In message .com,
ballpark402 writes
Hi Everyone,

About 3 months ago I purchased my first two gold fish. I got 2
fantail's from Meijer. I actually picked both of them out so I got the
2 that looked the healthiest. I had them in a bowl for about 2 weeks.
I actually started learning as much as I could about them and found out
this was wrong. Now they live in a 10gal aquarium. There is about an
inch of gravel at the bottom, a Whisper 10 (90gph) filter. I also have
a small airstone. My big fish is about 1.5" long and the smaller one
is close to an inch. (the tank is big enough for the time being). I
use the gravel vaccum almost daily to suck up old poop. The water temp
is about 68 degrees.

I am having a few problems that I am not sure if I should be concerned
about.

1. The tips of the fins are white. Its always been that way but it
covers about 2mm of the fin. Is this something to worry about? If so
how can I fix it?

2. The smaller fish has some kind of poop problem. It always has long
poop. I have changed the food, I have even starved them for 3 days
then fed them peas and it poops long peas. I started feeding them
smaller amounts more times a day but I think he got hungry and ate all
the poop cause this morning he must have had a 4" long poop atached.
Any suggestions?

3. My water is always slightly foggy. I do at least 10% water changes
daily and even change more than that once a week or so. Is my
filtration not good enough? What would be the best addition? An under
gravel filter or a second hanging filter?

I don't rate carbon in a filter except if there is something specific
you want to get out of your water (eg, meds).

are you using either aged or treated water to top your tank up? If so,
the fogginess shouldn't be due to the tank still cycling if you have had
it up and running for three months. It could be a few things; possibly
if you're changing water every day it could even be due to small
particles from the gravel being permanently suspended in the tank water
- if you're overfeeding, there will be a fair amount of gack in the
gravel. You only need to feed a small amount once daily - a goldfish's
stomach is about the same size as its eye. feed once daily enough to
fill that up! - if flakes, two or three flakes each, if they're small
fish. That's all. don't believe them if they still act hungry!

White tips to the fins. Have they always been like that? If yes,
probably not a problem. If the tips are opaque and thickened then you
have a problem which you need to address - scrupulous water hygiene
usually helps.

You will need a bigger tank in time. In the meantime, as long as your
ammonia and nitrites are zero and the nitrates aren't too high, you need
to change out about a third of your water once a week and vacuum the
gravel thoroughly when you do it. There's no need for daily water
changes once your tank is established.

hope this helps.
--
sophie