Help! My fish tank is a mess.

8 posts

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


quigby11
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:13 am

Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by quigby11

Okay, so about two months ago I bought a Tetra 15 gallon tank. Boy, do I have some issues. I've had about five goldfish - a black moor, a fancy goldfish, a common goldfish, and another fancy goldfish, but all that remains is my original red cap oranda, Chad. Right now, Chad has what appears to be a fungal infection and it's not getting a whole lot better in spite of my use of Pimafix.

Here are the mistakes I've made: I didn't know, because no one at Petco told me, that you need to cycle an aquarium. It wasn't until my fish started getting sick that I looked online and realized I'd made a pretty big error in setting up the tank and adding fish all in one night. So, mistake 1.

Number 2, I had up to three goldfish in the tank at once. Again, a guy at Petco said I could have up to five goldfish and I didn't realize until later that one goldfish in a 15 gallon tank is plenty.

Number 3, I was told incorrectly that my fish had ich, and treated them with coppersafe when really they had a fungal infection. Two fish died because I realized too late that they needed antibiotics. I also gave the remaining two fish a peroxide dip, which seemed to help, but again, Chad the red cap oranda is the only one who's survived.

Okay, so now Chad is in the tank all alone, he's still got some visible fungus, and he's not doing all that hot. He's eating, but I'm not feeding him too frequently because I was advised that 'a hungry fish would not die.'

And the tank conditions just seem to keep getting worse. I feel terrible for Chad, and I really don't want him to die, but my other huge mistake was that I was performing water changes too frequently and consequently depleting the beneficial bacteria. So I don't want to change the water, but it looks absolutely awful...

All of this started when I changed my carbon filter about three weeks ago. Again, no one mentioned that beneficial bacteria might grow there, so I changed it and then soon noticed little white particles, very very fine, floating in the water. I did a water change (oops?) and the particles persisted. I read that it might be the quality of tap water, so I got a new Britta filter but that didn't help. Then I heard it could be because I had no beneficial bacteria, so I bought some of that in a bottle from the store, and that didn't help.

I've been using Pimafix for about a week, so I have no carbon filter in right now, and the water is getting even cloudier and there also now appears to be a brown-ish algae on the back wall of the aquarium and some of the artificial plants. Chad doesn't seem to be getting all that much better from his fungal infection and I just don't know what to do. I got a pet store to give me some water that already had beneficial bacteria when I performed the last water change, but it still has white particles and looks cloudy, dirty, and just bad.

Please help! I really want Chad to survive but I've done so much to the water and I really don't want to stress him out anymore. I thought about a hospital tank, but was told that would also be stressful. Also, I had added salt a while ago but was told not to add more with the Pimafix. What can I do to save Chad and fix the absolutely dreadful water quality?


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by Okiimiru

"And the tank conditions just seem to keep getting worse. I feel terrible for Chad, and I really don't want him to die, but my other huge mistake was that I was performing water changes too frequently and consequently depleting the beneficial bacteria. So I don't want to change the water, but it looks absolutely awful... "

If you use dechlorinated water you can do as many water changes at whatever percentage you want and the beneficial bacteria will live. Just keep the filter media (spongey material) wet with dechlorinated water, and the bacteria will be fine. Chlorinated water, yes, will kill the beneficial bacteria. If you don't have dechlorinating drops, you can sit the water out in a bucket open to the air for 24 hours and the majority of the chlorine will dissipate from the water into the air. Aeration, for example an airstone in the bucket, will make it happen faster. I don't know about other people, but I can smell the chlorine coming out of a bubbling bucket of tap water. You can literally smell the difference between chlorinated and non-chlorinated water. It takes less than half the time to get the chorine out with the aeration. But yeah, letting it sit for 24 hours open to air or adding dechlorinating drops works too.

"I got a pet store to give me some water that already had beneficial bacteria..."
The reason why that didn't work is because the bacteria lives on surface area, not in the water column. It would have been more effective if you had gotten one of their sponges from them and used it in your tank (keeping the sponge wet with dechlorinated water during transfer). The amount of bacteria on the sponge would have instantly cycled your tank.

