Goldfish and Fantail sitting on bottom not feeding - HELP

"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

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

Szaki wrote:
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.

Bit more expensive in the UK

But theres a local pet place that does free water testing
Took some today and the guy said that the ammonia was ok -slightly above 0

But said the nitrate or nitrite was too high
came up mid way on his scale instead of 0

He told me not to change the water because that would make it worse??
Just told me to leave it for a week and then change 20% of water and to
hoover all the old food and fish poo from the stones...!

Does that sound at all right?

In message , Fuzzy Orange
writes
Szaki wrote:
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.

Bit more expensive in the UK

But theres a local pet place that does free water testing
Took some today and the guy said that the ammonia was ok -slightly above 0

But said the nitrate or nitrite was too high
came up mid way on his scale instead of 0

He told me not to change the water because that would make it worse??

if I were a cynic, I'd say he was hoping you'd be back in a week to
replace your dead fish.
He has a point in that if the tank is cycling, removing part of the
water will slow down the cycle. Marginally, I believe, but I'm willing
to be corrected ;-)
HOWEVER if your fish are suffering you should do regular, large water
changes. The tank _will_ cycle anyway, and you will probably save your
fishes lives.
You are going to need to do frequent water changes as a matter of
routine even once the tank has cycled, and you should certainly be
vacuuming the bottom regularly (if you have gravel you have to make sure
to work the bottom of the widget all the way down to the base of the
tank); otherwise you might as well not bother changing the water.

With your fish-load I think you'd need to change near to 50% of the
water weekly to be sure. Don't take me for an expert, I'm not; but I did
have to find out a lot about tank hygiene in a hurry earlier in the
year.

best of luck,
--
sophie

"sophie" wrote in message
news
In message , Fuzzy Orange
writes
Szaki wrote:
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.

Bit more expensive in the UK

But theres a local pet place that does free water testing
Took some today and the guy said that the ammonia was ok -slightly above
0

But said the nitrate or nitrite was too high
came up mid way on his scale instead of 0

He told me not to change the water because that would make it worse??

if I were a cynic, I'd say he was hoping you'd be back in a week to
replace your dead fish.
He has a point in that if the tank is cycling, removing part of the
water will slow down the cycle. Marginally, I believe, but I'm willing
to be corrected ;-)
HOWEVER if your fish are suffering you should do regular, large water
changes. The tank _will_ cycle anyway, and you will probably save your
fishes lives.
You are going to need to do frequent water changes as a matter of
routine even once the tank has cycled, and you should certainly be
vacuuming the bottom regularly (if you have gravel you have to make sure
to work the bottom of the widget all the way down to the base of the
tank); otherwise you might as well not bother changing the water.

With your fish-load I think you'd need to change near to 50% of the
water weekly to be sure. Don't take me for an expert, I'm not; but I did
have to find out a lot about tank hygiene in a hurry earlier in the
year.

best of luck,
--
sophie

I believe water in the UK has high Nitrates right out of the tap, something
like 60 PPM, so water changes may not help much.

Bill Stock wrote:


I believe water in the UK has high Nitrates right out of the tap, something
like 60 PPM, so water changes may not help much.

Not in my water it doesn't!!

What was the exact Nitrite reading, in PPM? Did he tell you?
You see, that's why I do my own test and learned about ammonia cycle, 'cause
fish stores like PetsMart and like hire all these kids, don't know crap,
they just sales man.
Every time I walk into these places, different person runs around in the
fish section, they come and go in the job.
When you change your water do a test, what is the PH reading?, What is the
Nitrite reading? I learned by testing, that a half tank water change didn't
reduce high Nitrite or if it did a bit, in a few days it was back high
again, because the gravel and filter also can hold fish waist or left over
food, converts over ammonia, nitrate and nitrite in short time.
When I found out my Nitrite was 70-80 PPM, I had to do 3/4 water change,
than 2x 50%, than one 1/4 tank water change and I had acceptable 20-30 ppm
Nitrite in my water. Than I found out, my city, tap water all ready has
about 15 ppm Nitrite in it to start with. So you should check that also.
5-6 fish can cost $15-$20 and they can be dead in a few days if the water is
not right. You could've invest that money into a water testing kit, last a
few years and have healthy fish and minimum loose.
Read this web sites about Nitrite poisoning!

http://www.angelfire.com/blues/fish_...POISONING.html
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/di...ritepoison.htm

Julius

"Fuzzy Orange" wrote in message
...
Szaki wrote:
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.

Bit more expensive in the UK

But theres a local pet place that does free water testing
Took some today and the guy said that the ammonia was ok -slightly above 0


But said the nitrate or nitrite was too high
came up mid way on his scale instead of 0

He told me not to change the water because that would make it worse??
Just told me to leave it for a week and then change 20% of water and to
hoover all the old food and fish poo from the stones...!

Does that sound at all right?