Black Moor Goldfish Help Needed :_

[RedTiger]

When a fish is stressed he will look paler in colour.
Don't want a stressed fish as it weakens the immune sytem causing desease and illness.

he doesn't look pale to me. he's swimming more normal now. i keep reading how they like playmates. i'd like to get him one but the 20 gal tank would be way too big. would two of them be too much in the 10 gal? or is there another type of fish that would be okay with him?

 

[RedTiger]

i just realized, the box for the tank says it has a filter system. i think its an under gravel filter. it was used and there's no instructions. how do those work?

(it's The AquaTank Desk-Top Aquarium made in Kansas City, KS, USA. the box says: "desk-top aquarium. air pump, filter system and light fixture included")

 

[Sunny_Bee]

My advice on the filter, don't even bother with the under gravel
For goldies they just trap the waste and cause ammonia/nitrite build up. The best thing to do is get a nice filter that is rated for a larger tank. For example, you have a 10 gallon? I'd get an aquaclear or penguine filter that is build for a 30 gallon tank. As Wilder has said, these guys are HUGE waste producers, the more filtration the better.
I have 3 large goldies in a 55 gallon tank with 2 huge filters, if that gives you any idea of what poopers they are

 

[WILDER]

I agree with sunny_bee the under gravel filters are terrible, more trouble than there worth.
There no good for large fish under gravel filters, they get blocked.
Hows the black moor doing today,.

 

[RedTiger]

I agree with sunny_bee the under gravel filters are terrible, more trouble than there worth.
There no good for large fish under gravel filters, they get blocked.
Hows the black moor doing today,.

hi! sorry that i couldn't respond earlier. i was at work. yuck. but its a necessity to feed people and pets .

i think that the salt water helped him! he is just swimming around the tank and digging. the white spot on his nose is smaller. it actually looks slimy now. he got a new small spot on his back (looks like a scratch but its white). i went to the pet store and they sold me some Furan-2. if the new spot is a scratch, i removed the fake plant. if its a fungus, the Furan-2 should work, i think. so, right now, he's in the "hospital tank". i think that i'll keep the tank for when he gets sick. is that necessary? or is it only for if you have multiple fish? i did look at the 10-gal tanks today and called the landlord. i'm hoping he'll OK a 10-gal, if not ... i'll get the 5-gal and hope that we move before Swimmey outgrows it. i measured his current tank, its about 1.5 gal so definitely no good for him! before i put in the medicine, i changed the water about 20% (added the water conditioner) bc i won't be able to change for another 48-hrs and i think a total of 72-hrs will be too long in that tiny thing. after giving him the meds, he seemed to swim slower and even float in the middle of the water for a few seconds. or maybe its my imagination. (i had to divide the powder up into even sections of 10 and then used 1.5 of the sections.) he doesn't appear to be rubbing his nose up against the glass as much.

good on the bigger filter. i was worried that too big a filter would be bad. if i get the 5-gal, i'll get a 10-gal filter. if i get the 10-gal, i'll get the 20-gal filter. yes, he does poop a lot! is it normal for it to hang off him in a string for a while after (the string is the color of the flakes)?

there's a lot to setting up a new tank, i'm discovering. so when i get him the bigger tank, i want to do it correctly. i'm not sure if it is better to buy one of the systems that are all ready to go (they call them goldfish starter tanks) or buy everything separate. what do you think? i must say, calling a tank a "goldfish starter tank" that is 2.5 gal or 5.0 gal seems really misleading, considering that they really need a 10-gal (at least).

oh they do have API products at the pet store's. i saw them today. i think thats who made the meds, too.

thank you, again, for any advice/help you can offer.

 

[WILDER]

If you can afford it he really needs the 10 gallon tank.
He should really be in a bigger tank than that.
Goldfish grow large they can get stunted growth in small tanks.
Plus they have no room to move.
You need length in goldfish tank not height.
Good luck.

 

[RedTiger]

hi! the landlord "OK'd" the fish! yeah! he said that I could get a 5-gal or 10-gal tank. I really like the hexagon tanks. (assuming that I can afford it.) does it matter whether he is in hexagon or rectangular?

his white spots/fungus looks the same today. maybe after the 2nd treatment, it will get better. if not, then maybe it is ich and he'll need meds for that (the pet store didn't think so but i didn't bring in Swimmey for an exam). fishies are a lot of work, I see. I always thought that you'd get fish, stick em in a tank and be done. (well feed em of course.) the plant doesn't look so good. I guess the meds or salt might have killed it. bummer. at least swimmey is busy doing fish things (swimming, digging). he is still rubbing his nose area on the edge of the glass. (i think thats what he is doing. i'm not a fish expert, as if you didn't know, lol.)

i'll get the new tank this weekend. when i move him, should i move his gravel/sand in the current tank? i'm definitely getting a filter that says it handles a 20-gal or 30-gal tank to help with the poop.

after i get him all set up (like in a few months), i was thinking that he could use a friend. i'd rather not get another goldfish bc of the poop factor . are there any types of fish that are less troublesome that would mix with him well?

oh, is it normal for the poop to just kinda hang off the back of him for a while? (it is the color of his flakes.)

