hi guys and girls, jusr spent the afternoon readng through this forum, excellent info and advice. need about of help with my new tank

tank info

juwel 125litre

internal juwel filter

tank has just been "fishless cycled", amo level zero now, rite level zero now, rate level 12mg/l. amo peaked at 5.0mg/l 6 days ago then steadly dropped, rate was at 25mg/l yesterday, 50% water change brought it down to 12mg/l also add plants at same time. rate was still the same this morning so went local goldfish shop and brought 1 black moor and 3 white clouds.

floated the 2 bags for 20 minutes, added abit of tank water then released the white clouds first then the black moor "FINN". every thing seemed fine for first hour then FINN suddenly started darting around then hid behind the plants and would not come out. turned out the light and left him on his own, 4 hours later still will not move and sometimes seems to be gasping a bit, every now and again will dart around again as if in pain. white clouds are fine

really puzzled, did loads of research before and everything seemed fine, just retested eveything and no change.

any suggestions would be great.

ph level not known but petshop is only down the road so should be the same.

plan to add 2 more moors over the next week or so then that is it.

thanks in advance, Arran england

forgot to mention water is always treated with Safe Guard to get rid of chorine etc

Is there a chance that your test kit might be wrong? Perhaps take some water to your lfs and ask them to test it just to be sure that your ammonia and nitrites are at 0. Other than that I can't think of anything else to suggest. Perhaps the addition of some extra oxygen might help? I have a Juwel tank myself and have got an air venturi attached to the powerhead to provide lots of bubbles through the water. I'm not sure whether they fit in the 125ltr but might be worth asking and getting one of they do as they are only a couple pf pounds. Failing that maybe an airstone or bubble wall?
Of course, there might not be anything wrong with him at all. He could just be stressed because of the move. Hopefully in a few hours he'll be right as rain. Let us know how he gets on?

hi Fishyfan

pretty good with tests now, done over 14 in last couple of weeks and half way through got garden centre to do a test as well as a control and it read the same as mine.

FINN has stopped darting now and has found a rock to hide behind, breathing seems better and have just droppped a few blood worms on his head which seemed to go down a treat.

was worried did loads of preperation to get this right and looked like it was all going to T#ts up, will see how he is in the morning.

will look at a bubble wall, did you run it off the juwel filter or is it a stand alone unit and have you still got your heater in, tried mine but temp was to high even on what i thought was the lowest setting

few questions for you or anyone else:


he seemed to be being pushed around in the currant, are fantails ok with these powerhead systems, got the nozzles pointed at the back of the tank pointing slightly upwards, is this best

put 9 plants in last night, is this to many for a 125 litre tank, tested water 12 hours later and no change, they do seem to do a good job in breaking up the currant and the white clouds love them.

as always any info would be great

cheers Arran

just an update, FINN seems to have settled a bit more this morning, still was not to keen to explore whole tank just stayed in 1 corner. stupid fish buy nice big tank and is to scared to explore it

had PH testes today and was 7.5, which i believe is good but please correct me if i am wrong, also had ammo, rite and rate done by garden centre as well and where the same as my results so happy with that.

made a few changes to the tank layout today:

move the 3 rocks around to make a corner which is protected from the currant which FINN goes to for a rest and boy does he need it
took FISHYFANS advice and built a 30cm bubble wall and placed it at back of tank, what a success, he has spent the whole afternoon swimming through the bubbles with the white clouds, totally different fish now, very friendly, too playful and now thinks he is a white cloud

anyone with a Juwel tank should consider a bubble wall, really seems to break the currant up, looks really cool and gives the fish a new toy to play with, all for less than 10 english pounds (15$)


next Moor goes in on Saturday so fingers crossed he will be a good playpal for FINN,


cheers Arran

could still do with some advice on the Juwel heater and how to set it to correct temp for goldfish

Glad the bubble wall was a success! My fish love playing in my bubbles too.
9 plants will be fine, until they get attacked and munched on by your fish then you might need to buy more!
As for the powerhead and the current it creates - it really should be fine. There is only one area where there is real current and that's where the water shoots out of the outlet pipe thing. Most of the other areas of the tank are current free so they can get away from it if they want to. I keep fancy goldies myself and when they were new to the tank they did often get caught in it (I think on purpose sometimes cus they thought it was fun!) but now they've been in it a while they don't. It's just a case of getting used to their new surroundings I think.
As for the heater - the Juwel heaters aren't too clear are they? We thought for ages that ours wasn't working because it says in the instructions that you can see the red light if you look in the heater holder from the top when it's on. We couldn't for the life of us see the ###### light so hubby decided to take it out of the water so he could see better. Big mistake! it shattered everywhere when it was removed from the water! lol. Anyway, we got a replacement and managed to work it out. You can't actually see the red light when it's positioned in it's holder so don't worry about that. If you put it into position in the holder, leave it for half an hour to acclimatise, then turn the dial halfway the temp will be between 74 - 78 fahrenheit or 23 - 26 celcius. You can then adjust it either way to suit. I keep mine at 26 celcius which is a great temp for goldies and is just very slightly over halfway on the dial. Remember at the moment that your room temperature will be close to that so the heater might not kick in for a while. Some people prefer to keep goldies cooler but on advice from knowledgable friends I've always kept mine at 26 and they do really well. The warmer water boosts their metabolism and their immune systems apparently.
Hope this helps! Anything else just shout!

Wow you guys know SO much about fish and there tanks. I have a very little tank right now.. however I am going to buy a new tank and I would love for some of you guys to give me some pointers.

What is it you want to know Kiesha? I'm sure we can help but I'd start a new thread if I were you so that other people will see it.

thanks for info FISHYFAN. will try the heater later in the year, tank is 72 at the moment so dont really need it yet.

both moors in now ( FINN + ZACC ), seem to have got use to the currant and yes they do still swim into the nozzle area and get shot across the tank through the bubble wall, then go back and do it again, nutters.

next weekend if water tests are fine last goldie goes in, TW has seen a lovely red and white Fantail. so that will be it, 3 goldies and some white clouds in a 125 litre tank. working on 35 litres per goldie, tank should be fine as long as weekly maintance is stuck to. plan is 10% water change twice a week, think this should be enough but will keep testing water before each change. anyone feel free to comment if they think i am doing something wrong, fishes health before ego

Arran :goldfish

Sounds good to me. Your goldies and white clouds will love it!
Good luck!

kudos - when I first added my little orange/white lionhead about 6 months ago, he had similar behavior. He went into a ten gallon tank where for the first minute or so he was darting around everywhere. Then he found the anacharis plants in the tank and hid behind them for nearly 3 days. I was scared that something was wrong, but now I realize he was just scared himself.

Glad to hear your little one is settling in. Keep us updated!