Goldfish help

katiek102010

For some reason I cannot keep fish anymore. I have had fish since I was a child. I had 2 for over 10 years and never had an issue.

We moved before Christmas and my son wanted a pet pish so we got him one. We have a 45 litre tank and we had just the one.

He started to turn black so I got ammonia tests kit. There is no ammonia in the water. We got melafix but he still died.

Since then we have bought 3 more fish for him and each one has died within about 10 days. All appeared to get lethargic and sit at the bottom of the tank and died within a matter of hours. On each occasion they were an only fish and tank was fully cleaned and cycled prior to introduction

Any idea what's going wrong

Duane Dibbley

How did you get oxygen into the tank and what did you use to dechlorinate your water?

RebelButtMunch

Wouldn't be oxygen levels, the fish can survive a good while without the pump on right?

What else is in the tank? Anything from the (sea) beach? stones/shells?

ted1

Do you treat the water, what type filter , how often are you changing water?

Are you just replacing the fish or letting the water cycle ?

Alkers

And where are you getting the fish?

katiek102010

Have just used tap water and used stress coat in it.

The pump is a fluvial pump.

After each fish died. The tank was scrubbed out and ran for a week _10 days prior to new fish being added. Nothing in tank except stones plants and ornament ( all purchases where we got the tank.

Partial water change on a weekly basis

Alkers

katiek102010 wrote:

After each fish died. The tank was scrubbed out and ran for a week _10 days prior to new fish being added. Nothing in tank except stones plants and ornament ( all purchases where we got the tank.

You mentioned the tank was cycled - how are you doing this?
You shouldn't ever scrub out the tank - did you use any cleaning agents?

ted1

Seems to be right process, but I would be weary about scrubbing the tank.

Are you filling from the mains cold water in kitchen or via the tank in the attic ?

Are the fish coming from the same shop?

Duane Dibbley

I’m curious what you used to cycle the tank if you cleaned everything

katiek102010

It was scrubbed with just water, cleaning cloths and sponges. Cleaned fully as worried in case it was something contagious causing it

It was filled with mains water from kitchen tap.

Fish are from same shop.

Tank was filled and stress coat put in. It was left run from a week to 10 days prior to fish being put in.

When fish was got it was left in bag in tank for half an hour prior to being released. Tank was checked for ammonia prior to getting fish and has no ammonia in it at all. Was very worry as first fish turned black but tests showed there was none in the water.

ted1

What’s the water temp ? Does it get any light ?


Might be time to try a different shop.


Also try testing nitrogen, chlorine etc.

You can get strips that test 6 parameters.

Alkers

katiek102010 wrote:

When fish was got it was left in bag in tank for half an hour prior to being released. Tank was checked for ammonia prior to getting fish and has no ammonia in it at all. Was very worry as first fish turned black but tests showed there was none in the water.

There was no ammonia in the tank so it couldn't cycle but once you put the fish in, only then would the tank start to cycle. Leaving the tank running for ten days does literally nothing.
You need to get a few squeezes of someone with an established tanks filter media to get yours seeded and then maybe do 10-25% water changes every day for about a month as soon as you add the fish. Once your tank is cycled you can ease off water changes to 10% a week.
There are filter kick start products available but I've never used any.

Sleepy

The filter kick start products are snake oil. Unless you can get filter squeezings from an established tank you need to do a proper cycle of the tank adding food to the empty tank every day that breaks down to release ammonia and monitor the water until you see Ammonia, then Nitrite, then Nitrates rise (at which point ammonia and nitritie should read 0). The sticky on the top of this forum covers it in far more detail.

Besides not being cycled properly, a 45 litre tank is simply *WAY* too small for a goldfish. They're pond fish that are miss-sold to the public who don't know any better and stick them in tanks that are far off the 250/300 litres that'd be needed to keep a single healthily goldfish.

Get your tank properly cycled, add a heater and look at a fighter fish or a small shoal of something like Zebra danios, White Cloud Mountain Minnows or something else better suited to a small aquarium.

