My Big Goldfish Are Dying...

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wxguy23

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May 22, 2006
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I have a 55 gallon with two big filters on it. I keep it clean and It stays clear...just a small bit of algae.

I have 3 "Big Belly Fantails" about the size of my hand and two common feeder fish that my wife "rescued"

I had 4 big belly fish, one died last month along with my snail now another one has just died. The last time I check, a month or so ago, my water was good...just a little high on the nitrates. I did a water change on Sunday and that is when my latest death started swimming drunk, just now it has finally died.

What could be the problem? They look so healthy. I did notice that he was opening his mouth a lot.

On a side note...can I put a blue crawfish in the tank with them??
 

bettagurl

Colby's Pincher (24X)
Aug 5, 2006
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get rid of the feeders,they are probably comets which need at least 75 gals each.
they can get around 2ft,how long have you had them?
 

DaisyTattoo

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Jan 11, 2006
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What are your tank parameters? Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia? What temp do you keep the tank at? I am with bettagurl about removing the "feeder" goldfish. They need a pond.
 

5TankHarmony

Trichogaster Trichopterus
Sep 6, 2006
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It's odd that I'm the first one asking this, but what exactly are the fish? Orandas? Pearlscales? Ranchus?
 

kmgriff72

AC Members
Jun 5, 2006
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You only check your water parameters once a month? Are you putting a dechlorinator in the water and how often are you changing your water?
 

bzboy

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Nov 4, 2004
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I'm going to take a guess and say that your tank needs oxygenation. What kind of filter are you running? My ryukins did the same thing (lots of mouth opening) which I presumed was air hunger. This was during my switching over to a FX5. I added a bubble wand and that made all the difference. We definitely need more info on your setup
 

wxguy23

AC Members
May 22, 2006
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Well lets see...

I have a 55 gallon. Two Auquaclear 70s filter. I now have two pot belly fan tail(with really long tails) and two normal single tail goldfish(feeder)

I have a sucker fish too.

I have a bubble bar and a oyster with bubbles

I change my water 20-30% every couple of weeks(they are clean!) The water is crytal clear and I use de-chlorinater(sp) and stress coat. I use aquarium salt and I clean the filters but leave the "bio rock" alone.

I have had the fish for about a year. I have lost two fan tails in the last couple of months and a large snail.

I have a problem with nitrates or nitrites...not sure which one, but I got a filter bag to fix it last night. I got some meds for the fish to help with their belly and intestines. One set of meds is a pill(10 of them) and also some liquid jell stuff they are supposed to eat( I am at work so I don't know all the names). I did all this last night and my fish still died! What the heck??? This all cost about $60 more than twice what I paid for all the fish!

How do I fix nitrates/nitrites? Because of the filter bag, I had to take out the carbon and now my water is cloudy! They said I need to leave the bag in for a month!

Does this answer all questions?
 

TKOS

Registered User of Fish
Feb 6, 2003
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Nitrates are fixed with water changes. Ideally you want to keep the levels below 20ppm. This probably menas much more frequent water changes than 20% every coupe of weeks. Persoanlly I try to that as a min every week if not more. The nitrate bag is probably a waste of time.

But before doign anythign I would have your water tested from the tank and compare that to out of the tap. It would be good to see if your tank levels have crashed. If so doing large water changes right now could lead to more deaths (do a forum search for old tank syndrom). A tank doesn't have to be that odl for OTS to set in and with your bioload it could happen fairly quickly.
 

Dangerdoll

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Aug 27, 2002
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in addition to TKOS, on the topic of OTS setting in, the infrequency of water changes, the fish you have in this tank as well... they all add up for the high nitrites.... For goldfish tanks, especially this many, you would need double the filtration as marked for a typical tropical tank, and a water change once or twice a week would be the minimum to keep the tank healthy. Goldfish are very messy fish and do more damage than you can see to a tank. Just because it looks clear, doesn't mean it is.
 

wxguy23

AC Members
May 22, 2006
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filters

You mean to tell me that the two 70s that I have are not enough?

What if I gave the two feeders away and had just 4 fantails?

And are you suggesting I clean up to twice a week? That is a lot. When do I enjoy this?

Heck, I might as well do salt water, I've been told you chage the water every 45 days
 
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