 

[Sunny_Bee]

hi! the landlord "OK'd" the fish! yeah! he said that I could get a 5-gal or 10-gal tank. I really like the hexagon tanks. (assuming that I can afford it.) does it matter whether he is in hexagon or rectangular?

That's great news! Generally, it's better to go for long rather than tall tanks when it comes to goldies, so the rectangualr would really be your best bet.

his white spots/fungus looks the same today. maybe after the 2nd treatment, it will get better. if not, then maybe it is ich and he'll need meds for that (the pet store didn't think so but i didn't bring in Swimmey for an exam). fishies are a lot of work, I see. I always thought that you'd get fish, stick em in a tank and be done. (well feed em of course.) the plant doesn't look so good. I guess the meds or salt might have killed it. bummer. at least swimmey is busy doing fish things (swimming, digging). he is still rubbing his nose area on the edge of the glass. (i think thats what he is doing. i'm not a fish expert, as if you didn't know, lol.)

I forgot to mention this before. Are the spots on his gill covers and near his pectoral fin? If so they could be breeding stars, which are normal. I have a great shot of them on my moore that I'll post later (I'm at work now, shhhhhhh )

i'll get the new tank this weekend. when i move him, should i move his gravel/sand in the current tank?

I would, it can help get the cycle started.

after i get him all set up (like in a few months), i was thinking that he could use a friend. i'd rather not get another goldfish bc of the poop factor . are there any types of fish that are less troublesome that would mix with him well?

There aren't many fish that go well, but I think not getting another goldie is a good plan with the small tank size. Some pepole have kept corie catfish with goldies, and I know a lot who keep loaches in there too.

oh, is it normal for the poop to just kinda hang off the back of him for a while? (it is the color of his flakes.)

Yes If it's the color of his food that's actually a good sign.

 

[RedTiger]

hi!! Swimmey is still in his tiny hex aquatank. i did get him a 10-gal glass tank with a glass lid. i opted to not get the light for now. i'll move him to the 10-gal this tank on sunday (that's one day after his meds are done). I didn't want to spend too much money because, if this works out, when we move we'll get a much bigger tank and add fishies. the tank was only $9 and the the lid was $12. how odd that the lid costs more....

great on the food/poop! i'm embarrassed to say that i'm not sure about the spots bc i don't know where his gill covers and pectoral fin are. i dont think that they are, but i might be wrong...

I got him some floating pellet goldfish food so now I can alternate that and the flakes. (along with veggies soon.) though, it took him forever to go eat it (I don't think he knew what it was). so i added a tiny amount of his flakes, thinking that he would realize it was food. when i just added his meds, a lot of the pellets were still there so i pulled them out of the tank. (the flakes were all gone.) maybe he doesn't like the pellets?

i'm extremely confused on the filtration. I picked up the Aqua-Tech 5-15 Power Filter external filter. (it's from walmart so if I don't want it, I can easily return it.) then I read about suction and pulling water out of tank. well that concerns me. what if it fails and then Swimmey has no water? I also looked at a tetra whisper 10-20gal filter. it was to rest inside the tank. I opted not to get it so it wouldn't take tank space but now I'm thinking that would have been better. I'd like to get the correct filtration system tmrw so I can get the tank ready for his big move on sunday. (one day after meds end.)

when he has a filter, does he also need airstones and air pumps? or is it optional? and if it's optional, is it really better for him to have it?

the lady at the pet store told me to get coral gravel. I read that coral gravel & sand was bad because it can raise the pH. (she also said that I could put a piece of coral in the tank to bring it to the right pH level. I guess she had to raise the pH level of her tank once. when she said that, I dismissed what she was saying because coral is rough and Swimmey has bad eyes, she didn't seem to understand that goldfish and sharp objects=bad.) so what kind of gravel is best? AND how much gravel should cover the bottom?

now that I have the tank, is the following all that I need to get started and be successful: air pump, filter and gravel suction thingy (what is that?)?

finally (for this post anyway ), location. moving around the little 2gal-ish tank was no big deal. moving around a 10-gal tank, not gonna happen! we have a small apt so there is not much room. I did read that drafts are bad and so is heavy traffic area. the apt is so small, any place that is not by a window is in the walk/traffic area. the windows are fairly new so while there is some draft, its minimal. (except if I have a window open during the fall or spring, then it might be more but I suppose I could always not do that.) which is better? minimal draft or walk area?

