dying gold fish

[angelianmickie]

long post sorry

Ok so I went and bought 20 feeder gold fish for my 55 gal tank to get it cycled and to make sure everything was okie dokie while i decided what i was gonna put in the tank long term

don't get mad at me I know someone is going to say that is too many gold fish for the tank, but they are still little and my lfs is great about taking my bigger "and free for them" fish off my hands and selling them for more.

any way they are all fat (compared to the sunken bellied things they were a couple of weeks ago at the lfs) and I thought happy. but now 4 have died, about one a day. everyone seems happy going after the chow (just flakes, and the occasional microworm(gotta keep my culture going in case I decide on baby fish again) like crazy. then one will get all depressed and die.

the one today, that hasn't died yet, I noticed, has a sunken in belly and a big chest that i didn't notice the other day.

ammonia 0
nitrItes 0
nitrates <20
ph 7.2
temp 72
hardness pretty low
HOB filter
undergravel filter
diatom filter if needed (makes the water sparkely clean)

like i said they are just feeder fish, but some of them i have grown fond of (they are starting to show a little personality) and i really don't want all of them to die with out knowing what it is that is killing them off. Any thoughts?

 

[Firebelly__girl]

You really dont know with feeder fish, their kept in bad conditions their whole life untill they become food, but your tank sounds cycled already and they could just be bad fish. But aren't you taking the feeder fish back to the store since its cycled?

 

[angelianmickie]

yeah I will be taking them back as soon as i decide what I will be putting in the tank, I'm still undecided though thanks

 

[DLV082]

I know how you feel. Feeder fish or not I wouldn't like them to just die off not knowing why. Question, How often are doing a water change???

Cheers
Debbie

 

[angelianmickie]

they seemed to stop dying, so I don't know what the problem was. I do water changes about every other day, about a third of the tank.

 

[angelianmickie]

well they have quit dying so maybe it was just sick fish. but now they are just happy as can be, and holy cow they grow fast!

 

[Coler]

just feeder fish probs I imagine, having regard to your water readings - kept in such overcrouded conditions in the LFS that they are very susceptible to disease.