Thought I'd share some things I've been dealing with recently, in case anyone else has been dealing with similar issues.
My frustrations:
Hair algae bloom
Nitrate/nitrite at a low hum (always at a low level)
Ammonia at a low hum
Waste buildup in gravel
Filter gunk-up
Very mild septicemia in one individual
Recently I came across this extremely useful PDF file: http://www.fishbug.com/files/2005checklist.pdf
Which helped me diagnose the cause of all my problems as simple overfeeding. The waste buildup was of course, extra food laying around, which created nutrient-rich water and caused the hair algae bloom. This in turn gunked up the filter, and increased my ammonia, due to extra fish waste and rotting food. My common goldfish, Upstart, developed a mild case of septicemia (reddening and hemorrhaging around the head, with visibly swelled blood vessels in the fins and around the gills), which cleared up quickly with Maracyn-Two.
So here's the conclusion: I treated the septicemia with Maracyn-Two to fix the septicemia. Treat the cause, not the symptoms, you say. Of course. However, septicemia can be fatal if not treated very promptly. So I completed a five-day course of treatment, and then did a 50% water change with vacuuming. I scrubbed algae off the tank and plant surfaces, and rinsed out my filter in the old tank water. Result: happy, healthy fish.
I find that goldfish are tough to estimate for as far as how much to feed. They're such active, enthusiastic feeders that the two-minute rule could easily cause overfeeding with commons, comets, and shubunkins.
This paragraph from this site: http://www.koicarp.org.uk/koi_feeding.htm
helped me immensely. I often reference koi sites when looking for information for my goldfish because koi have been kept so long that there is a huge amount of information on the web about them, and the more slender breeds of goldfish are pretty much analogous to koi in nearly every way.
Therefore, I will be investing in an auto feeder for my fish, which seems a cheap and simple solution to a wide range of problems stemming simply from overfeeding.
As aquarists, we have a responsibility to provide as natural and pleasant an environment for our animals as possible. They won't tell you when they're upset, they simply sicken and die. So I think it's extremely important to do some research and learn from others' experiences. Hence I figured that my experience might be useful for others to read about too.
My frustrations:
Hair algae bloom
Nitrate/nitrite at a low hum (always at a low level)
Ammonia at a low hum
Waste buildup in gravel
Filter gunk-up
Very mild septicemia in one individual
Recently I came across this extremely useful PDF file: http://www.fishbug.com/files/2005checklist.pdf
Which helped me diagnose the cause of all my problems as simple overfeeding. The waste buildup was of course, extra food laying around, which created nutrient-rich water and caused the hair algae bloom. This in turn gunked up the filter, and increased my ammonia, due to extra fish waste and rotting food. My common goldfish, Upstart, developed a mild case of septicemia (reddening and hemorrhaging around the head, with visibly swelled blood vessels in the fins and around the gills), which cleared up quickly with Maracyn-Two.
So here's the conclusion: I treated the septicemia with Maracyn-Two to fix the septicemia. Treat the cause, not the symptoms, you say. Of course. However, septicemia can be fatal if not treated very promptly. So I completed a five-day course of treatment, and then did a 50% water change with vacuuming. I scrubbed algae off the tank and plant surfaces, and rinsed out my filter in the old tank water. Result: happy, healthy fish.
I find that goldfish are tough to estimate for as far as how much to feed. They're such active, enthusiastic feeders that the two-minute rule could easily cause overfeeding with commons, comets, and shubunkins.
This paragraph from this site: http://www.koicarp.org.uk/koi_feeding.htm
helped me immensely. I often reference koi sites when looking for information for my goldfish because koi have been kept so long that there is a huge amount of information on the web about them, and the more slender breeds of goldfish are pretty much analogous to koi in nearly every way.
Therefore, I will be investing in an auto feeder for my fish, which seems a cheap and simple solution to a wide range of problems stemming simply from overfeeding.
As aquarists, we have a responsibility to provide as natural and pleasant an environment for our animals as possible. They won't tell you when they're upset, they simply sicken and die. So I think it's extremely important to do some research and learn from others' experiences. Hence I figured that my experience might be useful for others to read about too.
