Goldfish and Fantail sitting on bottom not feeding - HELP

A little history
I have a 36x12x15 fish tank with a fluval 2+ filter and air stone, which
had 3 large goldfish and a fantail in (all 4 years old)

1 of the large goldfish unfortunatly died shortly after moving house - I
found that the power had gone off and the airstone had stopped working
- it died during the night

All was well for a while..

Now I recently purchased 3 more young fantails (grey colour) and added
them to the tank
I seem to be having problems since

One of the goldfish developed 3 white "spots" on its mouth and seemed
less energetic than normal
I assumed this was a mouth fungus so I put some fungus treatment into
the water

Then the 2 large goldfish and fantail started just sitting on the bottom
They have been like this now for a week - they hardly move, just lay on
the bottom and very rarely eat
I just soaked some food in water for a while and dropped it in and
they've completely ignored it

A few days after they stopped moving around one of the new fantails was
found dead - unsure why but its been removed from the tank

The 2 other NEW fantails seemed fine swimming around happily and they
still feed although one does seem to have some red patches on its tails..

Im at a loss as to what to try - I noticed their poo has had a white
stringy bit too it and has been floating around - I cleaned most of it
out but it didnt help

I also removed 60% of the water from the tanks and replaced with fresh
and that still hasnt helped

Ive been treating them with swim bladder treatment fluid every 48 hours
for 3 days and still no change

The large fantail and the 2 large goldfish are all huddled around the
filter on the bottom 24 hours a day now and its really worrying me

Sorry for the long post - Any help would be very much appreciated

- Phil

Phil,

Take those fisheez to the glue factory, they are done for!

Stop drinking from your tank also, that helps.

Finally, buy a dog, much less hassle and equally as expensive.

Flame OFF

disco wrote:
Phil,

Take those fisheez to the glue factory, they are done for!

Stop drinking from your tank also, that helps.

Finally, buy a dog, much less hassle and equally as expensive.

Flame OFF


Cheers your mum said the same thing to me last night!

You have high Nitrite or Ammonia in the tank, from over feeding or some
other reasons. 60% water change don't do it, if it's high. Change the water
completely or few water changes, 3/4, 1/2,1/2, than 1/4 water changes, same
day. Check your water quality at petstore, free, or buy a kit. It's much
better if you learn how.
High Ammonia or Nitrite will kill your fish within a day, also stresses it
out, that's why they get diseases.
Can you picture it, if I lock you in a room, for months, nothing comes out,
only food goes in.
Your waist, breath, CO2 just accumulate in there. Wouldn't you get stressed
out after a while?

Julius

"Fuzzy Orange" wrote in message
...
A little history
I have a 36x12x15 fish tank with a fluval 2+ filter and air stone, which
had 3 large goldfish and a fantail in (all 4 years old)

1 of the large goldfish unfortunatly died shortly after moving house - I
found that the power had gone off and the airstone had stopped working
- it died during the night

All was well for a while..

Now I recently purchased 3 more young fantails (grey colour) and added
them to the tank
I seem to be having problems since

One of the goldfish developed 3 white "spots" on its mouth and seemed
less energetic than normal
I assumed this was a mouth fungus so I put some fungus treatment into
the water

Then the 2 large goldfish and fantail started just sitting on the bottom
They have been like this now for a week - they hardly move, just lay on
the bottom and very rarely eat
I just soaked some food in water for a while and dropped it in and
they've completely ignored it

A few days after they stopped moving around one of the new fantails was
found dead - unsure why but its been removed from the tank

The 2 other NEW fantails seemed fine swimming around happily and they
still feed although one does seem to have some red patches on its tails..

Im at a loss as to what to try - I noticed their poo has had a white
stringy bit too it and has been floating around - I cleaned most of it
out but it didnt help

I also removed 60% of the water from the tanks and replaced with fresh
and that still hasnt helped

Ive been treating them with swim bladder treatment fluid every 48 hours
for 3 days and still no change

The large fantail and the 2 large goldfish are all huddled around the
filter on the bottom 24 hours a day now and its really worrying me

Sorry for the long post - Any help would be very much appreciated

- Phil

Szaki wrote:
You have high Nitrite or Ammonia in the tank, from over feeding or some
other reasons. 60% water change don't do it, if it's high. Change the water
completely or few water changes, 3/4, 1/2,1/2, than 1/4 water changes, same
day. Check your water quality at petstore, free, or buy a kit. It's much
better if you learn how.
High Ammonia or Nitrite will kill your fish within a day, also stresses it
out, that's why they get diseases.
Can you picture it, if I lock you in a room, for months, nothing comes out,
only food goes in.
Your waist, breath, CO2 just accumulate in there. Wouldn't you get stressed
out after a while?

