Goldfish emergency, help greatly appreciated.

[Doodeybumps]

I am a school teacher and just over 4 weeks ago my class of departing students bought me two beautiful goldfish. I am completely new to fish keeping and will admit that I believed that my 2 three inch goldfish homed in a beautifully decorated 1 gallon goldfish bowl would live a long and happy life. Ah, how wrong I was.

Day 1, Problem 1: Goldfish laying at surface and gasping for air.
Solution: Internet research revealed happy fish rarely live at the surface. Bought an air pump and 1cm airstone, hooray problem solved goldfish residing at the bottom of the tank, long and happy life here we come.

Day 3, Problem 2: Goldfish had a white mark when I recieved him, little concerned.
Solution: Get back on the internet, suspect ammonia poisoning, buy interpet AP Mini filter, arrives several days later, installed tank. Begin doing 25 % water changes daily or every other day. Fine now, right? Wrong!

Day 4, Problem 3: Fish flakes say that the food should be eaten within 1 to 2 mins and to remove uneaten food, possibly the only useful info and redeeming feature of Goldfish Starter Kit. My fish don't seem to notice food on the surface. More internet research, ordered several food types inc sinking pellets and started to prepare veggies for my fish. Still unsure about frequency of feeding.

Day 14, Problem 4: Filter appears to be frothing!
Solution: Clean out filter, it is jammed pack full of brown muck. Feeling rather concerned about water quality start using Filter Aid and rinsing filter medium couple of times a week, reduce feeding to daily. Realise from research that ank is woefully undersized and uncycled. Fish still looking fine though. Identify that the inch of gravel at the bootom of the tank may be a problem, order gravel vacuum.

Day 18, Problem 5: Even though gravel cleaner is the smallest available, the pitiful depth of water in the bowl make the cleaner impossible to use.
Solution: Reduce gravel to quarter of an inch based on internet research. Stir gravel a bit before water change, use a turkey baster. Order API water testing kit and Interpet Ammonia Remover.

Day 24, Problem 6: One goldfish looks like he has a faint black bruise on his gill.
Solution: Water test kit arrives the next day. The experts out there will not be suprised to know that the results were absolutey horrible. pH 8.2, Ammonia 8.0ppm, Nitrite 0.25ppm, Nitrate 40ppm.

Since then I have been doing water 30% water changes twice daily, using a full tank dose of Ammonia remover once daily. Reduced feeding to once every 2 days. Both fish now have quite blackened gills, black patces on their heads and black tips on fins. One fish has a black patch mid-body. Interestingly the fish that showed symptons first seems to have reduced in blackness in the last 24 hours. Maintaining ammonia level at about 0.25 ppm now, but can't clear it entirely. Both fish still have appetite, no clamped fins, not excessively lethargic.

It is now day 30 and I am out of ideas and feeling very disheartened. I have even looked into foster care or adoption but have had no luck finding a better home (shockingly had the offer of a worse one!). Despite research on the internet every day since ownership I still have hundreds of questions.

Is it worth investing in a bigger tank (looking in the 150l region, yes still small but better) or are they goners?
Can I change the water more frequently than I already am?
If I invest in a new tank better to fishless cycle it or get them in quick?

Thak you for any advice.

 

[Thyra]

Welcome to the forum. Wow - what a beginning. First off I commend you for your efforts, but the one thing that apparently didn't come up right off is the size of the tank - one gold fish needs at least a 20g tank and 10 g for each additional, so you are looking at a 40g tank. They are very messy fish and produce a lot of waste. You need to get the ammonia and nitrite down to zero because your fish are being poisoned. As I see it, your only solution is a much larger tank and you would need to get the fish in it right away and not worry about a fishless cycle - just a lot of water changing.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Yep, ideally, you'd need something like a 29g tank for two fancy goldfish and a large hang-on-back filter.

If it's comet goldfish that you have, they are actually suited for a pond, but you could probably keep two in a 55g tank with lots of filtration.

Even a comet will live in a fishbowl, but not well. I know when I was a child I had one that I won at a fair. I kept it alive for a good 3-4yrs in a badly neglected bowl that couldn't have been more than 1.5g. I would never attempt that today.

 

[Doodeybumps]

Thank you so much.
I will source a new tank asap. A few more questions for anyone who may be able to help.
So do you think the fish have a chance of recovery then? Until I have a larger tank, how frequently can I perform a 30% water change (new water is treated after the previous water change and left to stand in the same room as the bowl)? How safe is it to double dose with the Interpet ammonia remover? Should I remove ornaments and gravel in the litte tank? Will cleaning the filter help, if so should I clean both the white sponge and the black carbon sponge (I have been too afraid to clean filter since black marks appeared, when I have cleaned them in the past I have done it by rinsing the sponges in the tank water removed during a partial water change)? Can you recommend any water treatments or remedies to help reduce the fishes suffering and icrease chances of survival until I have a larger tank?

 

[Doodeybumps]

Please excuse my ignorance but I am a little unsure what type of goldfish they are. I thought they were what some sites call common goldfish but then saw a photo of a comet goldfish and couldn't really tell the difference, here is a picture (pre black marks).

 

[FreshyFresh]

I can't see the tails on your goldfish, but they look like comet goldfish to me. Fancy goldfish have larger, flowing fins. Comet and common are the same thing as far as I know.

A comet goldfish can get HUGE, like a foot or more in length if allowed to grow-out, thus the reason they're better for a pond.

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

First things first, welcome to the forum. Secondly, many of us have been in your situation at one point or another. Thirdly, job well done on researching and dealing with what you have.

The first thing I would do, is reduce feedings to once every other day or less. A hungry fish, is a happy fish, generally they should be eager to eat. If they are not they are usually over fed or sick in some form or another.

The next thing, you do need to get your ammonia down lower, which can be hard to do in a tank your size. You can do a couple of things. One if you have room, add a container the fish can go into, a pot with no holes or such, when you change the water in your tank, let your fish scurry into their pot, set the pot upright, and add their airstone to their temporary container, and remove the rest of the water in the tank. If a pot or cave cannot be fit into the tank, you can remove most of the water, leaving only enough for your fish to swim around in an inch or so.

Changing the water. If you're using a turkey baster to remove the water, Kudos for your effort. Most tank vacuums come with a reasonably sized hose attached. the vacuum part being much larger than that, and made of a rigid plastic. Remove the hose and create a siphon with it in the tank, lower one end into a bucket or sink and you can still suck most of the water and debris out of the tank. Hopefully doing this will help reduce the time you need to change the water.

You can rinse your filters wherever you like it would take months to cycle a 1 gal tank, and even then maintaining a healthy bacterial colony would be exceedingly difficult. One of several reasons your next investment should be a larger tank for your fish.

Almost done.

Whenever possible avoid using chemicals in a tank with live fish in it. There are usually alternatives that can be used with better results and fewer side effects to your fish. I'm not familiar with the ammonia remove you're using, however, most de-chlorinators treat for Chlorides, not just chlorine. Chlorides refer to Chlorine, and Ammonia compounds that most cities use to treat their tap water with to prevent bacterial growth. You can test your tap, and you might get some ammonia readings, use some of your regular de-chlorinator and you should see most if not all of the levels removed. The best solution is however always going to be changing the water.

The black spots are likely from stress due to water quality.

As far as if your fish will recover, most goldfish are quite hardy. Even though they are a freshwater fish, you can help them along by adding salt to their water. It will counteract any nitrite poisoning, and help reduce their stress until you master balancing their water quality.

Any aquarium salt will work, you can also use sea salt from your grocery store, the one thing you must avoid is yellow prussiate of soda, which is an anti caking agent that will harm your fish. Morton makes a Sea Salt that comes in 14 oz clear bottles I've used successfully until I could find a suitable aquarium salt. For best results increase the salt slowly so you do not shock your fish, usually 1 oz / gal with a max of 3-5 oz / gal is where I stop at.

You can also add MelaFix or pure tea tree extract to the water, 5 ml at 1% concentration is sufficient to treat 10 gal, it is a natural antibiotic, and it will also help your fish heal if they have any internal damage.

In summary,

Reduce feedings to every other day or less.
Perform as close to 100 % water changes as you can to drop your ammonia levels to 0 ppm.
Avoid chemicals to reduce toxins in the water.
Add a little salt to your tank, to help reduce stress.
Add a little bit of melafix to help heal any internal \ external damage.
Procure a 30 + gal tank, and be prepared for lots of water changing.

Don't give up, and should something go wrong, you'll be better prepared should you decide to enter the aquarium hobby again.

 

[Doodeybumps]

Thank you so much for all the really helpful comments. I have just managed to get hold of a larger tank and a filter second hand. I am planning to use this as an interim tank to allow the fish to recover while I source, set up and cycle the final home of my fish. The ammonia and nitrite readings are finally at zero and one fish continues to look better. However, the PH does seem to have gone up to about 8.3 or 8.4. I have set up a container of treated tap water to test. Can anybody recommend the best water treatment for a hard water area and recovering goldfish. I have ordered API aquarium salt, Melafix and stress coat. When I set up the interim tank, should I include any new gravel or ornaments? Should I use a second hand filter and if so is there a particular way I should clean the tank and filter to avoid the risk of any contagions spreading from second hand tank and filter?
Thank you all again.

 

[Thyra]

I would not worry about your pH. Most ordinary fish adapt to what ever it is. If you try to change it, you will find yourself chasing the number and that kind of stress is hard on fish.

 

[Doodeybumps]

Thank you for your advice I have just abandoned the bottle of Proper PH 7.5 I had ordered. Thank you for all the support. One fish now only has a small black mark on one fin tip and the jury is still out on the other fish, but he isn't getting worse. Hopefully the larger tank which I am in the process of setting up now will see off the problem for good!

 

[Tyarith]

Welcome to the forum!
About the feeding problem: Feed your goldfish less but you can also try to crumble up the food inbetween your index finger and thumb. My fish didn't eat much either until I made the flakes smaller for them.

 

[Doodeybumps]

Thank you, I haven't tried crumbling the flakes but I have found the New Life Spectrum sinking pellets to be the best food of all the options I have tried so far. As the pellets sink Trevor and Mannel seem to realise what is going on virtually instantly and begin eating as soon as the pellets are added to the tank. this food also appears to be the food of choice for them. Surprisingly, they seem to like it better than Daphnia, Blood worm, Algae wafers, flakes or vegetables. So, I have been on that exclusively since they got poorly. As a result of all the great advice, Trevor is now back to a beautiful orange colour all over and Mannel is well on his way. I am in the process of setting up a new home for them at the moment and as long as I can get them over without to much stress I think they might make it. But I have read lots of horror stories about catastrophic attempts to re-home fish!

 

[Tyarith]

Ah. That's good. Just stick to whatever works best!

 

[FishDad]

New life spectrum is as good as store bought gets IMHO.