If you want a quick aquarium try:
Hagen cycle
King British Water Test Strips 6 In 1
Different livestock supplier

Never used the above mention products but its a cheap alternative to buying individual testkits.

Oh yeh, also watch how much of the additives you put into the aquarium. That maybe the main culprit.

Also start of with one small goldfish. I dont know the surface area to fish ratio for freshwater but you should be able to fins it out online.

lol. And another thing, pretty basic but the water may not have enough oxygen in it. Make sure something is agitating the water surface to displace enough water so oxygen can be absorbed.
 
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We've been putting the prescribed amount of addatives into the water each time. And we were told you should have the tank running for a week before you add the fish to amke sure the bacteria can build up in the tank and filter. We also let the water get up to temperature each time.
 
This sounds a bit strange as i have had many fish tanks and never had this problem with more exotic fish. You could put a gold fish in a pint glass with some water and it would survive more than a day or two!!! (I don't suggest you do this) You should check where you are getting the water from it may just be bad quality! This may be your tap water so would be a bit concerning. My friend had this issue his house water was not good quality. Where are mine was fine and i only lived just down the road. Check how you are transporting the fish. Hopefully in a plastic bag covered with a paper bag and no load music etc in the car on the way home ;) Or check which day they get new stock in the store and dont buy anything on that day as lots of fish die of shock at pet stores within the first few days of being housed.
 
Not gonna harp on about it but if you want to keep fish, best to get the biggest tank you can within reason. They look so much better, are better for the fish and no more difficult to keep.
Goldfish + small (<10gal tank) is no good IMO. Have kept fish for 20+ years so know a few things.

Regarding getting the water right, this may help.
Also quite often I've spoken to sales staff in fish shops and tested their advice giving and they've been absolute pap!

Hope your remaining fish does ok!
 
You're not getting litres confused with gallons are you?

Are you sure you've calculated the water volume correctly?

post your figures/sums on here so we have check them.
 
Well it's a 17 litre tank. We put 1 teaspoon of stress zyme and the other bacterial addative into the water. It said to add 2 teaspoons to each 38 litres. We've since transfered the fish into the tank now and Debbie (the fish, Paul is the one who died :() seems to be doing okay.
 
when doing a water change only change 50% of the water for fresh treated water, never ever do a 100% water change.

also when cleaning the filter materials do it in the old tank water, never clean it with fresh water from the tap as this will kill all the needed bacteria in the filter.

set up your tank as you have been and let it mature for at leaswt 3 weeks untouched. adding a small amount of food once a week which will break down and become good bacteria. after 3 weeks try adding one fish and see how you get on.

in a small tank like that I would do a 1/4 water change once a week and leave filter cleaning for once every fortnight.

un treated and un cycled tap water will kill gold fish in a few hours.
 
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