Newbie needs help with goldfish. All of them died in 2 days. :(

Definately a chlorine and chloramine problem.... There also might have been
way too much dust in the tank/filter and the dust got into their gills.

Did the person from whom you got the tank from have any problems with their
fish (disease, parasites etc.) If the tank was still wet the parasites could
have stayed
wrote in message ...

Hi, I am a newbie to fish and I desperately need some help.

I have a 100 gallon tank with 2 types of pump filters, one that gives
white powers stuff, and one that contains black carbon filter. I got
these from a friend and he helped me setup everything. He use to do
this a lot but has no room for it anymore. He use to have salt water
fish but said frehwater goldfish is the easieste...

We put water in and connected everything. Put new filter/carbon into
both filters, also installed those bubble thing at the bottom that
helps oxygen. I got so excited, I decided to buy some fish. So I got
about 10 small goldfishes and put it in the tank. (actually we put the
plastic bag that contains the fish/water into the tank and let it sat
for about half an hour. He said it helps the fish to adjust to the new
water temp.

Then we opened the bag and put the fish in. everything looked good. I
even put a bit of fish food into the tank. The fish is a little shy
but one of them came up and ate some of it. but after a day or so, the
fish begin to look not so good, and today all of them have died. They
are definitely not short of food, as there are still some food
particles at the top of the water. (actually i wasn't home yesterday
so they could've died yesterday. i don't know.

I am puzzled, what could it be? Here are some of the things I can
think of.

1. water temperature is too cold.

It has been pretty cold here in the past few days. I don't know what
the water temperature is, but it is slightly cold to the tough (but
definitely not freezing). I'd estimate it to be about ~45-50f. The
water is from the tap. I am in the bay area, the water here is
slightly hard, but reasonable.

2. Dust/dirt from old equipment. Although the water looks very clean.

3. Do I need to keep the lamp on 24 hours a day? Does the fish
care/mind if the lamp is off at night?

The thing is, about an hour after I put the fish in, my friend said
some of them doesn't look too good, about 4 all sit at the bottom
resting... a few of them was still swimming around.

I am going to ask my friend about it tomorrow, but I feel bad because
all of them has died for some reason...

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Raymond

Starfish wrote:

Definately a chlorine and chloramine problem.... There also might have
been way too much dust in the tank/filter and the dust got into their
gills.

Also did they use any chemicals or soap in scrubbing out the tanks?

I wouldn't expect deaths from cycle issues in the first two days,
especially with 10 fish in 100 gallons...

-D
--
"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem,
see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable
words." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In rec.aquaria.freshwater.goldfish Starfish wrote:

Definately a chlorine and chloramine problem.... There also might have been
way too much dust in the tank/filter and the dust got into their gills.

Did the person from whom you got the tank from have any problems with their
fish (disease, parasites etc.) If the tank was still wet the parasites could
have stayed

If the water has too much chlorine, what do I do? How do I get rid of
the extra chemical?

The person that I got the tank from, he specifically said do not use
any kind of washing detergants like soap, etc. so we just used clean
water. Come to think of it, the sponge I used to wipe the inside of
the tank is not new and might have contained chemicals.

The tank is completely dry and has been unused for a few years. We
cleaned the inside of the tank lightly with a sponge, but we didn't
wash the inside. He had some small rocks alone with some decorative
stuff in the tank that we kept. Now the tank has about 0.5-1 inch of a
layer of small rocks at bottom.

I have a slightly different problem now. The fish might have been
sitting in the tank for about a day after they died. I've removed them
now, but the tank now has a smell. I opened all the windows and it
helped, but I think the water has a slight smell to it. Subtle, but I
can smell it.

I've left both cannister filter running, one is a dust/particle filter
and one is a carbon filter. Would that eventually get rid of the
smell? I will change water but probably can't get to it until this
weekend.

So this is what I gathered I should do:

1. change the water completely.
2. let the system run for about a week with the clean water, the water
would've reached room temp which is about 60+.
3. introduce GF to the tank and hope for the best.

I will get a test kit for testing the level of the water. Someone have
also said I should add some salt to the water?

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Raymond