Hi Im new to goldfish keeping and of course i have "new tank syndrom"
here are my stats:
3 one inch commets
20 gallon tank
3rd day running the tank
feeding ussual flakes- reduced feeding to once every other day (have not fed today)
did 25% water change last night
amonia between .5-3.0 (reading was obscure)
nitrate 0-20
nitrite 0
hardness 300
alkalinity 300
ph level 7.8-8.4

Yesterday i noticed one of my gold fish isolating himself in the corner of the tank. After reading some forum posts i decided i should do a water change (25%). this morning he was still floating in the corner so i went to petco and asked tem to test my water and give me some advice. I bought testing kits. petco told me this morning the amonia was 4.0 (i know its high) I have not fed the fish since last night and dont plan on feeding them till tommorro night. the other two fish are doing terrific and an hour after returing from petco i tested the water myself... hence the stats above. does anyone have any suggestions. now my sick fish is hidding under my fake tree in sitting on the gravel. he looks sicker than before. how can I help speed up or properly cycle the tank?

Thanks for your help,
Cassandra

You need to do at least a 30% change right now. That level of ammonia will kill your fish or make them ill.

Make sure you used aged or treated temp matched water.

Test the tank water afterwards & see where you are with the ammonia.

I really believe in Prime as a water conditioner. It not only neutralizes chorine but some ammonia & other bad stuff but it is still there for the biofilter to develop.

You'll need to retest your water & keep doing changes until you get the levels back to a safer range.

you may need to do small changes everyday while your tank is cycling due to the buildup of ammonia (& then other stuff as the cycle progresses). The water changes should help keep the ammonia levels down to a safer range. This will cause the cycling to take longer but your fish will be happier!

While I was cycling - I tried hard to not have any ammonia lever higher than 1.0 (some members will tell you that this is also too high but in a cycling tank it can be difficult to keep levels lower than this during this first part of the cycle. You should not have a level this high in an established tank!)

Good Luck!!!



Jenn

Thank you for your reply. I have had all kinds of mixxed advice but i have a gut feeling to listen to u and conduct the water change... as the fish looks sicker than before. I will get some water ready and wait for it to reach room temp. I hope you can answer a question for me:

Should I siphon the gravel again while changing? I hope to not stress out the fish. Also is there an amount of time that i should wait before testing the water (after the change) for the most accurate results?

I do use prime also. If i change out 4 gallons of water how much prime do you think i should use?- i have to treat the water since i have not let it sit out over night.

Thank you for all your help and I will keep you posted on the progress of my little Tezcatlipoca (i just named him 10 mn ago lol)

I always perform gravel vacs when I do water changes (I figure I'm pulling out the water so I might as well get rid of the gunk)

I also feel safer with the siphon end closer to the gravel - my fish are very used to the syphon & are always coming up to it to check it out so I never leave it alone for an instant while the suction is going (I have a valve I can use to turn off the suction).

I usually test as soon as the tank water looks settled down when I'm worried about a high level so I know where I am post water change. (I always see a bit of stuff floating in the tank water until it all settles back down again)

The bottle of Prime I have says to base the dose on the tank volume when doing water changes-I would do this for the first change & then post back with the new levels. So for a 20 gal tank it would be 2cc (if you have a syringe) if you don't have a syringe look at the directions. For my 3.4 fl oz bottle 1 cap treats 50 gal so approx 1/2 cap should treat 25 gal so I would use a bit less then 1/2 cap.

I would also change approx 6-7 gallons instead of just 4.

Due to the high level of ammonia - I think you should try to get this done as quickly as possible so to temp match the water I would use the inside of your wrist (where the skin is more sensitive) & try to get the tank temp & the new water temp as close as possible - I have to do this with every change I do because I use a python which puts water directly from my sink faucet into the tank so I can't wait for the temp to stabilize because it's going from my pipes into the tank - it usually works fine for me & I end up within a degree of where I started)

Post back & let us know how it goes!!



Jenn

ok mission accomplished. I changed out about 30-35% of the water. I am just waiting on the water to settle. I hope all is well....

