Bah! First of all I assume u mean a goldfish. Goldfish need a tank of 30+ gallons really, but anyway, I hope you dechlorinated your water. That might be it. gl.
Having problems keeping any fish and I don't know why!
- Thread starter stardust79
- Start date
Dylan;1782815; said:
Bottled water will contain chloride (Cl-), but should not contain any chlorine gas (Cl2) or chloramine (NH2Cl). Chlorinated tap water will contain much more than trace amounts of Cl2.
And yes, my tap water does sometimes taste like a swimming pool
Bottled "spring" water (not the distilled or RO stuff) should be safe for fish with just standing or aerating for a bit to allow the CO2 to dissipate (pH will adjust too).
Burt
I can see why you cannot successfully keep goldfish. First of all, you are placing them in a bowl. The days for bowls is over. Nowadays, we put them in large accommodations. Fancy goldfish need a bare minimum of 20g. Common goldfish such as comets and shubunkins require 30g bare minimum yet the larger the tank the better. Bear in mind goldfish excrete heavy amounts of wastes so it is expected that the water quality deteriorates rather rapidly. You need a filter and API liquid test kit to start with. Should you wish to keep goldfish again, get a 55g to start with. Large tanks have much more stable water conditions than smaller tanks and bowls.stardust79;1779657; said:I've had fish pretty much from when I was a child. I even had a goldfish that I won from a fair that lived for years in a bowl.
3 years ago I brought a fantail fish and kept it in a bowl then a few days later upgraded him to a brand new tank. He then got swimbladder after 3 days and died. Then I brought another fantail and he got whitespot after just a few days and then another fan tail got fin rot and withing 5 days they both died. I was so upset that I never wanted to get a fish again. But I do know now what caused their illness and one of them was putting them in freezing cold water when I brought them back from the pet store.
After lots of research on keeping fish I decided that I wanted to try again, knowing what I was doing this time i done everything right. I won a goldfish at a fair a week ago today and he lived in a bowl until yesterday when I transferred him to a brand new tank which I filled up with bottled water. As i pulled the bowl out i noticed he had white spot on his tail and suddenly felt doomed after what happened a few years ago. I know its not ideal for them to be in a bowl but it was only for a few days and i did partial water changes everyday. I put them treatment for whitespot in today and an hour later he seemed to have a seizure unlike anything i've ever seen and he died.
I got the water tested today and all were normal, but I don't know what they were for the bowl.
I just feel so upset and I don't understand why all the fish I get died within a week.
what would make a fish die like that so quickly, could I have perhaps put too much medicine in, or could it have been mixing both the medicine and filter start liquid together?
I want to try again in a few days with another goldfish as I really love fish and want to keep them but I am so scared as I seem to be doomed with them.
Should I completely clean the tank out before putting new fish in? my guess is I should after possible toxic shock.
Could anyone give me any advice on safely starting up a new tank and keeping the fish healthy?
Thanks in advance, and I really didn't mean to write an essay
For the filter, place filter floss and sponges in it. You can try a canister filter to start with. Do not use the carbon. Put it in your cabinet as it will do nothing for your tank. It is mainly used to remove chemicals, medicines, etc. If you have a friend you can trust, you can borrow his established filter media, albeit the sponges, and place them in your filter. You should have an established colony of beneficial bacteria to ensure your nitrogen cycle is done fast. Monitor your ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH daily with API liquid test kit. API is best recommended due to reliability and accuracy. Avoid test strips as much as possible as they are often inaccurate and unreliable.
Regarding the ammonia and nitrites, you must make sure both are zero. Their presence in the tank can eventually poison the fish. Should you detect both substances with your test kit, please do as many water changes as possible until both are again zero. You will need a dechlorinator to bind the chlorine and chloramine to harmless form. Both also prove toxic to the fish.
The next time you encounter health issues, please consult other enthusiasts before you try. Using meds on fish is just like using meds on humans. Overdosage is fatal so you should be careful with what you are doing. Always have a spare tank for quarantine or hospital purpose. A 10g is ideal for this purpose. I would advise you not to buy any meds you see other than table salt. You are likely to simply panic and start dosing meds unnecessarily. Bear in mind, most meds can also kill your beneficial bacteria thus disrupting the nitrogen cycle causing the ammonia and nitrites to rise dangerously and killing your fish.
For your future reference, ich can be treated with the heat and salt combo however you are dealing with coldwater fish. I would suggest to simply maintain the temperature at 76-78 degrees while dosing table salt at a tablespoon per 5g for two weeks. Do water changes as necessary and replace the amount of salt with the amount of water you replaced. Furthermore, table salt is cheaper than aquarium salt. Anyone talking about table salt being harmful is parroting the myth. The amount of iodine concentration is of no concern and should not have adverse effects to your fish unless you add salt more than you intend to. Study osmoregulation and osmotic shock. You will understand why adding salt on a long term basis can eventualy kill your fish hence my advice to use it only on emergency purposes.
Lastly, buy your fish in reputable stores, not your carnival fairs. They are obviously not kept in proper conditions and are severely stressed. At this stage, do not expect them to last under your care. Severe stress can permanently damage their body system causing several health issues. Before you buy the fish, again make sure your ammonia and nitrites are zero. A slight amount of both substances alone can damage your fish.
