My goldfish died :(

[Brittany Johnson]

Forgive me if I'm doing this wrong, but I'm looking for some help/advice. My goldfish died today very unexpectedly. We won him (and 2 others) at a fair 5 years ago. He was a basic goldfish and was larger than the others. I have a 50 gallon tank with a canister filter and feed tetra flakes, pre soaked so they sink. About a year ago, one of my Goldie's passed away from swim bladder, but he had suffered from it for a year plus. He would either float or sink, until I gave him peas. I feel like this fish had weird symptoms come on so quick I treated the water with an antibiotic from the pet store, but it was too late. when I noticed him acting funny, yesterday, I did a half water change. Now that he's passed and the water has been treated, I'll do another partial water change tomorrow. I just ordered new life spectrum food, and plan on upping the food game.
I guess my question is, what happened? Whatever it was, it happened quick. He was also such a healthy looking fish. We are so sad and miss him dearly I would appreciate any advice I can get. Thank you

 

[myswtsins]

Sorry for your loss, goldfish are one of the more social fish and it is easy to form a real attachment to them.

We will need more information to try to help you figure out what could have happened. What are you water parameters (ph, kh, gh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, temp...)? Since you just did a big change and added meds it would be good to know what the parameters were before hand if you know. How often do you do water changes? How much do you change? Do you gravel vac? What were this fish's weird symptoms and define acting funny? Pictures of the tank and fish could be very helpful.

 

[Brittany Johnson]

Sorry for your loss, goldfish are one of the more social fish and it is easy to form a real attachment to them.

We will need more information to try to help you figure out what could have happened. What are you water parameters (ph, kh, gh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, temp...)? Since you just did a big change and added meds it would be good to know what the parameters were before hand if you know. How often do you do water changes? How much do you change? Do you gravel vac? What were member:m87644"]Sorry for your loss, goldfish are one of the more social fish and it is easy to form a real attachment to them.

We will need more information to try to help you figure out what could have happened. What are you water parameters (ph, kh, gh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, temp...)? Since you just did a big change and added meds it would be good to know what the parameters were before hand if you know. How often do you do water changes? How much do you change? Do you gravel vac? What were this fish's weird symptoms and define acting funny? Pictures of the tank and fish could be very helpful.

Sorry for your loss, goldfish are one of the more social fish and it is easy to form a real attachment to them.

We will need more information to try to help you figure out what could have happened. What are you water parameters (ph, kh, gh, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates, temp...)? Since you just did a big change and added meds it would be good to know what the parameters were before hand if you know. How often do you do water changes? How much do you change? Do you gravel vac? What were this fish's weird symptoms and define acting funny? Pictures of the tank and fish could be very helpful.

Oh my goodness, I have no idea what anof that is I change out 25% of tank a few times a month and my water is always crystal clear. Do I need some sort of test strips? Yesterday he was rocking back and forth, doing circles, sometimes flipping floating upside down. By today is was sunk, unable to move thank you son much for taking time to help me. I've always had goldfish. Always cheap basic goldies, and I've never did anything special. Feed them, change water, that's it and they've lived for many years. My family and I are so heartbroken, and hoping to provide a very healthy life for the others

 

[Brittany Johnson]

Oh my goodness, I have no idea what anof that is I change out 25% of tank a few times a month and my water is always crystal clear. Do I need some sort of test strips? Yesterday he was rocking back and forth, doing circles, sometimes flipping floating upside down. By today is was sunk, unable to move thank you son much for taking time to help me. I've always had goldfish. Always cheap basic goldies, and I've never did anything special. Feed them, change water, that's it and they've lived for many years. My family and I are so heartbroken, and hoping to provide a very healthy life for the others

And I have never vacuumed the rocks

 

[Brittany Johnson]

 

[myswtsins]

Oh boy, here we go! There are TONS of people who have no clue what "any of that is" and if it works for them that's great for them. But in a situation like this where something has gone wrong, without knowing what the water chemistry is like it is REALLY hard to get a full picture of what could be wrong and even then sometimes you are left guessing. Test strips are basically useless though, you want a good liquid test kit. API makes a good starter kit. Most local fish stores will test your water for you too. If you don't want to start testing your water that is your prerogative and honestly with goldfish (that you've always kept) and this type of situation I can't say I would blame you. But don't take that as I don't think it is a good idea to have a good test kit handy!

Based on the limited info you are able to provide I would say it is probably swim bladder problems. But without more info that is kinda a shot in the dark. Swim bladder is so common in goldfish and the symptoms seem to fit. Now swim bladder can be causes by several things though. I would suggest you do a little research on it cause there is a ton of info out there.

5 years of goldfish poo and you've never vacuumed the gravel...that could be scary! lol This is also a good mixture for what is called "old tank syndrome" - an long established tank with a dirty substrate leaching stuff into the water column. I'd suggest you start gravel vac-ing but only do small sections at each water change working your way up to getting the whole floor done. And 25% a few times a months isn't bad but with "dirty" goldfish that could be increased easily. As long as the water coming in is similar in temp (and chemistry) you could even just increase the amount you remove at each water change.

Looks like the mostly orange one and the black one are a fancy type of goldfish and the mostly white one is a comet type goldfish? Which ones have passed away? You had 3 and now you have 1? The fancy types are even more prone to swim bladder issues.

OMG that's enough for one post!

 

[Brittany Johnson]

Oh boy, here we go! There are TONS of people who have no clue what "any of that is" and if it works for them that's great for them. But in a situation like this where something has gone wrong, without knowing what the water chemistry is like it is REALLY hard to get a full picture of what could be wrong and even then sometimes you are left guessing. Test strips are basically useless though, you want a good liquid test kit. API makes a good starter kit. Most local fish stores will test your water for you too. If you don't want to start testing your water that is your prerogative and honestly with goldfish (that you've always kept) and this type of situation I can't say I would blame you. But don't take that as I don't think it is a good idea to have a good test kit handy!