"What can I do to save Chad and fix the absolutely dreadful water quality?"
Buy test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate and do water changes with dechlorinated water to keep ammonia and nitrite at 0 ppm and nitrate under 30 ppm. This, not medication, is the number one thing you can do to make your fish Chad better. His immune system is compromised by the foul water. If you clean the water he will probably heal from his opportunistic pathogen.

You might want to add a live plant; when they're growing they love to eat ammonium. More info: http://theaquariumwiki.com/Plants_and_B ... Filtration

Also you can look at slide 8 of this powerpoint for a time scale of a nitrogen cycle: http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~davisda/class ... Design.pdf

The 'brownish algae' are probably diatoms. They're common in uncycled tanks and will go away with time. They're not hurting anything in your tank.

This last part is just my own personal opinion, but goldfish aren't tank fish, they're pond fish. They simply grow too large for me to want to keep them in a tank. You might want to look into golden colored platies (Xiphophorus maculatus) and swordtails (Xiphophorus hellerii) instead. They are the same gold color but they stay small, two inches and four inches respectively. Guppies (Poecilia reticulata) at one to two inches are even better for your sized tank. If you don't want any of the above listed fish to breed, then just get all males. It's easy to tell what gender they are by looking for a gonopodium.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by natalie265

Ditto to everything that okiimiru said. Every bit of it is sound advice. In addition, i want to stress that not only CAN you do frequent water changes, but you SHOULD. Until your tank is cycled, water changes are the only thing you can do to keep your water clean. Meanwhile, think about finding Chad a more suitable home. Orandas don't get as big as common type goldfish, but 15 gallon is still much too small.


tt120
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 3:15 pm

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by tt120

Small frequent water changes are your best bet. The beneficial bacteria live mostly in your filter and substrate so changing the water doesn't affect them much. Try not to do a large water change because you don't want the water parameters to swing too wildly. Fish tolerate constant water conditions better than large fluctuations in the water chemistry.

Find out what kind of infection Chad has and treat it accordingly. You can use google to find out what he has. I think goldfish like colder water so you might check the temp of your water.

Buy a freshwater master test kit. This kit will test most of the important things, Ph, Ammonia, Nitrates, and Nitrites.

If you only have the one HOB (Hang On Back) filter, you can change the media whenever it needs it. You will destroy a good bacteria colony but it will grow back. It's better to have 2 HOB's and alternate when you swap them out. One thing I've found out is you can never have too much filtration.

Better yet is a canister filter but this is when it starts to get out of hand. Next thing you know, you've got tanks all over the place with canisters, Co2 tanks, high end lighting, and nothing left of your paycheck.


quigby11
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 2:13 am

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by quigby11

Hey everyone - thanks for your help! I did a small water change yesterday, and the tank looks a little better. Chad is still kind of hovering near the top, however, and I'm a little worried. I had the water tested, and it's not an ammonia problem. The pet store guy suggested it might be a lack of oxygen - but I keep the filter and air stone running 24-7. Any ideas on how to up the oxygen levels? Or is it possible that Chad is hanging out near the surface for another reason?


Okiimiru
 
Posts: 275
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:19 pm

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by Okiimiru

"I had the water tested, and it's not an ammonia problem."
What is the concentration of ammonia is parts per million? What is the concentration of nitrite? Nitrate?


tt120
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2012 3:15 pm

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by tt120

Did you ever figure out what disease Chad has? That could be causing him to hang out at the surface. Is he gasping for air up there or just hanging out? Some of the things a goldfish can get require the addition of a small amount of aquarium salt but you need to determine exactly what he has before you do anything.

Here is a decent site that can help you determine what Chad has. http://www.desktopgoldfish.com/goldfish-diseases.php

Did the pet shop guy give you any numbers when he tested the water? If not, go back and have him test the water while you watch and write down the levels. Get your own kit and save some gas.

Keep doing small water changes, every day or every other day. Make sure to declorinate the tap water before you put it in Chads tank.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

Re: Help! My fish tank is a mess.

by natalie265

One of the best ways to oxygenate water for goldfish is to lower the temperature. But i agree, we need to know what your actual readings are for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Just because the pet store says your ammonia is okay doesn't make it so.

Help! My fish tank is a mess.

8 posts

Display posts from previous: Sort by: