HELP!!!!

[dooley]

Can someone help me.. I've only recently got a biorb and bought a fantail who is called Zippy. Tonight he seems to have a ... what can only be described as a stringy worm like thing that is about an inch or so long coming from underneath his rear fins!!!

Does anybody know what this is and is there anything I can do??

I'm very worried about him!!!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

its poo. Dont worry

 

[shmeepie]

yeh, don't worry. it looks really ugly, i wish they didn't poo like that. are you a beginner in fish keeping?

 

[The-Wolf]

First of all yes it poo due to overfeeding. feed a small ammount every two days and this won't happen.
secondly a biorb is not ideal for a fantail you need 20 gals for a goldfish and 10 for each other goldfish thereafter.
Please do some reasearch on you fish so you can both have happy lives.

 

[dooley]

OOOppssss...

I feel so stupid!!

Thank you for your replies!! I am a complete beginner...

DOOLEY

 

[kaz petts]

Good luck with your fish.
Please look into getting a larger tank. A bi-orb is definatly NOT ideal, your fish is going to get big.
Did you cycle the tank before adding the fish. I would advise that you get yourself a water test kit, plenty of stress coat and possible get some ich (white spot control) as a precaution, it is likely that you will need it at some point.
A goldfish of any description can live approximatly 20+ years if kept in the correct conditions and is looked after properly.
Feed your fish a small amount of food about twice a day, just a small pinch will be fine, any uneaten food sinks to the bottom and will contaminate your water.
Like I said to start with.
Good Luck!!!

 

[bribones]

First of all yes it poo due to overfeeding

they do it wether you feed em or not and every 2 days is a bit mean dont you think ?

 

[The-Wolf]

First of all yes it poo due to overfeeding

they do it wether you feed em or not and every 2 days is a bit mean dont you think ?

Sorry Bribones
No I don't think every two days is mean
Goldfish in tanks create a lot of waste when overfed, big long strings of poo are just undigested food. If you feed every two days most of the food eaten is digested and only waste is expelled. Or course the packaging will say feed a small ammount every day but they want you to but more of the product.

Sorry to dooley for post-hijacking

 

[bribones]

dont sweat it mate ive a large tank so every 2 days is out of the window but i dont feed for 2 days a week and i only feed small amounts

 

[dooley]

The food that i use is in pellets. Hikari Staple. It says to feed 2-4 times daily. I feed my fish 1 small pellet 3 times a day!! Is this to much??

Also what type of fish and how many are ideal for a biorb?? Any advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[The-Wolf]

The food that i use is in pellets. Hikari Staple. It says to feed 2-4 times daily. I feed my fish 1 small pellet 3 times a day!! Is this to much??

Also what type of fish and how many are ideal for a biorb?? Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Yes the way you are feeding it is ok, as long asyou are not getting long strings of poo.

IMHO the only suitable fish for biorbs are white cloud mountain minnows (Tanichthys albonubes), Neon tetras (Paracheirodon innesi), Lampeye panchax (Aplocheilichthys macrophthalmus) or other small fish (not danios though) and a betta (betta splendis). You could also have a couple of dwarf catfish (ottos) (Ottocinclus affinis) and an ADF.

A LFS near me has rosey barbs (Barbus conchonius )in a biorb (the largest one available) but only 6 and nothing else with them. Personnaly I think that is too small for them.

 

[dooley]

Cheers for that.. We currently only have one small fan tail goldfish in the biorb but was planning to get 3 minnows to join him followed by another 3 at a later date. When setting up the tank we read the book that came with it and have purely been following it. The tank was set up exactly as it said.

It says that a biorb can have either 3 goldfish or 12 other ie minnow!!

Is this not true then??

 

[kaz petts]

most definatly NOT true.
A goldfish or fantail can get rather large and you do need 20 uk gallon for the first goldfish and another 10 for any subsequent fish after that.
I stick by what I said originally, get a larger tank set it up (cycle it, follow advice on cycling tanks in one of the threads on here, someone will be able to point you in the direction of this thread) and get rid of your bio-orb, sell it on e-bay they are going for silly prices.
Good luck
Kaz