Posted Earlier Today, Now Got My Readings, Can Anyone Give Me Advise O

[sallyann]

Posted here today, under sick goldfish, urgent help needed, spoke with miss wiggle, advised me to get my readings tested, so did, here they are, ammonia 0.45, nitrate 0.45, nitrate 10, ph, 8.0. I have done 25% as recommended by the pet shop, and am taking another reading in tomorrow, so I hope it has improved, I have some stuff called Proper Ph 7.5, never used, should I add some of that, please read earlier post for further details of problem.

 

[Davo86]

ammonia 0.45, nitrate 0.45, nitrate 10, ph, 8.0.

Your ammonia and nitrite readings should both be 0, These are both highly toxic to fish and could eaily cause your fish to become ill,
do regular small water changes to bring the readings down to 0

 

[sallyann]

just checked my ph as I have a kit for that, and it is now 7.4, don't know about other readings, am going to get them checked in the morning, I did do a big water change about 3 weeks ago, someone said the tank could be cycling, as did the guy in the pet store, what does that mean?
I have made many mistakes with these fish, including changing the whole tank water and adding completly new water every 3 weeks, thus getting rid of the good bacteria, I have had these fish for 10 years, one is very sick now, but the other is ok. I have vowed to make the their lives better, from now on, but nobody tells you these things when you buy a fish, I am thinking of getting a new tank for the remaining goldfish, if the other does not make it, but don't want to stress the sick one out by changing tanks, any advice

 

[Davo86]

Goldfish naturally produce high levels of waste and so regular water changes of around 30% or more are required to keep the water conditions at a safe level, Goldfish are fairly hardy and so quite often will seem fine when they are infact living in water that contains high toxins.

Does the tank have a filter? If you have recently totally cleaned the filter then you could well be seeing a mini cycle occuring in the tank, which is very basicly a stage when bacteria is in development in the filter and when toxins are rising and falling.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

just checked my ph as I have a kit for that, and it is now 7.4, don't know about other readings, am going to get them checked in the morning, I did do a big water change about 3 weeks ago, someone said the tank could be cycling, as did the guy in the pet store, what does that mean?

This article is good for explaining what cycling is (sometimes also called "new tank syndrome") and basically how water quality works in aquariums and more;

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...-tank-syndrome/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/New-to-t...-tank-syndrome/[/URL]

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I have made many mistakes with these fish, including changing the whole tank water and adding completly new water every 3 weeks, thus getting rid of the good bacteria, I have had these fish for 10 years, one is very sick now, but the other is ok. I have vowed to make the their lives better, from now on, but nobody tells you these things when you buy a fish, I am thinking of getting a new tank for the remaining goldfish, if the other does not make it, but don't want to stress the sick one out by changing tanks, any advice

What is your average tank cleaning regime (water changes, cleaning substrate and filter etc) now days and how do you go about it exactly and how often? Do you use dechlorinator and what do you feed the goldfish on average and how often/much ?

I agree Davo that the ammonia and nitrites should really be 0, anything more than 0 and they can cause issues to the fish- its very important to find out what caused the ammonia and nitrites to be present in the tank so you can help avoid making the same mistakes .
I agree that people like pet shop staff aren't very good at telling customers important and correct info that they need to know about their fish etc, but unfortunately this is one of the draw backs of the low wages and thus lack of training that many pet shop staff receive- at the end of the day its always best to do your own research with stuff like fishkeeping because of this .

 

[sallyann]

Goldfish naturally produce high levels of waste and so regular water changes of around 30% or more are required to keep the water conditions at a safe level, Goldfish are fairly hardy and so quite often will seem fine when they are infact living in water that contains high toxins.

Does the tank have a filter? If you have recently totally cleaned the filter then you could well be seeing a mini cycle occuring in the tank, which is very basicly a stage when bacteria is in development in the filter and when toxins are rising and falling.

Hi, yes the tank has a filter, a fluvel one type, with a sponge, I have just recently started to rinse it out in the tank water, not the tap water but again did not know i was doing more harm, how long before the toxins are at a safe level, do i need to change water every day, 25% at a time til it improves, as i said one fish very sick, think bacterail problem, other fish ok

 

[sallyann]

My cleaning consists of weekly 30% water changes, hoovering gravel, I do add safe water to get rid of Chlorine, I feed the fish once a day, dry food, chopped up peas, and sometimes bloodworm in sachets. i also rinse the filter out in tap water, did you read my earleir post about sick fish.
This poor fish has been really sick for the last week, started a fortnight ago swimming upside down, so got some aquarium salt thought swim bladder probs, still got worse, gasping , clamped fins, at bottom of tank, so last wednesday put some anti internal bacteria meds in, not much improvement, fish on its side now, coming out in black streaks on its side and edges of some fins, other fish is perfectly ok. I really don't know what to do, this little fish is such a fighter, I dread going in to the room to look at it, in case he has died, fish about 10 years old

soz, meant to say tank water not tap water its late!!!