"scott" wrote in message
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On 4 Apr, 07:19, "swarvegorilla" wrote:
Lack of oxygen or even ammonia in the water will often get your fish
gasping
near the surface.
Myself I would hazzard a guess that your water contains too much nitrite.
This enters the fish and poisons it.
I imagine the tank is about due for a nitrite spike.
Please google the phrase 'new tank syndrome' to see what your dealing
with
here.

"scott" wrote in message

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Hi,

My girlfriend is new to keeping fish and has recently brought a 35
litre tank. She set it all up except the fish and one week later
added 2 goldfish, maybe 1.5 inches in length. Then one week later
still she added the final two fish which are about 1inch. So she
thinks she has done everything correct.

The only thing she is not sure is right with the fish is that their
mouth constantly gulp. This is underwater and not at the surface.

They all swim around and look for food near the bottom (she uses
sinkng food) and in the evenings they seem to get more active and swim
around mind tank and also near the surface sometimes. They seem
pretty active.

Their mouths open and shut all the time. From memory she doesnt think
her friends fish mouths move so much and I have no idea myself.

The ones in the shop dont but then they are pumping oxygen into the
water all the time, whereas my girfriend just has about 4 plants and a
pump to move the water around (plus the filter etc).

So is is normal for the fishes mouth to move this much.

Sorry if this is a really stupid question.

Regards,
Scott- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Hi,

The 'new tank syndrome' was a real helper. One question though.
Should I refrain from cleaning the sponge filter (in the tank water I
have removed while water changing) while the tank is cycling. Is it
best to just leave it alone. Same for gravel. Seems like everything
should be left alone except doing lots of water changes (and maybe
adding something to bring down the ammonia/nitrite levels if thats
possible, ie another chemical??)

TIA
Scott


DO you know someone with a setup aquarium?
If you do and there tank is healthy try and grab some filter material from
their filter (sponge etc) and attach it too your filter (slot it in or
elastic band it to it)
This act of 'seeding' a tank with bacteria from another tank is by far the
quickest way to cycle a tank.
I try grab a bit of water, bit of gravle (or sand) and a bit of filter gunk.
That way ya get 3 types of organism to process your fish waste.

This first month is as hard as fishkeeping usually gets.
make it thru the cycle and its alll easy!