Goldfish rescue

[Jim Bradford]

Hi Folks,



I rescued four Goldfish yesterday from my Daughters workplace, apparently
they were going to flush them down the toilet! I was appalled, my daughter
really upset, so I now have four fish. I rushed out and got some basic
equipment.



Tank 36 x 12 x 18

Artificial gravel

Various rocks ect (Salvaged from the place of rescue)

Bottle of ? (de-clorifier) (pet shop gave me it free)

Food (and fine net for removing uneaten remains)



I had no time to do anything with the tank other than a quick setup, fill
with tap water and treatment from bottle. I put the fish from the salvage
bucket into bags and suspended in the tank until I reckoned they had
acclimatized. They are all still thankfully alive, and active, they are
eating well. They all tend to hang around together, survivors probably, lots
of other fish died during a period of neglect before I stepped in.



What next? I'm a complete beginner! however, I've been reading this morning
about various things, filtering, tank cycling, frequent water changes....
lot of important info, but what I need right now is quick tips to ensure the
short term health of the fish.



The largest fish is gold and about 4 inches (not including the large fantail
which is about another 3 inches). Another is silver, with gold and black
dots, this is only about 1.5 inches and also has a fantail. The other two
are normal looking (to me!) goldfish about two inches in size.



The large goldfish has a white sore, just above its mouth and below the
eyes. What can be done for this guy?



Any help appreciated.



Jim

[Happy'Cam'per]

Hello Jim, and welcome to the hobby.

First things first, dash back to your LFS with a bucket and ask him to give
you several handfuls of gravel from some of their existing established
tanks. This will get your cycle going very quickly. 4 Goldfish are going to
do an awful lot of pooping and your new setup will not be able to cope with
the bio load (this is what the gravel is for).

I would recommend doing daily 30% water change for the next week, or until
your bio bugs have established themselves. Some others may be able to offer
better advice. I wish you luck.
That is all.
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

[Magic menagerie]

Go to Ingrid's site... Very helpful...
http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/home.html

She doesn't recommend the gravel though, as the fish, when they get too big,
tend to choke on it...

[Donald K]

Jim Bradford wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
>
>
> I rescued four Goldfish yesterday from my Daughters workplace,
> apparently
> they were going to flush them down the toilet! I was appalled, my
> daughter
> really upset, so I now have four fish.

Good for you!

>
> Tank 36 x 12 x 18

Great call going with the larger tank.

That one is about 30 gallons, which believe it or not is probably a bit
tight
for the long term keeping of those four fish. At the moment, they are
happy
critters that you didn't go for a cheapy 10 gallon tank.

> Artificial gravel

Don't worry about it.

> Various rocks ect (Salvaged from the place of rescue)
>
> Bottle of ? (de-clorifier) (pet shop gave me it free)

Good.

> Food (and fine net for removing uneaten remains)

One danger for a new goldfish owner is that the fish look hungary all
the
time. With a new, uncycled tank, feeding them once every other day is
probably best.

>
>
> I had no time to do anything with the tank other than a quick setup,
> fill
> with tap water and treatment from bottle. I put the fish from the
> salvage bucket into bags and suspended in the tank until I reckoned
> they had
> acclimatized.

Good steps.

>
>
> What next? I'm a complete beginner! however, I've been reading this
> morning about various things, filtering, tank cycling, frequent water
> changes.... lot of important info, but what I need right now is quick
> tips to ensure the short term health of the fish.

The best sites, short term:

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin.html
http://puregold.aquaria.net/pg/care/care1.htm#essentials

You have three immediate short term problems.

1) overfeeding. Most new fish owners do it. Some experienced fish owners
do
it. ;-) REALLY for the next week or two, one meal every other day.
What
they can eat in 5 minutes.

2) Getting the tank to cycle. Figure a month, lots of patience and water
changes. If you can find BioSpira ($$$) in your area it _may_ help.
(Don't
bother with the various other cycle-type products, the consensus here is
they
don't help). The dechlorinator "Amquel" makes the ammonia phase of the
cycle
easier, but can mess up the results of some cheaper ammonia test kits.
(Opps, just saw the UK in the address... probably forget the BioSpira
and the
US web sites for online ordering... :-( )


In the near term future you will probably want to buy ammonia, nitrite
and
nitrate test kits. They will probably be cheaper if bought on line at
someplace like www.thatfishplace.com or www.bigalsonline.com. (You'll
probably want the ammonia test within a couple of days, the nitrite and
nitrate tests can wait a week or so...)

3) The fish with the sores. See below.


Not directly related to the three problems, but in the natural way of
things...

If it were me, my next trip to the local fish store (LFS) would be to
pick up
a filter, an air pump and the tubing (and valves if necessary) for two
air
stones or an air/bubble curtain for the tank. Again, much cheaper if
bought
online.

