Extremely distressed newbie

[Strider]

Originally posted by Nischint
And I felt lonely...

7. Could I add one multi-coloured baby turtle in this tank and will it get along with the fish?

Do not buy a turtle and put it in a fish set up. And do not put any turtle in a bowl. www.kingsnake.com This is a great place for turtle care information. I suggest you not buy a turtle and just concetrate on the advice for your fish.

And pinballqueen a fish bowl is never a good place to put any semi-aquatic turtle. They require heat, filtration, lighting requirements and land area for basking.

 

[Nischint]

A Bloody Christmas...

I think it's the ABC Murders all over again

I went out on Christmas night, I have a few Christian friends, and even more friends from other religions who celebrated Christmas. I was gone for only a day, leaving my brother with responsibility of feeding the fish. I don't think it was his fault at all, I do think he should have told me if he saw a dead platy in the tank.

Yes, yes, it's true. Out of the five platys I had, only one has survived. The first one to die, I posted about. But three other died today. When I got home, I did a 20 % water change again. Later, while counting the fish (I have a lot of time on my hands), I couldn't find some of the platys. One of them was behind the plastic plant, hidden behind it, laying dead.. Another one had passed away under one of the rocks I had planted as a hiding place. And the last one, the smallest of them all, was alive when I got home and even during the water change. In fact, he looked weak and wasn't swimming around much. After a few minutes, he was gone too.

I had just one left who also looked like he was gonna give up, at least by tonight. In my anguish, I called the store guy and he asked me one simple question: After the water change, do I add at least a drop of the fish rot and the itch medicines?

I swear I could have killed myself, had it not been for the fact that the other fish depend on me.

After I put in the medication, he was fine and is now swimming along very nicely.

Hang on, I take back my words.

I just looked at Asgard again and the platy, although alive, seems to be limp. He's not moving around much and keeps going under the rocks, like he's looking for a place to die. Most of the times, he's just lying down the way the current (from the pumps and filter) makes him, on his side, or on his back. He'll struggle a bit and then try to come up but will settle down on the gravel again. I can see his fins moving and his gills moving, but I think he's gonna die.

Someone help me quickly. Please!!!!!!!!!!!



Posted a few seconds after the earlier cry for help

He's dead

I've lost all my five platys. I am a bad aquarist. I'm ashamed of calling myself one and thereby insulting all of you.

Why is this happening to me???

Symptons during death (and I think they were common for all the platys)

1. Floating around in the tank, limp and almost lifeless, except there is motion in the gills and fins.
2. Moving sluggishly and generally going along with the current, whether on its side or back
3. Hiding behind a rock or plant and breathing its last
4. The goldfish stay away from the victim
5. The stomach, or at least where I think the stomach is, is bloated and white in colour
6. A few seconds before death, a frantic movement of the fins which does not make them go anywhere
7. When this particular platy looked fine, I tried to feed some flake, but the goldfish just didn't any reach him
8. Tried confining the other fish, so I could feed him, manually if necessary but the platy wouldn't eat.
   [/list=1]
   
   Someone please help me. I don't want to lose all my fish. I can't take the pain to see another being die, without any explanation or reason.
   
   I'm determined to be a good aquarist

 

[Cichlid Woman]

Okay, help me, I can't remember ...

Exactly what fish have you got in there now? And have you got an ammonia test kit, and what is the ammonia reading? And are you dechlorinating new water with a chemical additive before you put it in the tank?

For now, for the platy: if you've got Stress Coat or Novaqua or something like that, put a few squirts in the tank. It may help.

Most of all: do not get discouraged! This, too, shall pass, and you'll have a gorgeous tank when it settles down.


-- Pat

 

[Nischint]

Fish I've Got (alive at least)
2 Koi (Rainbow) goldfish (each about 6 inches long)
2 Koi (Rainbow) goldfish (each about 2 inches long)
2 Black goldfish (each about 2 inches long)
2 White goldfish (each about 2 inches long)
4 Orange goldfish (each about 2 inches long)

In a 29 gallon tank, called Asgard.

I do not have an ammonia test kit, and I don't think they're available in my city, unless they're imported and really expensive. Or maybe I'm just ignorant.

Whenever I do a water change, I drop in a capful of de-chlorinating agent in the bucket of water, and siphon it into the tank.

The platy is dead, so putting stress coat or Novaqua is useless, obviously. What are they anyways?? I don't think they're available here in India.

I am already getting very discouraged. If you recall, this is the sixth fish I'm losing, in one week!!

 

[Nischint]

Changing the architecture

Of course, I'm going to do this at a much later stage, but is it possible to sorta redesign a tank?

BTW, I think I'm over the deaths.

I want to move the plants a little behind and dunno how to do this in my tank.

One more thing. My submersible water filter is at the back of the tank, so it sucks in water from the bottom and pushes it out on top, but in the center of the tank. As such, there's a current that cuts across the tank, which makes it a little tough for the goldfish to get to either side. I want to turn it a bit, so that it still sucks in water from the bottom, but pushes it out on the side, at the back of the tank. That way, there's no current, except at the back, where the heater is. My goldfish can then swim around, without being pushed by the current.

Is it okay to do that and will it have any effect on the fish whatsoever?

 

[Cichlid Woman]

So you're going to go with a goldfish tank instead of the tropical fish you originally intended? Different fish, different needs, different behavior, different situation altogether. A goldfish tank is not a tropical fish tank.