OMG!!! I didn't realise bottled water contained chlorine :S I just brought 2 new fish today and a slightly larger tank (small compared to what everyone has on here) i live in the UK so we use litres here instead of gallons. Its a 20 litre tank, i have no idea what that is in gallons! i put in bottled water again today and floated the bag for 30 minutes before I released the fish. I did put in cycling liquid which has good bacteria in it, maybe then i should add my de chlorinator to the tank? I never thought that bottled water had chlorine in it!
I think my previous fish had a seizure due to me, I now know that I put too much treatment in his tank for his ich. I'm a fish murderer
I think my previous fish had a seizure due to me, I now know that I put too much treatment in his tank for his ich. I'm a fish murderer
Thanks for the advice. I've read for hours about keeeping fish over the past few days as it's something I really want to do now. I have brought 2 new comets today from a reputable fish stockist and asked thier advice too. I have put them in a larger tank, 20 litres with an internal filter this time instead of a under gravel. I have added some filter start liquid too. Thats good to know about the table salt though, never knew that. I now have a feeling I overdosed my last fish on ich treatment, I think he seized from toxic shock. I am worried now though as I filled the new tank with bottled water not knowing it contained chlorine!
Yeah it definitely depends on what kind of bottled water it is. If it's distilled, RO purified, or spring water, it shouldn't have chlorine.. otherwise, maybe, but still not likely. Cl2 gas dissipating out of the water would probably cause the bottle to expand and become misshapen, so I doubt it. If fish could be kept in bowls before, then why can't they now?? Just because its unhealthy and its not a good idea doesn't mean it's impossible. So, although I definitely don't advocate it, fish such as goldfish and bettas can be kept in bowls. If you weren't doing maintenance on the bowls, that could have killed the fish, but provided they were small, and you weren't overfeeding, they wouldn't die, as cold water holds a lot of oxygen, and is usually enough for a single small goldfish between water changes.
Now, as far as aquariums go, the advice people are giving is valid, but some seem to be labeling you as some kind of fish killer, which, I suppose you are (haha) in a sense, but the fish you've been getting have been kinda crappy from the get-go.
Do things right, i.e. cycle your aquarium, try getting a larger tank (your tank is like 5.5 gallons, btw), or smaller fish, and get things going, and you should have success... and hopefully get deeper and deeper into the hobby like the rest of us have.... until you're in serious financial debtj/k.... but it doesn't matter because you're surrounded by fish!!!
Now, as far as aquariums go, the advice people are giving is valid, but some seem to be labeling you as some kind of fish killer, which, I suppose you are (haha) in a sense, but the fish you've been getting have been kinda crappy from the get-go.
Do things right, i.e. cycle your aquarium, try getting a larger tank (your tank is like 5.5 gallons, btw), or smaller fish, and get things going, and you should have success... and hopefully get deeper and deeper into the hobby like the rest of us have.... until you're in serious financial debt
j/k.... but it doesn't matter because you're surrounded by fish!!!
its all about the cycle....you should be just fine with tap water...but if its not cycled than it doesnt matter if your using angel purified holy water it will still kill the fish.
remember when your a new fish keeper you should follow these steps
1. Learn the nitrate cycle
2. Relearn the nitrate cycle
3. Re-Relearn the nitrate cycle
4. Cycle tank
5. Test
6. Buy fish
remember when your a new fish keeper you should follow these steps
1. Learn the nitrate cycle
2. Relearn the nitrate cycle
3. Re-Relearn the nitrate cycle
4. Cycle tank
5. Test
6. Buy fish
20 liters is 5 gallons, you can't keep fancy goldfish in a tank that small.
20 liters is sufficient for a betta or a few guppies (note: a few means like 3 not a whole breeding group and babies) , small killifish, stuff like that.
30 gallons is bare minimum for goldfish, and that comes out to 113 liters.
Listen to the above. If you don't understand cycling a tank don't buy anymore fish. You can try cycling your tank with your current goldfish but they may not survive or at the least have a greatly reduced lifespan, and you need to upgrade your tank to do so. Your current tank is not sufficient, so there is no point in trying to cycle it with them. Better to either take them back or upgrade the tank, you will be in a losing battle, constantly killing fish as you've already done.
If you upgrade your tank remember that goldfish are very messy so you'll need a filter far over what the pet store likely recommends. If you choose to upgrade we can give filter suggestions based on your tank size. (Do not go by the fish store, their knowledge of fish and filtration is usually very slim).
20 liters is sufficient for a betta or a few guppies (note: a few means like 3 not a whole breeding group and babies) , small killifish, stuff like that.
30 gallons is bare minimum for goldfish, and that comes out to 113 liters.
Listen to the above. If you don't understand cycling a tank don't buy anymore fish. You can try cycling your tank with your current goldfish but they may not survive or at the least have a greatly reduced lifespan, and you need to upgrade your tank to do so. Your current tank is not sufficient, so there is no point in trying to cycle it with them. Better to either take them back or upgrade the tank, you will be in a losing battle, constantly killing fish as you've already done.
If you upgrade your tank remember that goldfish are very messy so you'll need a filter far over what the pet store likely recommends. If you choose to upgrade we can give filter suggestions based on your tank size. (Do not go by the fish store, their knowledge of fish and filtration is usually very slim).
