lethargic goldfish - new tank....

Hello,

We've just purchased 8 goldfish and put them in a 50 Litre tank. The
tank had been filled for about 2 months, and there are plants in there
too. We have a filter that ran for about an hour before the fish were
put in the tank.

We also used "water ager tap water conditioner" before we put the fish
in.

7 of the 8 fish seem very happy - they swim around a lot and rush to
the the top when we feed them. The 8th seems to sleep a lot and move
quite slowly - although he does move occasionally. He likes to suck on
rocks and then spit them out as well.

I am worried that he is sick - we've only had him a few days but I am
still very worried.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

EA

"EA" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

We've just purchased 8 goldfish and put them in a 50 Litre tank. The
tank had been filled for about 2 months, and there are plants in there
too. We have a filter that ran for about an hour before the fish were
put in the tank.

We also used "water ager tap water conditioner" before we put the fish
in.

7 of the 8 fish seem very happy - they swim around a lot and rush to
the the top when we feed them. The 8th seems to sleep a lot and move
quite slowly - although he does move occasionally. He likes to suck on
rocks and then spit them out as well.

I am worried that he is sick - we've only had him a few days but I am
still very worried.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
============================
I'm not familiar with the metric system but do know each goldfish needs at
least the equivalent of 10 gallons of water to remain healthy. Goldfish eat
a lot and are not small fish. They grow rapidly when healthy. What you buy
are youngsters. Have you been doing your weekly partial water changes?
Make sure you dechlorinate or de-chloramine the water before adding it to
your tank. The temperature of the new water should be almost the same as
what's in the tank. Feed them a variety of food and feed them at least
twice a day. They're browsers and grazers, not gorgers. You can Google
goldfish+care and come up with more information than you ever wanted to know
about them.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Far too many fish, far too quickly and far too small a tank!!!
Your filter is brand new.... not good mate.
unless you fed the tank fish food for the 2 months before the fish went
in.... then there will be very very very few waste processing bacteria in
the tank.
Not good now they have to take care of 8 fishes poo!!

The fish that looks bad/sick....
he's your canary
the rest of the fish will follow quickly

you have set yourself up a nightmare.....
to solve it
1) feed very lightly
2) partial water change every 1 0r 2 days (remove prob 50% of water)
3) don't clean filter until flow slows (and then only squeeze out in a
bucket of aquarium water)

I am glad I am not in your shoes anyway!
Research 'new tank syndrome'
and prepare for ammonia/nitrite hell

In 3 weeks time
if all goes well
you'll be able to change to 1/3 partial water changes every week
but until that ammonia/nitrite drops......
gotta dilute to save ya fishys!
gasping and sitting on bottem are bad bad signs!





"EA" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

We've just purchased 8 goldfish and put them in a 50 Litre tank. The
tank had been filled for about 2 months, and there are plants in there
too. We have a filter that ran for about an hour before the fish were
put in the tank.

We also used "water ager tap water conditioner" before we put the fish
in.

7 of the 8 fish seem very happy - they swim around a lot and rush to
the the top when we feed them. The 8th seems to sleep a lot and move
quite slowly - although he does move occasionally. He likes to suck on
rocks and then spit them out as well.

I am worried that he is sick - we've only had him a few days but I am
still very worried.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

EA

Thanks a lot for the info, I thought I'd done my research - but
clearly not well enough =(

I hope I can save my fish, I will be very upset if they die!

The new tank syndrome sound pretty much like what we've got. We spoke
to our pet store and they didn't warn us about any of this, and told
us to test the ph levels & add more oxygen.

Anyway, thanks again

"EA" wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks a lot for the info, I thought I'd done my research - but
clearly not well enough =(

I hope I can save my fish, I will be very upset if they die!

Do any many partial water changes as necessary to keep the ammonia or
nitrites as low as possible. Perhaps you can return a few of the fish, find
them new homes or get a larger tank.

The new tank syndrome sound pretty much like what we've got. We spoke
to our pet store and they didn't warn us about any of this, and told
us to test the ph levels & add more oxygen.

Neither of which will help much with NTS (new tank syndrome).

Anyway, thanks again
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Thanks everyone =)

We bought some "cycle biological aquarium supplement" which claims to
"release massive amounts of beneficial bacteria to mature new
aquariums and control ammonia and nitrite levels". We're going to get
the ammonia/nitrite test tomorrow (from a different pet store - the
one we went to today assured us it was unnecessary).

Our sick little fellow is still hanging around the bottom of his tank,
but his friends are still healthy.

I really hope I can help him get better and keep his friends well,
thanks for all of your help!

Now that we've bought this bacteria, should we still be doing the
partial daily water changes?

Thanks!


n Apr 11, 4:30 pm, "swarvegorilla" wrote:
Far too many fish, far too quickly and far too small a tank!!!
Your filter is brand new.... not good mate.
unless you fed the tank fish food for the 2 months before the fish went
in.... then there will be very very very few waste processing bacteria in
the tank.
Not good now they have to take care of 8 fishes poo!!

