My Fish Are Dying

[goldfishies]

Hi.. I'm 13 years old and i sort of new to having a tank. I have never had any problems until now. If anyone can help me with this that would be great.I have had a fish tank for 3 years and i have had the same fish for 3 years. About 4 weeks ago all of the fish started acting funny 1 of the fish couldn't swim, it just laid at the bottom. This fish(OJ) is turning all black, used to be bright orange. OJ no longer swims and hasn't eaten in 3 weeks. the ends of its tail and all it fins are turning black. The other fish that have also been in the tank for 3 years are fine but they try to eat OJ. I don't want the fish to die please help Thanks

 

[dcarmor927]

What are your water stats? (pH, ammonia, nitrItes, nitrAtes)
Also how often do you do water changes?

 

[doresy]

sounds like ammonia is through the roof

 

[Chris w]

when was your last water change as it sounds as though you have major water problems

i would imediatly do a 50% water change as they are gold fish in theory you could do a 100% water chang making sure you use a water treatment to remove chlorine etc

difficult to recomend a brand as you do not state which country you are residing in.

stop feeding untill you see inprovements in the fish is condition,

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litries.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats like other members have asked for.

Black patches can be ammonia burns that are healing.
Turning completely black can mean many things even cancer.
Need to rule out bad water quality.

 

[goldfishies]

I have a 75 gallon tank and it get quite costly to do a full water change so we do a quater water change about every 2 months then around every 8 months i do a full water change. I do not know what any of the stats are, I don't know how to check them.

 

[goldfishies]

I am from Toledo, Ohio, United States..
If i change all the water won't some of the fish die because their is no bacteria or anything in the tank. It is a 75 gallon tank so it is hard to do a 100% water change because it is very costly.

 

[goldfishies]

I have a 75 gallon tank.. I have 4 goldfish that i have had for 3 years.. 3 Tetra Rosy Reds.
I do not know what the water stats are because I do not Know how to test for them considering I am only 13.

How do I know how much amonia is in the tank and what levels of amonia are good and what levels are bad.

If I take the sick fish out and put it in another tank will it help keep the other fish healthy

 

[OldMan47]

At the very least you should be doing a 20% water change every 2 weeks. That assumes that you never overfeed the fish and that the goldfish are not full grown. With your small water changes every 2 months, the fish are probably experiencing poor water conditions. A water change on half that tank would be about as much water as it takes to fill a bathtub. It does cost money but should not be prohibitively expensive. A minimum to get things started would be a 75% water change. To have the same effect using smaller water changes will end up taking more water.

 

[Ally555]

What do you mean it is to costly to do a large water change?

And also, it is not hard to do water stat tests. I am 13 and I do them!

 

[ParsonsD]

You need to hit a water change right away!! Sounds like your ammonia build up is practically illegal!! =[ i wouldnt like to see your results on them! Id say a minimum of 75% water change, and keep on top of them! =] With them turning black it could be for many reasons, but the way it sounds, id say its burns from the ammonia. Do you have any source of filtration in your tank? I should hope so, seeing as your rare water changes are kept to a minimum.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

actually guys we need to be careful here, sounds likle old tank syndrome, a large water change will be too much of a shock and could kill the fish. you need to do small daily water changes to bring it round.

to test the water you need to buy a water testing kit, i recommend the API fresh water master test kit, it's readily available on ebay, not sure of the prices where you are but it's only about 15 quid in the UK so not that expensive.

can you explain why water changes are expensive for you, I'm wondering if you're doing something that you don't need to do as they shouldn't be expensive at all.

the good bacteria do not live free swimming in the water, they cling on to surfaces, particularly the sponges and other things in the filter, so you can remove as much water as you like the bacteria will remain in the filter.

you need to order a water testing kit ASAP, every day until it arrives change 10% of the water, when it arrives follow the instructions and test the water and let us know what the readings come out as then we can give you some more specific advice.

 

[goldfishies]

The water change is expesive because the water that i would other wise use has rust in it, the other possibility is softened water... so i buy gallons of distilled water.. I don't know if what I am doing is correct so any suggestions would be very helpful.

If the water is high in amonia will a 100% water change do the trick.. If not what else should i do to get rid of the high amonia levels.

Thanks for all the help you have given me so far Miss Wiggle!!

 

[OldMan47]

Distilled water is a bad choice. It contains no minerals at all. You would be much better off getting a filter to remove the iron and using tap water. Compared to buying distilled water, a filter to clean the iron from your water would be cheap. It would also avoid exposing the fish to mineral free water. I finally understand why you think water changes are expensive. As MW said, you may have worked yourself into a corner where the water is so bad the fish won't survive a large water change. In that case you will need to work up to it gradually but you need to understand that will take even more water to do. If you can't get a filter for the iron, it would be better for you to use plain drinking water than distilled water.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes use normal drinking water from the tap but use a double dose of dechlorinator in it, definately do lots of small water changes over the next few days and then you can work to a point where you do a regular weekly water change this way.