are my goldfish dying?? please help

[glasgowmandy]

i have just brought two goldfish, i have followed all the instructions i was given, the tank has been set up right with a filter, i have put those drops in the water that i was supposed to but i have just put them into the tank after leaving them in the bag in the tank to ajust but they are just swimming at the bottom, in the same place next to each not doing much, are they ok? what does this mean?? xxx

I'm bumping for you, but I know nothing about fishes, sorry.

Suggest you come back evry 1/2 hour or so and make a post on this thread so it stays in active conversations so that a fish person can picjk this up.

thanks cat, will do, just so worried for them, ive asked friends and so forth but they just laugh and say aww just fish, if they die buy another one! i feel terrible, thier cute little things, would hate for them to die x

Glad to see that you found Pets. You will get some feedback I am sure.

I think they don't move much when they're cold ... hopefully they'll get a bit more active soon

thanks florence, gunna keep an eye on them see if they start moving x

Hi Glasgowmandy

Can you tell me a bit more about the tank? How big is it and how long was it set up before you added the fish? Do you know what the drops were that you put in?

Can you tell me a bit more about the fish too, can you see any black marks on them? Are they holding their fins close to their bodies?

ok the tank is a 15 liter, and it has 230v filter.
i set it up 7 days before i got the fish
the drops are called goldfish protect and goldfish aquarium cleaner.

they are just little goldfish, they dont seem to have any marks, and they dont seem to be holding their fins close together.
just about 15 minutes ago they started swimming around, now they are back to the same spot facing a fish tank plant that i put in, just staring at it, both of them close together x

Right. Better sit down because this might be a shock!

I would suspect a water quality problem. I know you've probably followed what the guy in the shop told you to the letter so this is no fault of your own, but you have been misinformed and mis-sold a tank that is way too small for any fish, let alone a goldfish which grows massive (the ones you have are just babies). There is no consumer protection when it comes to buying fish .

First of all you need to do a big water change, making sure that you use the goldfish protect stuff. You will need to be doing this every day for the time being.

Secondly you need to consider whether you want to keep the goldfish or not. If you do then you need to get them in a bigger home as soon as possible. Even if it's just a plastic storage crate with a lid and a filter in there then that is better than a 15 litre tank for now. Long term they will either need a pond or a 4 feet+ aquarium, depending on what type of goldfish they are. I know this sounds ridiculous considering how small they are at the moment but they really do grow huge, and very quickly. They also live a long time (15+ years) so you need to think carefully about such a long-term commitment.

Thirdly, if you do decide to keep them, you will need to get a water testing kit so you can monitor the water quality until the tank is fully cycled.

Here are a couple of links that will explain more of what I've said-

Goldfish care

Water quality

wow thankyou sweet, that is pretty scary!! should i change the water everyday then?
i would like to keep them, dont wanna just give up on them, i will look into a bigger tank soon as i can, they are sort of swimming around a bit now.. x

i have faith in the litte things! come on fishes!! stay alive for mummy! lolx

Goldfish are fairly tough but you do need to move them pretty soon. Daily water changes should help in the meantime. Once you get them settled in a big enough tank that is fully cycled then you only need to change some water once a week. Fingers crossed for them!

sorry what does cycled mean? do i just change the water everyday, and continue to add the drops everyday aswell? will the fish be ok going into different water everyday? sorry i should have read up mor about fish i didnt realise they were quite so technical lol x

The process of 'cycling' means that essential bacteria are established within the tank - these help to digest the harmful waste products that the fish produce. Goldfish are well known for producing very large amounts of waste which quickly foul the water.

Conduct 50% water changes daily until the water improves. Also, look for a product called Safestart by Tetra - this will hasten the cycling process and save your fish.

Goldfish are actually quite tricky to keep and if they fall ill it is invariably down to poor water quality. I suggest that you do some research and establish a filtration/cleaning routine that you can conduct easily and your fish will be fine.

My golfish (Jim) started life as a tiny, weeny little scrap. He's now 7 years old and the size of a whale. His last tank cost over £100 and he ate his smaller tankmates! I love him though and he's my kitchen pal 'cos his tank is next to the sink in the kitchen.

Oops, sorry, I am using jargon in a nutshell, a filter is like a mini sewage works but it needs time to grow enough good bacteria to cope with fish waste. This usually takes around 6 weeks. Once it has grown enough bacteria then it is cycled. If you add fish before the tank is cycled then they are exposed to ammonia and nitrIte, both of which can be deadly even at quite low levels. Shops do not bother telling people this for some reason . It's also very important to never wash your filter in tap water because the chlorine in tap water will kill all the good bacteria. You should just use a bit of water that you have taken from the tank during a water change.

