Restless Goldfish

[Nick Malyon]

Hi,

I have a goldfish with bad fin rot - ragged tips and quit a large split
between his tail. He also has a white 'dusty' looking coating.

He is in a tank with two others, both with the same conditions. The tank
was kept by a relative who had been using an automatic fish feeder (and
had suddenly become unable to care for them) unfortunately the feeder
seems to have fed them far too much as the water was very brown with old
flake food.

We also had one fatality. I probably, being new to fish keeping, acted
a bit too quickly in cleaning out the tank totally. Any activity in the
gravel has gone, and I've caused a huge change in nitrate.

I now have 3 sick fish in a pretty much brand new setup (original
equipment cleaned, water was treated). Undergravel filter (airstone)
and a bubble wand. The tank holds 20 liters and the pump is a Rena Air
100, 120l/h and is rated for a 30-90l tank.

Having seen their behavior before and on their owners advice, I can say
that the fish in question is acting pretty abnormally - while the other
two rest he is almost constantly swimming / darting, making sharp turns,
sometimes swimming in circles. However he rarely rubs against anything
to 'scratch'. He will come to the top as if looking for food, but
doesn't seem to be gasping for air or breaking the surface. I also
can't see anything visibly parasitic. The tank was originally full of
snails of all sizes.

There are few places to hide in the tank as I have had to remove all plants.

I have added (Sunday 21st - when the tank was totally cleaned)
"Interpret Gold Disease Safe" which is a general tonic to treat a range
of problems, however only Monday did I notice his erratic behavior.

Apologies for my written style here, I'm just trying to give as much
information as possible...

Does anyone have an explanation for this unusual behavior?
Also, what can I do to combat the fin rot and 'dusty' coating?

Thanks so much for your help!
- Nick

[Geezer From The Freezer]

20 litres is far far far to small. 3 goldfish require minimum 100 litres.
Thats your problem.

How did you 'clean' the tank?
Are you dechlorinating the tap water when you change the water. The darting
could be caused by high levels of ammonia, nitrite or nitrates or PH levels -
test these
The white dusty coating could be Ich or velvet, but is most likely caused by
the fishs weak immune system (caused by bad water due to overstocking).

[Nick Malyon]

Hi Geezer,

Geezer From The Freezer wrote:
> 20 litres is far far far to small. 3 goldfish require minimum 100 litres.
> Thats your problem.

Even though they are only small, ~3"?

> How did you 'clean' the tank?
> Are you dechlorinating the tap water when you change the water. The darting
> could be caused by high levels of ammonia, nitrite or nitrates or PH levels -
> test these

I cleaned by emptying the tank, scrubbing it and rinsing and sieving the
gravel. To clean I used only tap water, no cleaning products.

I've been dechlorinating but haven't added any quickstart.

> The white dusty coating could be Ich or velvet, but is most likely caused by
> the fishs weak immune system (caused by bad water due to overstocking).

Had a look at some velvet control though I can't see quite the yellowish
spots or behavior symptoms. The medicine I was advised to use in a
small local store is eSHA 2000 for fungus, finrot and bacteria
treatment, if it's itch, this should cure it?

After adding, they've calmed down a little though it's still hard to see
if there's much of a visual improvement.

Testing the levels, my values are:
NO3 100 mg/l
NO2 5 mg/l
GH 16 dH
KH 10 dH
pH 7.2

You're right, nitrate is sky high, and the water's a little hard, I'll
do a water change and add a zeolite cartridge into the filter and
continue testing... If I'm overstocking, there's another tank I can get
set up.

Thanks for your advice!

- Nick

[Geezer From The Freezer]

Nick Malyon wrote:
>
> Even though they are only small, ~3"?

Stocking levels are typically 3 gallons per inch of goldfish - more if you can.



> I cleaned by emptying the tank, scrubbing it and rinsing and sieving the
> gravel. To clean I used only tap water, no cleaning products.

Sounds good!!

> I've been dechlorinating but haven't added any quickstart.

Thats good too, wouldn't overly worry about quickstart

> > The white dusty coating could be Ich or velvet, but is most likely caused by
> > the fishs weak immune system (caused by bad water due to overstocking).
>
> Had a look at some velvet control though I can't see quite the yellowish
> spots or behavior symptoms. The medicine I was advised to use in a
> small local store is eSHA 2000 for fungus, finrot and bacteria
> treatment, if it's itch, this should cure it?

Your nitrite and nitrate are far far too high (listed below) - I'd get this
sorted and kept stable (water changes) before adding any medication. Your
fish may recover on their own. Medications should be a last result. You
could however add 5 teaspoons of aquarium salt (dissolve first) and see if
that assists in the healing of split fins.

> After adding, they've calmed down a little though it's still hard to see
> if there's much of a visual improvement.
>
> Testing the levels, my values are:
> NO3 100 mg/l
> NO2 5 mg/l
> GH 16 dH
> KH 10 dH
> pH 7.2
>
> You're right, nitrate is sky high, and the water's a little hard, I'll
> do a water change and add a zeolite cartridge into the filter and
> continue testing... If I'm overstocking, there's another tank I can get
> set up.

Your right nitrate and nitrite are far too high. Get them down with water
changes.
PH is fine. Hard water should be ok.