Goldfish advice...help!

[gerbrajess]

Can anyone help me?
We bought 2 goldfish at the weekend and have set up a filter + treated the water with ammonia + biological conditioning drops (as advised by shop).

Have since totally freaked myself out by reading some 'goldie-loving' forums and apparently I should be testing ammonia / nitrate / nitrite / pH levels (and more I think...).

I know about partial water changes but should I be doing all the testing? I'm happy to do it if necessary, just odd that the shop didn't mention it?

Thanks in advance - they are so sweet and wouldn't want to do the wrong thing!

Gerbrajess

Don't worry too much about testing, as long as you do a partial water change every few days for the first few weeks (month is best) then the fish will be ok.

(Ex tropical fish owner so I know... lol)

Thanks LuckySalem!
Feel very relieved...
Gerbrajess

We've had goldfish and some minnows for about a year now. They're in a 30-litre tank, and I have a 10-litre bucket, so they get a 1/3 water change every few weeks, and a filter change too (disposable Tetra ones). Never test the water. They're fine on the whole (the odd loss, but basically looking OK)

Thanks Fruittea - I feel hugely relieved I'm not killing them with ignorance!

The highest risks are in the first few weeks until the natural bacteria in the water get properly established. These are the ones who convert the ammonia to safer things. If you are doing frequent water changes you should be removing some of the ammonia which is more or less what you are testing for...the tests would really be to tell you if you needed to change the water or not, or a bit more accurately for how much to change % wise.

Thanks beautifulgirls - my plan is to change up to 50% of the water every few days for the first month - but to add the appropriate amount of ammonia conditioning drops for all the new water I add.
I've also got biological conditioning drops which I added at the start and will add every week.

They seem absolutely fine - barring the incredible scraps that go on at feeding time! greedy f**rs!

Cheers everyone
Gerbrajess

goldfish are pretty hardy. As long as you add dechlorinator to tap water when changing and don't let it get really dirty or super clean it should be fine. My major goldfish mistakes have been when I have over zealously cleaned the tank and filter before I knew about how the bacteria work.

Brilliant Lailasmum - thanks. Actually, do you know how I should clean the filter (and how often)?

It's one of the old-fashioned ones (assured it's 100% effective though and it's new) - it's plastic type box filled with filter wool that sits in the tank - air goes in and gets pushed through the filter wool and then out through a second spout. I assume I replace the wool stuff at some point, not sure when or how though

The ammolock I add when I do the partial water changes apparently contains what's needed to ensure the tap water is harmless to the fishees.

Keep saying thanks to everyone, but I am really grateful for everyone's advice - there seem to be so many schools of thought in goldfish keeping (is there a potential pun there?!)

Gerbrajess

Am not sure on your filter I have a different type sorry, I have one with multiple pads and we change one pad out of the 3 a week in rotation. with the water change

No worries Lailasmum - I can find out from the petshop - thanks again
gerbrajess