how to not kill fish- any helps?

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with your fishkeeping but there are many things to consider.

First things first.

Water quality for your fish is of utmost importance. There's no way around it. You must insure that your fish are living in water that is clean and free from toxic byproducts.

The main reason for illness in aquarium fish is poor water quality. This lowers their immune system and makes them more succeptable to all kinds of illnesses. Good, clean, in fact, pristine water can help them have healthy immune systems and, therefore, help them fight off many diseases and illnesses.

In the wild the fish live in bodies of water that have a constant inflow and exchange of fresh water, keeping harmful toxic byproducts from accumulating. There are also plants in the wild as well that help to remove toxins.

In a fish tank, the fish are basically in a glass or acrylic box. Their water has to be managed by their fishkeeper because they poo and pee, they eat food and leave some that falls to the bottom and decays, and these things cause dangerous toxic byproducts, namely ammonia, and then nitrites, and then nitrates. The ph can progressively become more acidic as well due to the ammonia buildup.

You can not know what the condition of their water is without good testing equipment. A liquid test kit, NOT STRIPS, is absolutely a must. Strips are unreliable, give false readings, are inaccurate. A total waste of money. Liquid test kits cost more up front but last for months and months and so are much more cost effective.

You must test regularly, and in the case of a new tank or new fishkeeper, daily for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph. GH and KH would be good to know as well, but you absolutely HAVE to know what the levels of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph is good to know, though fish tolerate a wide range of ph.

A filtration system is absolutely necessary, because it helps to remove harmful components of the fishtank's water, but it also, and most importantly, helps with the removal of ammonia and then nitrates by supporting a healthy colony of beneficial bacteria that will develop in the biofilter, as well as substrate, decor, etc.

Even with that, the fishkeeper must remove water regularly to remove harmful byproducts by having a regular schedule of water changes, adding back water that has been conditioned with a good conditioner that removes chlorine, chloramines, heavy metals, if present, and one that detoxifies ammonia and nitrites would be best, PRIME is a good one), and that is the same temperature as that in the tank.

The tank size you have is at 400 liters, 105 gallons. Goldfish are messy fish and need a lot of water and a lot of filtration. Fancy goldfish need at least 15 gallons per fish and comets need 20 gallon per fish, so you need to take that into consideration when stocking your tank.

When stocking your tank you have to take into consideration the needs of the fish, how big the fish can ultimately get, compatibility, bioload or messiness, and swimming room. You don't want your tank to have too many fish in it.

Loaches are very social fish and need others of their kind so he's probably pretty lonely, so I would rehome him if it were my fish so he can be happy. I certainly wouldn't add fish right now until you can get things under control.

"Cotton mouth" is probably Columnaris, which is a bacterial infection, and very serious actually. You did well to disinfect your tank but you may yet have more problems if the loach and the fantail were exposed to the fish with this infection. I assume you do not have the sick fish, the ones with "cotton mouth", anymore.

The fantail is probably suffering from illness due to poor water quality and exposure to columnaris, and he may most probably have an infection due to the bacteria that causes columnaris. It may not show obvious signs of that yet, at least, that is, since you are fairly new at this you may not see signs that he has it, but he probably does.

Isolating him and treating him for infection may be advisable. There may be another problem, but considering the history in your tank, if he were mine, I would put him in a small, filtered, temp controlled hospital tank (10 gallon plastic tub is OK) first, keeping him in pristine water with big daily water changes (75-80%), and see if he improves over the next 24 hours.

If not, then I would go ahead and use Maracyn and Maracyn II, which treat gram negative and gram positive infection.

While treating with those meds do daily big water changes, 24 hours after each dosing of the hospital tank, and do this every day for at least 10 days. I would do 80% water changes with conditioned (as described) water and dose, then 24 hours do the same for 10 days.

I've read that goldfish and all its varieties do well with a bit of salt in the water when they are not feeling well, though I'm not experienced in how much. I would do a search for that info if I were you, and add a bit if that is recommended in the information you find.

It is absolutely imperative that you provide him with absolutely pristine water. NO ammonia, NO nitrites, and temp must match. Keep it on the cool side of comfortable for a fantail, as columnaris likes warm water, but his species likes fairly cool water anyway.

Addressing the nitrite issue that you are having: Did you wash or remove the biofilter when you cleaned out your tank? Probably you have no beneficial bacteria left, at least not the bacteria that break down nitrites. It will take some time for the beneficial bacteria to come back and re-establish itself in adequate quantities to do what it needs to do.

It is strange to only be reading nitrites in a tank that lost its biofilter, if that is the case. Although, if you are using strips for testing then that can be the reason that you get inconsistent readings.

If you are using strips for either or both of those parameters then you are probably not getting an accurate reading. You must get the liquid test kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph. The API Master test kit is great. Go ahead and invest in it... it is worth it, really, if you want to try to do everything you can to be a good fishkeeper, and I know you do want that because you're here asking for help.