Berserker

I had something similar in my first tank many years ago and it was down to me not using enough dechlorinator. I misread the label and didn't put enough into my water. Was using one of the quickstart kits also and they are utter rubbish. Ended up throwing it away, implementing a fishless cycle and haven't looked back since.

RebelButtMunch

Berserker wrote: »

I had something similar in my first tank many years ago and it was down to me not using enough dechlorinator. I misread the label and didn't put enough into my water. Was using one of the quickstart kits also and they are utter rubbish. Ended up throwing it away, implementing a fishless cycle and haven't looked back since.

Would using the water from the Attic Tank , if you had one, not solve this. I notice that the OP uses water from the mains, that would be heavily chlorinated.

Berserker

RebelButtMunch wrote: »

Would using the water from the Attic Tank , if you had one, not solve this. I notice that the OP uses water from the mains, that would be heavily chlorinated.

I'm not sure about that. One for some of the other posters on here.

recedite

The only difference with the attic tank is that it is sitting there a bit longer, so some of the chlorine might evaporate as gas. In general its the same water. If the water is coming from new copper pipes or from the immersion cylinder there may be copper in it, which is toxic to goldfish.
Maybe try collecting rainwater next time?
Otherwise, is there any toxic ornament or object in the aquarium?

Nick Park

The OP is dosing the water with Stress Coat, which should remove chlorine and chloramine. This works better if you dose the water in the bucket before adding to the tank.

Water temperature could be an issue. The water added to the tank should be a reasonably similar temperature to what is already in there. Rapid changes in water temperature stress fish.

The tank is certainly far too small for a goldfish, but, while keeping a goldfish in a tiny tank is cruel, it wouldn't kill them quickly.

A fishless tank with Stress Coat added is certainly not cycled. That would seem to be the most likely problem here.

katiek102010

Hi we have discovered the issue. It's the filter that's not working properly

I have a new filter on it since the weekend and we are planning on running it for at least a month prior to trying new fish

Alkers

katiek102010 wrote: »

Hi we have discovered the issue. It's the filter that's not working properly

I have a new filter on it since the weekend and we are planning on running it for at least a month prior to trying new fish

You're just wasting a month in that case, you need something to seed your new filter

XsApollo

What’s the point in running it for a month?
That’s overkill, a marine tank might cycle a month.
I would say you don’t you need to run it at all after the water is treated.
Although I have never kept goldfish.

Have you tested the water after the fish died?
Your probably getting nitrite , ammonia spike after introducing the fish.
Cycle the tank properly or add something to cycle it before adding fish.

If you are cycling with fish then,
Test the water daily and if you are getting high readings then water change daily or bi daily to keep them low.
Also feed little once a day until the cycle is done.

katiek102010

I'm running it for that time to make sure the filter is work g correctly, and it's not something else.

I'm going to test the water regularly over the next few days and see.

Just a worrier

XsApollo

Well if your gonna run it that long , add some food to the tank then test your levels after a few days,
Add a bit more food if they are low and do so until you get a reading for Ammonia and Nitrite.
You need ammonia and nitrite to get the cycle going.
Basically you want to do that until you get readings for nitrate.
When you have nitrate readings your ammonia and nitrite levels should drop, then do water changes until your nitrate readings are low.

Then you should add the fish as you have the bacteria levels to keep ammonia, nitrite down.

If you see any spikes of either of those after adding the fish then water change until they are 0 again.

whodafunk

Pick up some Easy Life Fluid Filter Medium for prepping your tank and for future water changed

Duane Dibbley

katiek102010 wrote: »

I'm running it for that time to make sure the filter is work g correctly, and it's not something else.

I'm going to test the water regularly over the next few days and see.

Just a worrier

What are you adding to the aquarium to produce ammonia to cycle the tank

Berserker

katiek102010 wrote: »

I'm running it for that time to make sure the filter is work g correctly, and it's not something else.

I'm going to test the water regularly over the next few days and see.

Just a worrier

What tests are you running?