My filter broke, help!

[tallentemma]

No worries! I'm not sure about the pH, @Ch4rlie will know more I'm sure. If the pH has stayed the same though, she's probably used to that pH and not causing the stress now, while her symptoms do fit for ammonia poisoning, and it makes sense since you were keeping ammonia levels in the tank for a while.

Not your fault, it's so easily done, and cycling is confusing, and mini cycles too - going through a frustratingly long mini cycle in one of my tanks now because I had to replace the filter, I feel the pain!

Have seen fish looking much worse off than yours recover, she looks pretty good still. How is her activity now? Is she still eating?

She's active here and there especially when I approach the tank. Today I fed her a single flake to see how her appetite was. You'd think I starved her for a week the way she darted at the food lol. No appetite issues.

Ahh!! I'm really sorry you're going through a mini cycle!! It's really is tough *sighs*. We can do it! Even if it is confusing, I'm glad people like you are on this website to give good advice despite your own struggles!

 

[tallentemma]

Just do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day your ammonia or nitrite is above 0ppm, or the nitrate is above 20ppm.

The fish has a couple of red lines in the bottom half of the tail. As mentioned previously, that is from the ammonia. Water changes should clear that up.

The small white dots on the gill cover indicate the fish is a male that is coming into breeding condition. Male goldfish will develop the small white dots on the side of their gill cover and on their pectoral fins. Female goldfish don't get the white dots.

The fish will be fine. Just don't go overboard and give it time to recover.

Oohh!! She is actually a he!!! That's great, thanks for mentioning that. I've done 3 water changes since your last reply so I hope he recovers soon!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

She's active here and there especially when I approach the tank. Today I fed her a single flake to see how her appetite was. You'd think I starved her for a week the way she darted at the food lol. No appetite issues.

Ahh!! I'm really sorry you're going through a mini cycle!! It's really is tough *sighs*. We can do it! Even if it is confusing, I'm glad people like you are on this website to give good advice despite your own struggles!

That's really good, still having an appetite is a great sign You're clearly going to be on top of water testing and changes, and you saved all the old filter media, so hopefully it won't take long for your tank to be cycled and back to normal, and your fish will be better soon!

Thank you kindly It's okay, I had to switch out an entire filter and not use the old media (contaminated, long story) and put a brand new filter on, so I expected a mini cycle. It's just dragged on longer than expected, but it happens! I'll just throw myself a mini party when I can go back to normal weekly water changes instead of huge daily changes!

The small white dots on the gill cover indicate the fish is a male that is coming into breeding condition. Male goldfish will develop the small white dots on the side of their gill cover and on their pectoral fins. Female goldfish don't get the white dots.

I never knew this, interesting! Nice bit of info to learn

@tallentemma does your goldie have a name? Is this going to require a name change? He's a lovely looking fish. I'm not usually into fancy goldfish, so it really means something if I think a goldfish is gorgeous, lol.

 

[tallentemma]

That's really good, still having an appetite is a great sign You're clearly going to be on top of water testing and changes, and you saved all the old filter media, so hopefully it won't take long for your tank to be cycled and back to normal, and your fish will be better soon!

Thank you kindly It's okay, I had to switch out an entire filter and not use the old media (contaminated, long story) and put a brand new filter on, so I expected a mini cycle. It's just dragged on longer than expected, but it happens! I'll just throw myself a mini party when I can go back to normal weekly water changes instead of huge daily changes!

I never knew this, interesting! Nice bit of info to learn

@tallentemma does your goldie have a name? Is this going to require a name change? He's a lovely looking fish. I'm not usually into fancy goldfish, so it really means something if I think a goldfish is gorgeous, lol.

I hope you have a grand ol time with your mini party lol. It's definitely something worth celebrating. I always choose gender neutral names for my pets just in case something like this happens so I have no troubles with renaming lol. His name is Ester! (Eh-stur). I'm glad I chose a beauty