The fish that looks bad/sick....
he's your canary
the rest of the fish will follow quickly

you have set yourself up a nightmare.....
to solve it
1) feed very lightly
2) partial water change every 1 0r 2 days (remove prob 50% of water)
3) don't clean filter until flow slows (and then only squeeze out in a
bucket of aquarium water)

I am glad I am not in your shoes anyway!
Research 'new tank syndrome'
and prepare for ammonia/nitrite hell

In 3 weeks time
if all goes well
you'll be able to change to 1/3 partial water changes every week
but until that ammonia/nitrite drops......
gotta dilute to save ya fishys!
gasping and sitting on bottem are bad bad signs!

"EA" wrote in message

oups.com...

Hello,

We've just purchased 8 goldfish and put them in a 50 Litre tank. The
tank had been filled for about 2 months, and there are plants in there
too. We have a filter that ran for about an hour before the fish were
put in the tank.

We also used "water ager tap water conditioner" before we put the fish
in.

7 of the 8 fish seem very happy - they swim around a lot and rush to
the the top when we feed them. The 8th seems to sleep a lot and move
quite slowly - although he does move occasionally. He likes to suck on
rocks and then spit them out as well.

I am worried that he is sick - we've only had him a few days but I am
still very worried.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

EA

The bacteria you have bought is usually more gimmick than saver of the day.
If you don't want to do water changes.... then DON't feed!!
Fish should be right with a few days of not eating.
Do a nice big water change (to dilute the toxic ammonia/nitrite)
Add your bacteria in a bottle (would be much better to add a bit of sponge
from a filter thats been setup for a while)
and hope for best.

If you could take out some fish that would be good
otherwise
keep up the partial waterchanges
prob for 2 weeks or so
by doing the water changes, you are keeping the fish alive
Ammonia and nitrite do PERMANENT damage to fish
so reducing it as much as possible NOW means your fish will live longer
LATER.
I know, that the bottle of bacteria was probably expensive.
But ya gotta dilute those toxins.
Once you get a result 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrite
then you can slow the partial water changes down and slowly increase the
food fed.





"EA" wrote in message
ups.com...
Now that we've bought this bacteria, should we still be doing the
partial daily water changes?

Thanks!


n Apr 11, 4:30 pm, "swarvegorilla" wrote:
Far too many fish, far too quickly and far too small a tank!!!
Your filter is brand new.... not good mate.
unless you fed the tank fish food for the 2 months before the fish went
in.... then there will be very very very few waste processing bacteria
in
the tank.
Not good now they have to take care of 8 fishes poo!!

The fish that looks bad/sick....
he's your canary
the rest of the fish will follow quickly

you have set yourself up a nightmare.....
to solve it
1) feed very lightly
2) partial water change every 1 0r 2 days (remove prob 50% of water)
3) don't clean filter until flow slows (and then only squeeze out in a
bucket of aquarium water)

I am glad I am not in your shoes anyway!
Research 'new tank syndrome'
and prepare for ammonia/nitrite hell

In 3 weeks time
if all goes well
you'll be able to change to 1/3 partial water changes every week
but until that ammonia/nitrite drops......
gotta dilute to save ya fishys!
gasping and sitting on bottem are bad bad signs!

"EA" wrote in message

oups.com...

Hello,

We've just purchased 8 goldfish and put them in a 50 Litre tank. The
tank had been filled for about 2 months, and there are plants in there
too. We have a filter that ran for about an hour before the fish were
put in the tank.

We also used "water ager tap water conditioner" before we put the fish
in.

7 of the 8 fish seem very happy - they swim around a lot and rush to
the the top when we feed them. The 8th seems to sleep a lot and move
quite slowly - although he does move occasionally. He likes to suck on
rocks and then spit them out as well.

I am worried that he is sick - we've only had him a few days but I am
still very worried.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

EA

Firstly, thanks SO much for all your advice - if only you worked at
our local pet store! The advice that we've been given by these people
has been well intentioned but, apparently, ill informed.

To complicate matters further, we spoke to a girl at the pet shop
tonight who said that the shop "often has a tank or two out of action
for quarantine" and that we may have purchased a sick fish. GAH. Thank
goodness these people only sell supplies and not other animals too!

So, we're following your advice:

- another partial waterchange (the second since my first post) -
including gravel vacuum and clean
- more "cycle" - the bacteria stuff (other posts in this and other
groups have rated it - am keeping my fingers crossed!)
- addition of ammo-lock (there has been some debate of the merits of
this product, but most people seem to think it's okay as it makes the
ammonia less toxic, but doesnt break the cycle)
- addition of sea salt (which looks suspiciously like normal sea salt,
but the price tag and picture of a fish on the pack tries to convince
me otherwise....)
- our ammonia levels (pre water change) were at 0.25, and the nitrite
was at the same level - although this is bad news for the fish, I
think this is good news because they cycle is under way?
- quarantine of sick fish (whose condition has deteriorated - he is
moving less, and lying on his side) - in half tank water, half tap,
treated with all above additives, et cetera
- we've also lined up a new tank (approx 100L - which is 4 times the
size of the current tank) that we will get our hands on and start
"fishless cycling" soon (I may be back to get advice on that soon - if
you can tolerate any more annoying questions!)

I hope I can save all the fish, I feel horrible that they are
suffering because of my ignorance!

Thanks again for all your help, we'd have been lost (and our fish
crook) without you!

just dont let the ammonia or nitrite get above barely detectable and the nitrate over
20 ppm. Ingrid

"EA" wrote:

Now that we've bought this bacteria, should we still be doing the
partial daily water changes?


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