Serious Problems I Babies Are Probably Going To Die!

[goldfishjunkie]

I have 4 goldfish....I currently have had 2 for about a month in a half. They were in a small starter tank and were doing fine other then being skiddish. I went out and bought a 10 gallon so that they could have a better place to live. I got a filter, thermometer, air stone and pump, and a light....everything other then a heater. Which I was told that goldfish are fine without one. Well the ph was 9.0 so I put the required buffer treatment for a 10 gallon. I followed every instruction to a T. I went and bought 2 more fish and put them all in the tank...everybody was doing fine yesterday and now they all lay at the bottom of the tank and one even on his side...he is really on his way out. I checked the Ph again and it was still 9.0...I added same ammount buffer for that size tank and removed 20 percent of the water added conditioner....the tank is cloudy from the buffer...my fish still look like they are about to die...I don't know what to do!! Please help!!

 

[loraxchick]

I have 4 goldfish....I currently have had 2 for about a month in a half. They were in a small starter tank and were doing fine other then being skiddish. I went out and bought a 10 gallon so that they could have a better place to live. I got a filter, thermometer, air stone and pump, and a light....everything other then a heater. Which I was told that goldfish are fine without one. Well the ph was 9.0 so I put the required buffer treatment for a 10 gallon. I followed every instruction to a T. I went and bought 2 more fish and put them all in the tank...everybody was doing fine yesterday and now they all lay at the bottom of the tank and one even on his side...he is really on his way out. I checked the Ph again and it was still 9.0...I added same ammount buffer for that size tank and removed 20 percent of the water added conditioner....the tank is cloudy from the buffer...my fish still look like they are about to die...I don't know what to do!! Please help!!

hi, and welcome to the forum
im afraid to say that 4 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank is just too many fish
despite what the folks at the fish store tell you (or lead you to believe anyway) the minimum size tank for just ONE goldie is in the range of 30 gal, and 10-20 gallons for every additional fish. goldfish are VERY messy and produce a lot of waste and require massive filtration because of that.
4 goldfish in a 10 gallon will most certainly have the fish literally poisoning themselves with their waste. im sorry but either need to seriously upgrade the tank (to somewhere in the neighborhood of 75+gal with big big canister filters) or rehome the goldfish. your water is cloudy no t from the buffer, but from a bacterial bloom from the ammonia that is present in the tank. do a BIG waterchange. wait a few hours and do another big waterchange. see if that helps them out a bit. also dont feed them for a few days, keeping up with waterchanges will be essential
some other folks will come along and give more advice for gold fish care. ive never kept them myself, but know they are fish that require much bigger tanks than you are led to believe, are very messy and produce lots of waste and generally are better suited to a pond type environment.
for now-waterhcange waterchange waterchange!
all the best.
cheers