Please help black fan tail goldfish.........

[buttercrumble]

The tank not looking too good despite doing partial water changes on a regular basis . we seem to have brown alge growing, also just see that our fish developing paler patches almost white on his fantail, they arnt spots more like patches. what could this be and do we take the rocks out that are turning brown and clean those, we are new to this ,and any help will be great . thankyou

How long has the tank been running? How many litres is it?

Its been running about 3 months and is 45 litres

Ok, the brown stuff could be diatoms, which are harmless and will eventually go away on their own if you cba to remove them. The white patch could be a fungus, esha 2000 is a good med which is filter friendly (ie wont kill the good bacteria) how often do you change the water? Im assuming you didnt cycle the tank and 3 weeks into a fish-in cycle the water should be being changed everyday (about 50%) to keep ammonia and nitrite down (very harmful to fish) the poor water will be what has caused the fungus (if thats what it is)

So plan of action: do a big water change, get some esha 2000 (or fungus medication if you cannot find any) keep changing the water everyday (before putting meds in) if possible buy an api test kit (about £20 on amazon) or take water samples to lfs. You should be aiming for 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrites and about 20ppm nitrates. Hope this all makes sense, I cannot scrool back up. Good luck :)

Thanks so much, will try...

Yep, it does sound like diatom algae and is probably caused by the tank not being cycled.

The white patch might be fungus or it might be excess mucus caused by poor water quality. A water test will tell you whether the water is OK. I wouldn't add any meds until you know what's going on.

Another issue is the size of the tank. 45 litres isn't big enough for a goldfish- it might be small now but it's going to get a lot bigger. You might want to sit down when you have a read of this.

Hi just been and had the water tested at local aquarium shop, and the man was baffled he said we are doing everything correct but the amonia was a tiny bit high and nitrates a little bit over. We are treating fish with fungal / finrot treatment and he also said to try some salts. fish at bottom of tank at moment, but guy in shop said something about oxygen levels due to treatment. He also said we could try a smaller water change twice a week rather than one change a week. thankyou everyone for advice, i guess we will just see how it goes

Nitrates a bit over? Have you checked the nitrate level of your tap water?

How many fish are in the tank? What sort of dechlorinator have you been using at water changes?

Hopefully the finrot treatment will help but it sounds like this is a symptom of the water quality and you need to treat the root of the problem otherwise it will just keep recurring.

I'm a bit confused by the advice you were given in the shop, I'm not sure why he thinks two small water changes will be better than one big one. What kind of salt did he give you? Which fungal treatment?

Hi gave me Api aquarium salt and interpet fungus/fish rot treatment. They thought a more regular water change may help im not sure why.

Yes, a more regular water change might help but not if you are changing the same amount of water split between two different occasions . Aquarium salt is used as a general tonic. Interpet medications are pretty crap but you can give it a go if you like. The source of the problem really needs addressing though.

How many fish do you have?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you do it?
What sort of dechlorinator do you use?
How often and how much do you feed the fish?

We should be able to figure out what's happened with the water and fix it pretty easily which should help prevent this kind of thing from happening again.

Fish had died this morning . we have another in the tank which seems fit and healthy, could the poorly one just have been not as healthy when we bought him.I feel guilty that it was something we didnt do correctly

Sorry about your fish :(

Were you advised by the shop about tank size and setting up? Lots of shops give out duff advice. It's not too late for your other fish though.

Some fish are stronger than others but most of them should survive if they are given the right conditions.

If you tell me a bit more about your tank then I'll be able to tell you what you need to do to help your remaining fish.

Its a 60 litre with just the one small fantail now. we have a light and a filter, i know its not the biggest tank but can the one fish we have left live on its own. we also have no live plants would this help. Thanks so much for your advice , can see from all previous threads that everyone welcomes your advice and knowledge

Yes, goldfish can live on their own but 60 litres still isn't enough unfortunately :( They get very large, the one you have is probably just a baby. If you imagine a tennis ball with fins, that's what size fancy goldfish can grow too, and they poo a lot so they need a very big tank.

This is a good guide for tank and fish sizes.

Live plants can sometimes help and fish do like them- goldfish are likely to see anything green you add as a snack though! You might have some luck with anubias which grows on bogwood, my goldfish never ate it.

Hope that helps a bit :)