Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Sick little pearlscale!
- schnappsmom (Muireasa Harney)
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Since I brought him home, he has been on his own in a 50l tank. There is an azoo oxygen 2 filter, and an airstone. Up to two days ago, he was lively, and swimming around the whole tank, and eating all that was offered to him (peas and Tetra Japan Gold pellets,) and to be honest, he looked like such a sad little specimen in the shop tank I am surprised he lasted the journey home. He is white on the right side of his body and gold on the left side, so I've called him Oddball.
For most of the last two days, he has been hanging at the back of the tank at mid water level, above and to the left of the airstone. Occasionally, every hour or so, he will take a slow swim around one end of the tank and to the surface before returning to the same spot. He has not eaten yesterday or today. (Uneaten food has been taken out of the tank.)
Water is 22 deg C, pH 7.5, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 5, measured using a nutrafin mini master test kit.
What am I doing that I shouldn't? What else can I do? Any advice is hugely appreciated!
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- schnappsmom (Muireasa Harney)
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Not at all surprised, and this was the outcome that I expected when I bought him, but I am devastated. I hope that I didn't add to his suffering along the way.
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- christyg (Chris Geraghty)
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- LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
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22 degrees seems on the high side for goldfish, but I'd say that fish was on a one way trip before you bought him
Doubt it was the temp. Goldfish usually need around 22 degrees for a number of weeks before they'll breed so it'd be unlikely to harm ine
"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."
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- davey_c (dave clarke)
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Your lfs should not have sold you a sick fish. If anything it should have been free but I still don't think it should have left the shop in that state!! In fairness to you ye tried more than I would have so don't beat youself up too much but personally I'd be wary of that shop!!!

Below tank is for sale
my plywood tank build.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768
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- schnappsmom (Muireasa Harney)
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22 degrees seems on the high side for goldfish, but I'd say that fish was on a one way trip before you bought him
Doubt it was the temp. Goldfish usually need around 22 degrees for a number of weeks before they'll breed so it'd be unlikely to harm ine
Confuse me why don't ye?!?
If 22 is too high should I be trying to cool my other tank now? I don't have a heater, 22 deg is my room temp, and it was up to 27 deg at one point during our heatwave (I was actually relieved to see is as "low" as 22!) I'm away three days a week so I had decided that the fish were better off with a consistent temp rather than dealing with four days cool and three days hot in rotation. I have someone who can call in to feed them and do water changes, but I don't think that they could manage multiple visits a day to replace cool water bottles.
Water changes?
Your lfs should not have sold you a sick fish. If anything it should have been free but I still don't think it should have left the shop in that state!! In fairness to you ye tried more than I would have so don't beat youself up too much but personally I'd be wary of that shop!!!
Because he wasn't well, myself and my mate were doing an approx 8% change (4l container fresh water into 50l tank) and checking water every morning.
And, I felt so so sorry for him in the shop I couldn't leave him! He was the one fancy in a tank with two common goldfish, which I guess is why the fins were ripped. BTW it isn't a local shop, he survived a four hour journey home which surprised me! I really won't be near the place again, and I cannot honestly tell you why I walked in there to begin with.
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- LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
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"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."
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- schnappsmom (Muireasa Harney)
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- derekdoom (Derek)
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Kudos on taking care of him for his last few days , I almost took a poorly looking one-eyed pearl scale from a shop recently but my quarantine tank was already occupied and I'm a little overstocked.
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