For your tank, _my_ choice of filter would be a Penguin Bio Wheel 330.
($20.50
at thatfishplace, probably $45-50 at the LFS). The exact filter really
doesn't matter too much, but you want roughly 10x the tank size flow
rate for
goldfish (330 = 330 gallons per hour).

My choice of air pump would be a Rena 200 (a bit more money, but quieter
than
other brands). I'll let others comment on air stones, I use flexible
bubble
walls.

Also, for new/ailing fish, you may want to add some aquarium salt to the
tank.
1 tablespoon per 5 gallons (not salt-water aquarium mix, not table salt,
but
aquarium salt).

> The large goldfish has a white sore, just above its mouth and below
> the eyes. What can be done for this guy?

I'll leave that one to the experts. But if you have a spare, clean (no
soap in
it ever) 5 gallon bucket or better yet 18 or 30 gallon rubber made tub,
you
might consider separating that fish from the others...

I'm sure others will chime in with more... Keep emailing us with
status!!!

-Donald
--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright

[Geezer From The Freezer]

Your tank is roughly 33 gallons, so should be fine. Get some bio-spira instead
of
using gravel from existing aquarium (don't want to transfer any nasties).

Get a filter. You want the filter to pump your tanks capacity x at least 4 (more
if
you can afford it) per hour. Get an air pump and stone to oxygenate the water.

Get ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH test kits.
Ammonia and Nitrite should be 0 (you will see this elavate during the cycle)
Nitrates should be less than 40
PH 7-8.5

Perform water changes every week, about 25-40%

Get some aquarium salt and add a 0.3% solution (slowly and disolved - add 1/3
every 12 hours).
0.3% = roughly a level tablespoon per gallon. This will deal with the white
marking on the
face (most likely a fungus).

Thats my $0.02

[Jim Bradford]

Thanks for all the help.

My wife brought home a filter last night, which was needed as the water was
starting to cloud. It looks better this morning, however I have water
sitting in a new bucket that should be ready for tonight. I'll do a 25%
change per day for the next few days.

I had no say in the filter choice, it's an in tank, carbon type (and the
spec seems upto the volume requirements), it also has a built in airiation
outlet which I set at its lowest setting as the fish seemed not to like a
big flow of bubbles. I eventually mounted it behind an artificial plant in
the corner. The plant seems to diffuse the flow from the outlet, and the
fish seem more at ease with it positioned there.

I'll check out the online stores today.

Jim

[[email protected]]

a filter in the tank is taking up space, it will not be aerated properly. buy online
at that pet place or ??? as the prices are cheaper. look for a whisper #3 at least,
easier to clean. in tank difficult to clean.
get Kmart wave castle double outllet air pump and two big air stones, one at either
end of tank. good aeration essential for GF.
Ingrid

"Jim Bradford" > wrote:

>Thanks for all the help.
>
>My wife brought home a filter last night, which was needed as the water was
>starting to cloud. It looks better this morning, however I have water
>sitting in a new bucket that should be ready for tonight. I'll do a 25%
>change per day for the next few days.
>
>I had no say in the filter choice, it's an in tank, carbon type (and the
>spec seems upto the volume requirements), it also has a built in airiation
>outlet which I set at its lowest setting as the fish seemed not to like a
>big flow of bubbles. I eventually mounted it behind an artificial plant in
>the corner. The plant seems to diffuse the flow from the outlet, and the
>fish seem more at ease with it positioned there.
>
>I'll check out the online stores today.
>
>Jim
>
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Cold Ethyl]

Looks like he's in the UK. Pets at home do a fluval 4 for about £30, should
be suitable while they're small.
> wrote in message
...
> a filter in the tank is taking up space, it will not be aerated properly.
buy online
> at that pet place or ??? as the prices are cheaper. look for a whisper
#3 at least,
> easier to clean. in tank difficult to clean.
> get Kmart wave castle double outllet air pump and two big air stones, one
at either
> end of tank. good aeration essential for GF.
> Ingrid
>
> "Jim Bradford" > wrote:
>
> >Thanks for all the help.
> >
> >My wife brought home a filter last night, which was needed as the water
was
> >starting to cloud. It looks better this morning, however I have water
> >sitting in a new bucket that should be ready for tonight. I'll do a 25%
> >change per day for the next few days.
> >
> >I had no say in the filter choice, it's an in tank, carbon type (and the
> >spec seems upto the volume requirements), it also has a built in
airiation
> >outlet which I set at its lowest setting as the fish seemed not to like a
> >big flow of bubbles. I eventually mounted it behind an artificial plant
in
> >the corner. The plant seems to diffuse the flow from the outlet, and the
> >fish seem more at ease with it positioned there.
> >
> >I'll check out the online stores today.
> >
> >Jim
> >
> >
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
> http://puregold.aquaria.net/
> www.drsolo.com
> Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
> compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
> endorsements or recommendations I make.