Please help me because 4 days ago my two fish died and I don't want the same to happen to any future fish I get. I bought a coldwater tank and set it up as instructed by the staff in shop. After a week I introduced two fan tailed goldfish and all was well for a week. Then the ammonia level started to rise and despite doing 15% water changes daily, and using Prime Seachem to try and control the ammonia, they died. It was only after I'd bought the fish that I started to read these forums and realised I should have started with a fishless cycle first. The problem is that on the day they died I noticed that they were losing their scales and appeared to have fin rot. I don't know how this could have happened so quickly (I had them for exactly 14 days.) My question is what should I do with the water in the tank? Sould I clean it out completely (because I am scared that the thing causing the fin rot will be polluting the water) or should I just continue doing partial water changes because I don't want to lose the "good" bacteria. I am really scared to put any more fish in until I know the water is safe as it was really distressing losing the first two and I couldn't bear to think of them suffering.
Coldwater Tank Beginner Needs Advice
- Thread starter Cathy Mac
- Start date
Leave the water in there if its fish free now. If it is fish free just toss in a medium piece of shrimp from your local meat/sea food retailer. Check the water levels weekly and when you show zero ammonia and nitrite but show about 5ppm nitrate add a small fish or two. How big of tank did you buy, gold fish get HUGE!!!! Like you need at least a 30 gallon for one of most breeds.
Thanks for your reply. The tank is fish free now and I don't want to put any more fish in until I know it has been cycled properly so I will follow your advice. How often should I be doing partial water changes? Do I still do it daily and do I still need to be putting liquid bacteria in at the water change? Obviously I was putting the bacteria in when the fish were still there but now I don't know whether that still applies.
I have a 54 litre tank and deliberately bought fan tails because I was told they don't grow as large as normal goldfish. I was hoping that size tank would be big enough to house two even when they are fully grown (although that seems a long way off at the moment!)
I have a 54 litre tank and deliberately bought fan tails because I was told they don't grow as large as normal goldfish. I was hoping that size tank would be big enough to house two even when they are fully grown (although that seems a long way off at the moment!)
There is no need to do water changes if there is no fish in there, Also stop adding the SCAM (bacteria) in a bottle stuff and save your money!!! The chunk of shrimp will be all the bacteria needed to get things going. Once you see a few PPM nitrate you are ok to add a small fish or two. I have two fantails and both are about 10 inches long. A 14 gallon tank is to small for goldfish. Most of those fish stores are there to make a sale so be careful. Some of the people there might not even have fish themselves and are giving out bad DATA. Once you add fish (slowly and not to many to over stock the tank) you will need to do weekly or bi-weekly water changes to keep your nitrate under 20PPM. Also a big mistake by new fish owners is to over feed. Over feeding can lead to bad water and sick fish. I feed my fish twice a day only what they will eat in about 2 minutes and I skip Sunday
Thank you for all your advice. If I manage to raise my next fish to grow big, strong and healthy I will definitely buy them a larger tank as they start to put on the inches so that they don't feel overcrowded.
lauraf - thanks for your comment. Tropical fish are very pretty but everybody told me that if I was a beginner I should start with coldwater because they are easier to look after.
lauraf - thanks for your comment. Tropical fish are very pretty but everybody told me that if I was a beginner I should start with coldwater because they are easier to look after.
There are plenty small fish that are cold water, there are many barbs and tetras that will tolerate water into the mid sixties. These fish stay smaller then goldfish and are much easier to care for then goldfish. I would not recommend goldfish to a beginner as they require a lot of cleaning maintenance which can become very discouraging to a person just starting out with fish. Goldfish are beautiful but are very dirty and messy. If you have your heart set on them thats fine, I just wanted you to know the facts before you jumped into them again.
In my experience, that's not true at all. Whatever the fish or aquatic critter, you still need to maintain water quality. It's not much different whether the water is in the 50s or the 70s.
Please let us know what you decide to do - either way, we would love to help you keep happy fish.
Cheers,
Laura
Please let us know what you decide to do - either way, we would love to help you keep happy fish.