If you keep on top of the water changes and get the fish to a bigger tank ASAP then they should be fine.

I would do a 50% water change every day, they will be OK if you keep using the same water source (I'm guessing you're using tap water) and the water is the same temperature. Since you will only be changing over a few litres, I would put the water in a bucket for a couple of hours to let it get up to room temperature. You need to add the drops to the clean water before you put it in the tank.

how will i know when the water has improved? ok ill cgane them daily, how long for? we had a family fish which dies last year, he was 16 years old, just a goldfish, i cant remember my mum really ever doing that much to be honest, although we were young when we got him. he also never had a filter, i have no idea how he lasted so long lol, but she must have been doing something right! i asjed her tonight and she said.. er i just changed him once or twice a week, but she said she never did whats nessaray now with fish, i.e when she got him she didnt have tank set up she just put filled it up when she got the fish home and plopped him in it lol. im just paranoid because id hate to loose them so want to make sure i do things right x

ok sorry i gunna sound stupid now, thanks for all this but when you say 50% water changes do i only take out half the water? or a complete water change daily, i use tep water, so will i just fill a bucket maybe a few hours before i change, get it room temp and add the drop things, then chnage them? they are just swimming in onw sport again! they look like they are swimming against a current!?! x

You'll need a water test kit like this one- test kit. Don't worry, they are dead easy to use! Fish keeping is quite involved, more so than with pets that can just breath air but it is definitely worth it.

Sometimes fish can survive in sub-optimum conditions for a very long time, but alive is not the same as thriving. Fortunately there is so much more info available now that people can give their fish much better lives. A common goldfish can even live for 40 years if you take really good care of it. 20-30 years is more common and for fancy goldfish (the fat round ones with long fins) around 15 years or sometimes less because they are so inbred. Goldfish are lower quality these days as well so they need much better water quality than they used to.

ok well tomorow i am actually going into hospital to get my wisdom tooth out! gunna be under sedation so not such a good idea to be cleaning fish in that state so ill tell my partner instructions, if i clean it out everyday for a week or two will that be ok? ill just take out half the water and replace with fresh water with the drops in it?
maybe get a test kit too. how often should i feed them? shop owner told me not to feed them today, wait till tomorow?x

should i use cool boiled water to change them? x

I put mine in the pond after i got fed up of cleaning the tank out and they grew to three times the size quite quickly. They were a bit tame though and obviously a bit stupid as they got eaten by a heron while sunbathing in the shallow bit!

No, tap water is fine as long as you add the drops first. You'll need to clean out every day until you can get them in a bigger home. If you don't have space for a massive tank yet then one of those plastic storage boxes with a lid will be fine, as long as you have a filter in there.

Cutting down on feeding will help reduce the amount of waste, I would feed them every other day for now and make sure you scoop out any uneaten food straight away.

Good luck with your op

i dont actually have much space to be honest, the hsop guy told me this tank was fine, they do look huge in it, but i know they will grow, my DPs mum has an old fishtank quite a big one, shall ask for that i think, ill let you know how things go, keeping fingers crossed they make it! x

If you don't have much space then goldfish might not be for you. If they are fancy goldfish then they will need a tank that's 4 feet long. Common goldfish get bigger and need even more space, ideally a pond.

Have a look at this goldfish, he's a whopper but they all have the potential to get this big- Bruce the Oranda

As for the man in the shop... words fail me! He has obviously never seen a fully grown goldfish. I think trading standards would have something to say if you told them what the shop said to you. The RSPCA are recommending 45 litres as a minimum size for goldfish and even that is too small. 15 litres is just a joke and in no way suitable for goldfish. It is so wrong that shops can just lie to people to sell them these little death traps!

Keeping fish in a tank that is too small causing stunting- basically what happens is that their bodies stop growing but their organs don't, resulting in an early death.

If you can get the bigger tank then there are loads of other fish you could keep that don't get massive. Let me know what you decide and I can give you more advice if you want

I just use tap water. Some people dechlorinate before adding to the tank, but I just use dechlorinator drops.

Please don't panic about your fish, they'll be fine. After you've done 3 or so days of 50% water changes you can cut down to 20% every 3 days and so on until the water has cleared.

Feed them once every other day.

Good luck with your op.