I'm tempted to put the tank on the floor next to my dresser but think it might become a literal pain in the back to change the water. he might also feel the vibrations as we walk, correct? since it's 10-gal, it should be fine on my dresser, right? (that does mean he'll be blocking part of my mirror, which stinks for me but maybe good for him.) what are your thoughts?

SORRY for all the questions but since we've got the pet, I might as well do it right!

I do appreciate all of your help!!

 

[Sunny_Bee]

i'm extremely confused on the filtration. I picked up the Aqua-Tech 5-15 Power Filter external filter. (it's from walmart so if I don't want it, I can easily return it.) then I read about suction and pulling water out of tank. well that concerns me. what if it fails and then Swimmey has no water? I also looked at a tetra whisper 10-20gal filter. it was to rest inside the tank. I opted not to get it so it wouldn't take tank space but now I'm thinking that would have been better. I'd like to get the correct filtration system tmrw so I can get the tank ready for his big move on sunday. (one day after meds end.)

I'm really not familiar with the Aqua-Tech but I have used a whisper and it was a decent filter, just make sure you get one that is good and powerful. It can be annoying sitting inside the tank, but the filtration is generally good.

when he has a filter, does he also need airstones and air pumps? or is it optional? and if it's optional, is it really better for him to have it?

These are optional. If the water surface is being disturbed enough, he'll get oxygen from that. Airstones can add oxygen, but they generally aren't necessary.

so what kind of gravel is best? AND how much gravel should cover the bottom?

I've used coral as a buffer because my kH is very very low. If your pH is stable you don't need it. I've found with goldfish, the less gravel the better because it accumulates so much waste. I use large riverstones (you can get them in the craft department at walmart). They are too big for the fish to choke on (yes, that can happen ) and easy to clean between. But if you want the normal aquarium gravel, I'd just add enough to cover the bottom.

now that I have the tank, is the following all that I need to get started and be successful: air pump, filter and gravel suction thingy (what is that?)?

Haha, the suction thingy is very important, it's a gravel vaccum. You use it to get the waste that's settled into the gravel, while changing out the dirty water at the same time. Other than that, do you have a chlorine remover for the water? And test kits are always a good idea, at least pH, ammonia and nitrite.

minimal draft or walk area?

The goldfish I've had really didn't care about heavy traffic, it just made them beg more
As for putting it on the floor, you're right about the water changes. When you start using the gravel vaccum you'll get very low suction with a tank on the floor, you're better to have it on the dresser.


And don't be sorry for all the questions, it's good to see you want to try so hard for this little fish


Oh! I almost forgot, here's my moor's breeding stars. They are right there on his gill cover - behind his eye.

 

[RedTiger]

Hi! Thanks for the pic. The ones on his body was more a straight line and the one on his nose almost covered it. The pic will come in handy for when he does get those.

Swimmey's fungus is all gone!! His tank is all set up!

It contains:
10-gal rectangular all glass tank with glass cover.
15-watt light (from the AquaTank, saved some money since it just rests on the glass)
Tetra Internal Whisper filter for 10-30gal,
Tetra 10 Air pump attached to 6" airstone
External temperature monitor
1 plant
1 Alligator starting to eat a fish with a sign that says, "NO EATING"
1 Big oriental looking vase with 4 openings so he can hide
20-lbs of bright green gravel. (I was going to do 15-lbs but my son wanted more.... If it was level it would be roughly 2". It's not level bc I thought it added to the decor. ALSO--I thought that it would be better to remove gravel rather than pour gravel in, if I decide it's too much.)

I added to the water:
Tetra AquaSafe with BioExtract weater conditioner

Jungle Aquarium Start-Up Kit (contains Water Safe Plus and Ammonia Clear). There's also Correct pH and if the pH is correct, I'll add that before I add Swimmey bc it stabailzes the pH. If not, I guess I'll have to go buy the stuff to make it the right pH.

--------------------------------------------------------
I got a really cheap Lee's GravelVac.

Before moving Swimmey over, I'll test the water and add some salt so he is less stressed. Then, I just need to move him and his plant from the AquaTank.

Did I forget anything?

 

[Sunny_Bee]

Sounds great! He's going to be a happy fish

 

[RedTiger]

Swimmey's all moved in! At first, he was swimming really fast (I think he was stressed) but he's back to swimming normal. He's got all this extra space and still mostly hangs out in a corner. Figures.

 

[squeakytoy]

Not sure if you are US based or not, but keep an eye on Craigslist in the free section. Tanks come up suprisingly often, many times with all the accesories. You can even find filters there, if some one has upgraded their tank.

 

[TheRedDiscus]

hello