I think you know, from the others of your posts and threads I've read, about the nitrogen cycle and how these beneficial bacteria must be present to break down ammonia to nitrite, then nitrite to nitrate, then you remove water to keep nitrate down to 20ppm or less.
(plants help with nitrate removal as they use it as fertiizer)

So, if you do know anyone with a healthy tank that can provide you with squeezings from an established filter, or a piece of foam or filter floss from their filter to place in your filter to help seed the biofilter that would be helpful. Where do you live? Maybe one of our members does live near you.

I hope this information helps. I know you want to try to have healthy happy fish and you are trying to learn how to be a good fishkeeper. Work hard, and don't give up on trying to do right by your fish. Best wishes for your success.

Leah beat me to it with great advice, newbie. I hope you do your best to follow the helpful advice you receive here on AC.

We all want you to succeed.

^^^ Sound advice!

Maybe more experienced people will have better advice than I can offer . . . I would add a filter, and if you can get some cycled media from the fish store, put that in the filter.

Or if it won't fit in the filter, put it in a corner of the tank and leave it there for a month.

The cycled media could be anything -- bio balls, a sponge, ceramic pebbles, some gravel from a cycled tank from the store -- anything the store can give you that has a colony of good bacteria already growing on it.

Also, how much are you feeding the fish? For one fish, he just needs one small pinch of food per day . . . he needs to eat every bit of food in 1 or 2 minutes. Some of his lethargy may be coming from too much food in the tank. As the food breaks down, it releases a lot of ammonia (which eventually gets turned into nitrite). That's toxic to fish, and with repeated feedings, the toxins build up.

It's easy to feed a fish too much! Only give a pinch of flakes or a pinch of pellets. There should be nothing left over in the tank after he is done eating. If he won't eat, the food needs to be scooped out right away.

Hope that helps!

I don't know what else to say but Melody has covered everything.:iagree: I dunno how you managed this extremely long post, Mel.erv:

If the loach is a dojo, keeping one is fine. They don't necessarily need another partner although they interact readily with their company if you plan to get another. A 105g can support at least four dojos assuming your loach is a dojo of course. I just had to skim through some paragraphs so I do not know if you already indicated what species your loach is. Please add only when your issues have been resolved.

Regardless of the circumstances, I would still add a filter to cope with the wastes done by your fish.

Edit:

Melody Doucet said:

The fantail is probably suffering from illness due to poor water quality and exposure to columnaris, and he may most probably have an infection due to the bacteria that causes columnaris. It may not show obvious signs of that yet, at least, that is, since you are fairly new at this you may not see signs that he has it, but he probably does.

Isolating him and treating him for infection may be advisable. There may be another problem, but considering the history in your tank, if he were mine, I would put him in a small, filtered, temp controlled hospital tank (10 gallon plastic tub is OK) first, keeping him in pristine water with big daily water changes (75-80%), and see if he improves over the next 24 hours.

If not, then I would go ahead and use Maracyn and Maracyn II, which treat gram negative and gram positive infection.

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Spot on advice. One thing to note regarding the use of antibiotics is that they can destroy most beneficial bacteria so expect your ammonia and nitrite to elevate dangerously. A test kit is really needed to be able to monitor the water parameters properly while the fish is under treatment.

I've read that goldfish and all its varieties do well with a bit of salt in the water when they are not feeling well, though I'm not experienced in how much. I would do a search for that info if I were you, and add a bit if that is recommended in the information you find.

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The salt can neutralize nitrite intoxication but water changes is much a better option than to add salt.

Lupin said:

I don't know what else to say but Melody has covered everything.:iagree: I dunno how you managed this extremely long post, Mel.erv:

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Thanks, Lups, I guess I'm kinda long-winded, lol, and that translates into lottsa typing.

I wouldn't take the fish out the tank. Whatever other container you have to put them in will also have to cycle, and by taking them out the cycle that is going on in your tank will be stopped (unless you plan to add pure ammonia). It's much better to keep them in but make sure you do large water changes and test daily to keep the parameters at the right place.

As for API test kits, I would search around on the internet. I recently bought one from my LFS for £30, looked on the 'net and found one for £16. You want the API Freshwater Master Kit which is a liquid kit. It takes about 10 minutes max to do the test and t will take away any uncertainty you feel about what you're doing with the water. Strip tests are a bg no as they are extremely inaccurate.

I think that everything everybody else has suggested is all you need - anyone coming and visiting you would just do the same thing. You probably won't be able to get US brand meds here, but try the internet. Otherwise if you can find someone more knowledgeable than me on the state of UK meds, they might be able to suggest alternatives. I know that doing lots of WCs is a pain (I've had three fish in 'hospital' for the last three weeks - three tanks to clean everyday!) but if you get on with it there will be less pain in the long run.