I think there are still too many fish in there. Goldfish are heavy waste producers, and that's a lot of daily work (especially with so many in the tank) for fish you didn't choose in the first place. Is it too late to get them out of there and get the kind you wanted?

Either way, you're going to need an ammonia test kit. It's worth trying to find one, although you can pretty much count on an ongoing ammonia problem with all the goldfish in there. The symptoms you describe could well be the last stages of ammonia poisoning, which is what I'm willing to bet killed your fish.

But even if you go tropical fish instead, you'll need to watch the ammonia at first, and do water changes as necessary until the tank's fully cycled (about a month). If the test kit is very expensive, maybe I can mail you one. They're only about $4 over here, and I'd be happy to do it to keep a new aquarium enthusiast in the hobby! (With the luck you've had so far, I can't blame you for feeling down.)

Rethink what you want, and go from there. Hope this helps.

-- Pat

 

[Nischint]

Do I have a choice???

It is a little too late to get the fish I wanted and I actually want to see how I do with this group before I indulge in any more fishes, just to make sure I don't kill them with my stupidity. Maybe once I'm 200 % sure that my tank is cycled and I can handle fish, then I'll get rid of the goldfish and get the ones I wanted.

I called a few places and none of them seem to have those ammonia test kits, not unusual since there are few fish lovers here, unless the fish are the edible kind.

If it's not too much trouble, please do send me the test kit. I'm sending you my postal address via PM. Thanks, I really have no way of showing my gratitude for the amount of help I've got here so far.

BTW, water's becoming a little hazy now, like light whitish hazy.

 

[pinballqueen]

So, tell me, did the fish store guy tell you that those koi are fully grown? I couldn't remember if that is what you said or not, but they most certainly aren't, if that's what he told you. I wasn't familiar with the term rainbow when you mentioned them before. Koi get really huge. They are the lovely guys in Japanese ponds that are, say, a foot long....

Anyhow, you said your tank is cloudy, kind of like someone poured chalk or milk into it? Good. That's a bacterial bloom. With any luck, that will cure your ammonia problems.

Now, something to watch for...make sure the tank doesn't develop a green cast during this phase. If it does, it's not a bacterial bloom, it's an algae bloom, which, quite frankly, sucks.

You're almost home-free. Keep up the good work, you're doing fine. All of the fish deaths you have experienced are an unfortunate side-effect of cycling with fish.

Oh, on a side note, to answer your question about Stress Coat, it's basically a dechlorination treatment with aloe vera extract, which helps fish maintain their slime coat and soothes anything that hurts...(the same plant you rub on burns and cuts yourself...). I don't think it would've helped your platy, though. The ammonia was too much for anything that sensitive.

Don't give up yet, Asgard will be gorgeous before you know it!

EDIT: I also wanted to take a moment to apologize for the inaccurate advice I gave on turtles. Common sense should've told me better. Also, any information I am giving about cycling with fish comes because I cycle with fish (or always have, I'm gonna try the critter-free method next time to see which I prefer). Folks who cycle without fish may have other information that I am unaware of. Your tank seems to be doing a very similar dance to what mine always have, so I'm running with it...

 

[Sting]

I have to be quite honest and say, even after the months of painstaking research I did to make my first tank as perfect as it could have been for it's residents (and I literally researched MONTHS) every single one of my first fish ended up dying. It's not that this will happen to everyone, or you, or even that I am a bad fishkeeper (and even if I was I've gotten better LOL in fact we determined it was our fish store and we've changed) it's just trial and error. The way we learn from mistakes. Don't worry, I am sure you're goldfish will most likely ALL live. It's just you weren't given a choice in the beginning, your dad made the decisions for you, and it did cause some problems. If you are sure they are Koi, you are pretty bad off, seeing as pinballqueen is right, and they will get enormous every single one of them, and that is not a good thing. You should not listen to you fish store owner on this one, and you really should just return them.

I can only recommend that if you return your fish, that you ask for 3 small zebra danios (if they are available in India where you live) and remove all the other fish in your tank. Let it completely cycle, buy the ammonia kit, and when it reaches 0, add the rest of your fish slowly and surely that none die. Be careful when you add them, make sure to properly acclimate them (like you did, which was right on) and make sure they are comfortable and do not get ich, it can literally ruin your tank. Also, get a heater or thermometer and make sure your tank's temperature is around the 75 degrees (if you go the tropical route, goldfish are different and I don't know much about their temperature requirements).

Do not stress! There is always problems in a beginning fish tank, please don't give up. Just hang in there, I promise you, you are a great fish keeper, you just need to relax, and realize mistakes happen, and you must learn from them. Your tank will be beautiful in no time.

 

[Nischint]

Well, well, wouldn't you know it? Loads of other people have had the same problems Makes me feel just a tad better that I'm not the only one.

Actually, the store guy didn't say that the koi were fully grown, i just assumed, since I've never seen or known tank fish that could get so big. So that's another little mistake on my part. Here, they're also called rainbow goldfish, mostly becoz of ignorance by the general masses.

Yep, the water's getting cloudy, exactly the way you mentioned, though it's not getting greenish, so it can't be an algae bloom. Is it wise to do a 20 % water change now?? And should I turn the filter output head to the side, like I asked earlier???

A friend of mine said that while feeding freeze dried worms, I should first soak them in water for a few minutes and then put them in the fish. Apparently, the worms become bigger when in contact with water. Is this true??

Once my tank cycling is complete and stable, only then can I return the koi and other fish. Hope that's soon, I can't stand the big ones. They poop the most and eat the most. Bloody fish!!!