Cheers,
Laura
Hugely bad advice here thus far. Please read and decide for yourself.
You first need to decide on what you wanna keep? Cold water or tropical? By the way, that tank size is way too small for even one goldfish of any kind.
Throw out the water and sterilize everything, if you suspect any type of finrot or other disease. It's utterly bad advice to tell you that you should "throw a shrimp in there" and start from scratch. Clean everything. Read up on how to do that -- that stuff is already posted here.
Once you've decided on the type of fish you want to keep, determine if they can fit in your tank. 24 liters is a pretty small tank. I'd personally reserve it for a quarantine tank and buy a new tank based on the fish you decided to keep. Goldfish? Huge, and don't add many. Tropical? Start with a 20 gallon minimum.
You have a lot of reading and decision-making to do if you wanna do this right.
If you don't wanna do it right, just "throw a srhimp in there" and go from there.
If you want more guidance, write back or PM me.
tj
You first need to decide on what you wanna keep? Cold water or tropical? By the way, that tank size is way too small for even one goldfish of any kind.
Throw out the water and sterilize everything, if you suspect any type of finrot or other disease. It's utterly bad advice to tell you that you should "throw a shrimp in there" and start from scratch. Clean everything. Read up on how to do that -- that stuff is already posted here.
Once you've decided on the type of fish you want to keep, determine if they can fit in your tank. 24 liters is a pretty small tank. I'd personally reserve it for a quarantine tank and buy a new tank based on the fish you decided to keep. Goldfish? Huge, and don't add many. Tropical? Start with a 20 gallon minimum.
You have a lot of reading and decision-making to do if you wanna do this right.
If you don't wanna do it right, just "throw a srhimp in there" and go from there.
If you want more guidance, write back or PM me.
tj
Cathy, part of the reason for my suggestions, too, was that -- you sounded as if you stumbled into fishkeeping, and it sounds like you have a really lame LFS (local fish store). Reading, patience, and a good store (online or off) is going to be key to whatever you do.
The people advising you so far here are totally RUSHING you. I suggest you think and read before you rush.
The people advising you so far here are totally RUSHING you. I suggest you think and read before you rush.
Well prhelp, I have, I guess, I gave bad advice. You are right, it must be fin-rot and disease and didn't have anything to do with the ammonia and nitrite poisoning happening because the tank has not started a nitrogen cycle yet. Its also bad advice on my part for suggesting a fish-less cycle. I recant all my advice from before and you should do just as prhelp suggests. I should only give advice about what I know and not try to rush people into waiting for the ammonia and nitrite to go away before adding fish. Please forgive my ignorance on this matter, my sincerest apologies.
Thank you to everybody who has posted on this thread. I appreciate all your comments and suggestions. I havent been able to go online for a couple of days because my internet connection was down :-( I realise now I am going to have to do quite a bit of research before I put any more little fishy lives at risk. It was my son who wanted to keep fish and we asked advice from friends who had previously kept them and who thought I would find a coldwater tank easier. I went to what I thought was a reputable shop and declared that I was a beginner who wanted a coldwater tank. I followed their advice to the letter but unfortunately I now realise I should have done more thorough research for myself. Although some of you have differing views I know you are all doing your best to help me, so I am very grateful for that. I will certainly take everything into consideration before going out to buy any more fish.
Well, why can't the OP just put in some anubias/java moss/fern/any other kinds of low light plants to satisfy the needs of the asian stone catfish? And when you say "well established" isn't that true for all fish?
Also, I inputted the stocking on Aqadvisor. They didn't have the Asian Stone Catfish in the database so I just substituted it for the pygmy cory because they have the same max. size. You could even put 5 white clouds and 4 asian stone catfish in a 14G and still be understocked. I don't see why keeping these guys would be a problem.
Also, I inputted the stocking on Aqadvisor. They didn't have the Asian Stone Catfish in the database so I just substituted it for the pygmy cory because they have the same max. size. You could even put 5 white clouds and 4 asian stone catfish in a 14G and still be understocked. I don't see why keeping these guys would be a problem.
Last edited: