hi all, another new student!

hi all

I'm new here

heres my story, i have never kept a fish in my life until...

my 4yr old brought home a funfair fish in a bag
with a 4l (1gal) bowl and i was horrified
it was a regular small common, dont know the sex

I got reading on the net as fast as i could
to try and give this guy a a chance

he spent two days in the bowl then
I arranged a 54l juwel that a friend was not using it
I cleaned it out and cleaned the filters and filled it with treated water

anyway as you guessed he died last night after three days in the tank
he was on the bottom and curled up

i did several things wrong which i hoped to get away with
(i only found out about cycling and other important tips after he was in)

1: cleaned the filters in tap water
2: put him in the tank 4 hours after it was filled - no cycling at all
3: only let the tap water sit for a couple of hours with conditioner
4: didnt use disinfectant on the tank, cleaned with razors and vinegar
but rinsed very well with powerful hot water spray

i got a kit and the water was testing well last night and the night before

i have the aquarium in a room that gets low indirect daylight
it gets morning light that get weaker as the day passes
so i used the tank lights during the afternoon, then the room light later
to try and simulate sunrise/sunset

any idea what may have happened?
he was doing well for three days and looked perfect save for a couple of scales missing

he spent a lot of time up in the top corner near the filter about two inches
form the top water level, but was never gasping

last night he was quiet and on the bottom - i assumed resting

he was fed flake moderately (literally a few flakes a day)
his poo was not too stringy

I know there are a million reasons - probably the lack of cycling
perhaps the fact that he was a fairground fish and may have been ill anyway

anyway thats me, few noob questions on the way, i have an empty tank and will
go tropical

rgds

4

Welcome to the forum.

Looks like you have done a good bit of reading already and know the right things to do, even if you didn't get around to them this time.

a fairground fish is likely to be very stressed from the start. I was not aware that you were still allowed to win fairground goldfish in Ireland, but theer you go.

One goldfish in a 54 litre tank would not have generated enough amonina in a couple of days to cause his death due to the tank cycling process - IMHO. As I say it is most likely that he was unhealthy to start.

Before you buy any more fish, you need to cycle the tank (as you know) and while you are doing that why not look around and see what fish you want to keep and post here for advice.

Daragh

howdy and welcome i think if you try some danios to cycle the tank. They are practically indestructable as far as how hardy they are. They are active and always cruising the tank but any fish will do as long as you actually put the work in and do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite away from toxic levels. or you could go fishless if your on a buget and dont want to take the risk but all should be grand.
feel free to ask myself or anyone on this forum for help
regards
karlo kennedy
cfks

Hi 4mations !!

Welcome to the forum and to the hobby that is fish-keeping

We enjoy seeing \"new students\" on the forum and I can see you already have done a lot of homework over the past few days.

As Daragh mentioned in his previous post, your poor goldfish was probably in a poor condition by the time it reached his last home. The little 'nest' you had prepared for him seems perfect !

Once water conditioner is mixed in your new water, it can safely be added to the tank as long as the water temperature is nearly the same as what is in your tank (add boiling water from the kettle into your bucket of new water).

Beware, fish-keeping is addictive. Some people (very few) manage to stop at one or two tanks but a lot of users here have a lot more !

Anyway, welcome again !

Valerie

Hi 4 welcome to the forum. I am glad to see that this set back has not deterred you from continuing with the fish keeping hobby. I think you were just unfortunate and that the poor fellow would have probably died regardless of what you did. It sounds like you gave him a fighting chance and probably better digs then he was used to.

Now that you have done some reading try to be patient and cycle your tank properly it will be worth it in the long run. I noticed that you said you got the tank from a friend who wasnt using it. If they still have tanks in use try to get some of the filter floss from their tank and use it to seed the new filter in your tank

hope all goes well

nessa

hi all

thanks for the welcomes!

the tanks is cycling away ( i think)

my ammonia has gone up a wee bit

I \"fed\" the water with a few flakes
and a freeze dried shrimp

I am now going to take my time and let
the tank cycle properly and research fish
in the meantime

I also need to get a heater for the juwel

rgds

4

hey 4,glad to see everything is going well,try ebay for the heater,you'll get them on there for half nothing,try the uk site,the irish one is crap


Paul