Based on the limited info you are able to provide I would say it is probably swim bladder problems. But without more info that is kinda a shot in the dark. Swim bladder is so common in goldfish and the symptoms seem to fit. Now swim bladder can be causes by several things though. I would suggest you do a little research on it cause there is a ton of info out there.

5 years of goldfish poo and you've never vacuumed the gravel...that could be scary! lol This is also a good mixture for what is called "old tank syndrome" - an long established tank with a dirty substrate leaching stuff into the water column. I'd suggest you start gravel vac-ing but only do small sections at each water change working your way up to getting the whole floor done. And 25% a few times a months isn't bad but with "dirty" goldfish that could be increased easily. As long as the water coming in is similar in temp (and chemistry) you could even just increase the amount you remove at each water change.

Looks like the mostly orange one and the black one are a fancy type of goldfish and the mostly white one is a comet type goldfish? Which ones have passed away? You had 3 and now you have 1? The fancy types are even more prone to swim bladder issues.

OMG that's enough for one post!

please overlook my choppy sentences Haha!! I'm trying to be sure I answer all questions and tell you an info that I may left out Here we go...
After the start of our conversation, I went straight to order API Master Test Kit. I'm glad I did that since you mentioned it in the last message haha! It's a liquid test, not a strip test.
As far as researching swim bladder, I feel like I've read them all. After our first goldie (Patrick, you're going to be cracking up at the names, but keep in mind I have 7 year old twins hahaha!) starting "sinking and floating" I began googling to find out what in the world was going on. That's when I learned about the magic of peas. He lived for 3+ (maybe more) with the bladder issue. some days where great, other days he looked rough until the peas. At that time, we just had the 3 goldies (Patrick (dead) Sponge Bob (Just died yesterday) and Sandy (still looks great)). We won those fish at a fair, like I mentioned before. We immediatley bought a 10 gallon tank where they lived for 4ish years. With having that tank, I would do "here and there" partial water changes and full water changes. With a full water change, the fish would get scooped and put in a pot, scary, I know, the tank would be scrubbed as well as the rocks. A new filter plopped in and I'd call it a day. all was well. Then, less than a year ago, we bought our new tank (the picture is above). it's 50 gallon with a canister filter.... a whole new world haha! I'm SUPER guilty of slacking on water changes, but I do a few times a month. I'll be picking up the slack on that now. The water stays clear and I always wipe off algae on the wall, if it accumulates. I have a magnet thing that helps me do so. We've had this tank for 6 months and I have not vacuumed the rocks With the tank being MUCH larger than my previous tank, I had just relied on water changes Could you explain how to vacuum the rocks? As soon as we got the tank we purchased the 2 new babies, and they are different. they were more on the $2 range as opposed to 10 cents LOL The Big orange and white one is Sandy, she's a carnival fish. The other carnival fish (sponge bob) was a large all orange basic goldfish, and patrick was all orange and larger, but had a fancy kind of tail?
Please excuse the typos and my rambling, but I REALLY appreciate your help Thanks!

 

[myswtsins]

Great job on the test kit, and all on your own! I'll forgive you, if you forgive me? Good job researching swim bladder, although I'd say peas are more effective with constipation vs swim bladder. Changing their food will help either way. NLS is a great brand. I would incorporate peas into their diet once a week or every 2 weeks for variety and to avoid issues.

Do you know about the nitrogen cycle? Basically good bacteria grow and consume ammonia (most toxic, provided by fish waste and uneaten food) which breaks down into nitrite and another type of bacteria consumes that leaving nitrates (least toxic) which are removed with water changes and/or plants. That bacteria grow on all surfaces but mostly in your filter media. When you were scrubbing down the tank and changing the filter media you were wiping out any bacteria. Which is OK if you keep up on the water changes, typical of your situation with big fish little tank. But now with the bigger tank and canister filter you will want those bacteria to grow. Once you get your test it we will make sure your tank is "cycled", meaning enough bacteria has grown to keep up with the current level of fish stocking.

Ok, 6 months with no gravel vacs isn't as bad, although you should do this at every water change to remove the gross "stuff" in there. How do you change the water? Do you something like this?

So you have 3 fish currently, again? 2 fancy goldfish and one common/comet is maxing out your stocking on this tank (which is probably a 46 bowfront by the looks of it). Which is ok but you can't slack on your water changes. I use 30g for the first goldfish and 20g for each additional so you are higher stocked than I would do it but it is still totally doable. Again the test kit will tell you how often you really need to be doing WCs (water changes), you want to keep the nitrates under 40ppm, I/most people prefer even lower but goldies are tough.

Your appreciation is appreciated! You're welcome.

P.S the names are cute! We went through the whole spongebob cast ourselves years ago. Had spongebob (cali king snake), Patrick and Squidward (guinea pigs), Pearl (bunny), Sandy (teddy bear hamster), Gary (apple snail).....that might be it.

 

[Tifftastic]

I have to agree with everything that has been said.

I only want to add that even if your water is perfectly clear and looks amazing, the levels can still be off. Testing is important, but it looks like you're going to start doing that so kudos!

Also welcome to the forum!

 

[FreshyFresh]

Brittany, welcome to the site. Like everyone else has mentioned, based on what you describe, this is just a simple case of long term exposure to high nitrates due to lack of water changes. A setup like this with a few small goldfish would require a 50% weekly water change at a minimum, doing a gravel vac at the same time. Once they get adult sized, you'll probably have to do more like an 80% to fin-level to keep your weekly nitrate creep below 20ppm.