Julius

If you say I have high nitrite or ammonia and these will kill my fish
within a day then why have they been sat at the bottom but very much
alive for over a week

The water was completely fresh 3 weeks ago when I moved into my new house

"Fuzzy Orange" wrote in message
...
Szaki wrote:
You have high Nitrite or Ammonia in the tank, from over feeding or some
other reasons. 60% water change don't do it, if it's high. Change the
water
completely or few water changes, 3/4, 1/2,1/2, than 1/4 water changes,
same
day. Check your water quality at petstore, free, or buy a kit. It's much
better if you learn how.
High Ammonia or Nitrite will kill your fish within a day, also stresses
it
out, that's why they get diseases.
Can you picture it, if I lock you in a room, for months, nothing comes
out,
only food goes in.
Your waist, breath, CO2 just accumulate in there. Wouldn't you get
stressed
out after a while?

Julius

If you say I have high nitrite or ammonia and these will kill my fish
within a day then why have they been sat at the bottom but very much
alive for over a week

The water was completely fresh 3 weeks ago when I moved into my new house

Have you checked the water quality?
Guppies are very sensitive, for example. Once I had very high nitrite in my
tank, also had some ammonia. Bought a few guppies, by the next morning they
were dead. Than, I begin investigating what happened by testing the water.
Ammonia can rise very fast, mostly in new tanks. 3 weeks is a long time and
if the fish is all ready sick, you have to treat them with medication.
You have to keep your Nitrite under 40pm and try to keep it around 20 ppm.
Ammonia should be 0 ppm.
In 3 weeks, if you over feed the fish, can go to 100 ppm, means have to
change all the water out.

Julius

Szaki wrote:
Have you checked the water quality?
Guppies are very sensitive, for example. Once I had very high nitrite in my
tank, also had some ammonia. Bought a few guppies, by the next morning they
were dead. Than, I begin investigating what happened by testing the water.
Ammonia can rise very fast, mostly in new tanks. 3 weeks is a long time and
if the fish is all ready sick, you have to treat them with medication.
You have to keep your Nitrite under 40pm and try to keep it around 20 ppm.
Ammonia should be 0 ppm.
In 3 weeks, if you over feed the fish, can go to 100 ppm, means have to
change all the water out.

Julius




Thanks I will do a FULL water change tonight and get a testing kit
tomorrow to check the new water is ok

- Phil

In message , Fuzzy Orange
writes
Szaki wrote:
You have high Nitrite or Ammonia in the tank, from over feeding or some
other reasons. 60% water change don't do it, if it's high. Change the water
completely or few water changes, 3/4, 1/2,1/2, than 1/4 water changes, same
day. Check your water quality at petstore, free, or buy a kit. It's much
better if you learn how.
High Ammonia or Nitrite will kill your fish within a day, also stresses it
out, that's why they get diseases.
Can you picture it, if I lock you in a room, for months, nothing comes out,
only food goes in.
Your waist, breath, CO2 just accumulate in there. Wouldn't you get stressed
out after a while?
Julius

If you say I have high nitrite or ammonia and these will kill my fish
within a day then why have they been sat at the bottom but very much
alive for over a week

because the build-up is gradual...

The water was completely fresh 3 weeks ago when I moved into my new house

If none has been changed for three weeks after moving house this might
be your problem; also if you added three new fish you've doubled the
bio-load on an already overstretched system (your stocking levels are a
fair bit higher than recommended) and the filter isn't coping with the
extra waste. Did you notice vaguely cloudy white water at any point?

Basically, your water has been getting slowly more toxic over the last
three weeks. You should probably do fifty percent water changes daily
(and do use something to get rid of the chlorine) for a while and then
keep a close eye on your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels. If you do
intend to keep all those fish in that tank (which no-one here will
recommend, btw!) you're going to have to be absolutely religious about
water changes and you will need to under- rather than over-feed.

The white spots could be Ich, I'm not sure - you'd need someone who
knows more about stuff than me to deal with that one...
--
sophie

Fuzzy Orange wrote in message ...
If you say I have high nitrite or ammonia and these will kill my fish
within a day then why have they been sat at the bottom but very much
alive for over a week

The water was completely fresh 3 weeks ago when I moved into my new house


3 weeks ago?! It definately needs changing. Your fish are at teh
bottom because they can't breathe. Get an ammonia and nitrite testing
kit, and start doing water changes at least once a day until your tank
gets better.

PetsMart sells or can be bought on line, water testing kits. One I like, has
5 small pads on it, (Quick Dip 5-N-1 Test Strips) Made by Jungle, testing 5
different conditions, including Nitrites. You don't have to be rocket
scientist, just match the colors. Cost about $12, mine lasted all most 2
years, depends how frequently do the test.

Julius

"Fuzzy Orange" wrote in message
...
Szaki wrote:
Have you checked the water quality?
Guppies are very sensitive, for example. Once I had very high nitrite in
my
tank, also had some ammonia. Bought a few guppies, by the next morning
they
were dead. Than, I begin investigating what happened by testing the
water.
Ammonia can rise very fast, mostly in new tanks. 3 weeks is a long time
and
if the fish is all ready sick, you have to treat them with medication.
You have to keep your Nitrite under 40pm and try to keep it around 20
ppm.
Ammonia should be 0 ppm.
In 3 weeks, if you over feed the fish, can go to 100 ppm, means have to
change all the water out.

Julius




Thanks I will do a FULL water change tonight and get a testing kit
tomorrow to check the new water is ok

- Phil