Ok here are my new stats.
Amonia: alittle over .5 but far from 3.0
nitrate: 20
nitrite: 0
hardness: 180-300 hard to very hard
alkalinity: 180
Ph level: 7.8-8.4 (closer to 8.4)

if my little tezcatlipoca is not doing better by tommorow afternoon I will come back with new information and let everyone know how he is doing. Right now he is still laying low hidding near a peice of coral on the bottom. does ne one have any idea why he is so stressed out and the rest of the troops are fine?

thank you for all your help. it is greatly appreciated.

Some fish are much more sensitive than others. When I first got my fish, they came from a fair - same crappy conditions-and only 1 got ammonia burns. His were all over him (including his poor head!)
The other fish never showed any probs - EXCEPT they both got ich - after being placed in a tank with better conditions. It was just the stress of the journey there.

I would let your guy calm down & see how he is in the AM. Those water params look much better than before

Keep your eye on him & his tankmates to make sure they don't get anything from the stress.

edit : Also be sure to test everyday while you're cycling to make sure they don't get that high again. Remember in each part of the cycle a different level will rise until at the end when you're all done

Hoping all goes well!!



Jenn

hey thank you so much for all the help. I know I will end up having more questions about the cycling process... but for now my worries about tezcatlipoca are lisfted off my shoulders. Thank you very much.

P.S. an hour ago my female betta died!!! it was a mystery. the water levels for her were fine and the male in the hex was doing ok... (they were seperated by a glass partician) maybe it was too stressful for her to see the male... he is a hottie! unfortunately i only had her for one day!

Oh - that's really sad about your betta

How's your tezcatlipoca doing today???



Jenn

good morning. I woke up and was so happy to see that Tezcatlipoca is swimming around with the other fish. Although he looks ALOT better he still does not seem as happy. I'll give him a few days. The other 2 (cleopatra and alexander the great) seem enthused that tezcatlipoca has come to join them!.

As for Quetzalcuatl (the male betta) he misses his first love.... I woke up this morning to find a Bubble nest in his Hex. poor guy is too late. Its very interesting to see this behavior though!

everything is looking good so far! later I'm going to petco to see if there are any ladies good enough for my Quetzalcuatl.

Yeah!!



Jenn

Hi Mystizah!

There are some things on the market that can help to mature your filter. That's what i used.

But in the meantime, i would keep doing those water changes.

Absolutely. During cycling, you need to test the water every day, ideally once in the morning and again in the evening, as ammonia and nitrites can climb spookily fast. If you see the levels going over 1.0 at any time, change enough water to bring them back down to 0.5 (don't assume the water is safe after you have changed some - test again to make sure).

Hope your little guys grow and thrive.

I thank all of you for your support and advice. This morning when I woke... tezcatlipoca was doing awsome. I went to class and came home and unfortnately he was handicapped floating on his side. I saw the other two goldies attacking his tail and other fins. It was terribly sad. I wonder if he violated some "goldfish cultural norm" by isolating him self for a few days. When he tryed to rejoin they must have gotten mad. Unfortunately he did not make it. My tank is down to 2 goldies and one betta in the hex. But im pretty confident that cleo and al will be fine. they are so strong. thank you for all your help. I should be testing the water this evening and ill post the results. than way i can take good care of the ones left.

Sometimes fish attack other fish when they are sick. He must have gotten worse after you left . (that's part of the reason for quarentining sick fish so they don't get picked on while they're less active/not behaving normally.)

Also fish will nibble on other deceased fish (that's why you have to get any dead fish out of there right away - esp if you think there was a problem with disease)

I'm happy that your other fishies are doing well though!!!

Post back if you need anything!

Jenn

Thank you. I just conducted a 30% water change and Im waiting for the water to settle. Before conducting the water change the amonia was alittle less than 3.0! I cant wait until my tank is cycled! I decided to hold off on buying my female betta until i have my goldies established and im going to keep my male betta in tip top shape for mating! I will update when I decided to do this. Until then... lots of testing, water changes and watching!