Whats going on?!

[Henry_VCG_]

Hi, in my 70 litre (14 gallon) Tank I house 2 fish, A feeder fish and a fancy smaller breed of goldfish. I also have a mountain cloud (little pilot fish) and a, now dead sucking cat. They have been house in this tank since December of last year, and they are about 1 year old.

A week ago I noticed the fancy goldfish was looking sickly, hanging around near the bottom, gasping slightly. I checked the ammonia levels and there appeared to be ammonia, so I did a waterchange.

Today the sucking cat in the tank died. It appeared to have blood on it though so i'm not sure if it is just a coincidence. The tank water is slightly yellow so I can't be certain about the ammonia.

I have a dirty filter that I have for the biological side of things, i'm not sure if its a wise idea to change it, its a little overdue. Besides that i've got a powerful one running.

The fancy goldfish is looking sickly as ever and gasping, bad water conditions i'm sure. I'm going to do another water change and I might add some geoliquid (water conditioner)

If worst comes to worste they are going to take a trip to the doctor (great place that accept fish and quarantine them in emergency tanks)

I really hope this isn't too serious and I really don't want either of these fish to die! They have been through a lot and pulled through, I bought there tank especially for them

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Henry

 

[skimpy]

A week ago I noticed the fancy goldfish was looking sickly, hanging around near the bottom, gasping slightly. I checked the ammonia levels and there appeared to be ammonia, so I did a waterchange.

What were your actual ammonia readings. Plus what are the other parameters of your water i.e. PH Nitrite and Nitrate.


Plus what are the readings since the water change

 

[Henry_VCG_]

Sorry skimpy, my nitrites are 0 i'll go test my ph, I don't normally for my coldwaters, I don't have a nitrate tester .

my Ammonia was no more than 0.5 And thats what its reading now. But as I said, the water is yellowish

Nitrite is still 0

Any ideas about the filter? Think I should change it?

 

[Henry_VCG_]

okay Ph is 6 - 6.4 One good sign is that there still eating, if they didn't eat I wouldn't beleive they where still living!!

The feeder fish (meligold) will eat anything I stick in there, including my fingers!! When I walk over to the tank they normally get really active and swim against the glass hoping for food, but dilmah takes a few minutes to cotton on...

Should I not feed them much for a while incase it is ammonia?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Henry_VCG_

Whatever the other parameters are, doesn't matter at this point. The very fact that you have an ammonia reading, where there should be none, tells us that something is wrong. Please do water changes sufficient to get rid of it completely as a means of first aid for the tank.

Now, perhaps your fish have outgrown the tank. This is to be expected with goldfish since they do get large. They may just be producing more ammonia than the beneficial bacteria in your filter can eliminate. You should plan on having no less than 10 gallons per goldfish, so that they can grow and mature in a natural way. Keeping them in a smaller tank will result in stunting their growth. This means that their insides continue to grow while their bodies remain small. Of course, the result of this will be premature death.

If your sucking cat was a pleco, the tank was indeed overstocked.

Don't change your filter media while you are having this problem, but just rinse it well in tank water that you have removed from the tank to preserve the beneficial bacteria. You never have to replace it until it is actually falling apart if you clean it this way.

I suggest that you get your water back to normal while watching for other signs disease because with overcrowding you run the risk of bacterial infections. Clean and fresh water alone often solves many problems.

Good luck and I hope your fish will be well again soon.

 

[Henry_VCG_]

Thanks heaps for the good advice, feel free to call me Henry!! I dont think its overstocked... There appears to be a lot of room to move and the fancy goldfish is smaller than most goldfish and it doesn't grow as rapidly or produce as much waste. The sucking cat was not a pleco. Although I will certainly look into space problems!

I'll water change and rinse the media!! Thanks again!!

Henry

 

[skimpy]

Hi Henry,

Should I not feed them much for a while incase it is ammonia?

I agree get the ammonia down with water changes as a priority and yes do not feed them while ammonia is present.

Good Luck.

edit: I also agree don't change your filter at the moment, concentrate of getting your tank stable first.