hi everyone, i'm new to gold fish, well i did have some a ew years back, anyhow i set a new tank up not very big it has 20 liters in it at the moment it will hasve to do till i move into our new house in a few months, as we dont have the room right now to keep a larger tank, i have a ilter in there, and some real plants and river pebbles, so friday i set tank up and bought a very cute ranchu, he is excellent ull o lie very happ, then saturday i went out and bought a nother fish, this new fish wasnt very active when i bought it, i know i really shouldnt of bought it but it was very cute, now she's not very good she stays at the bottom and breaths slow, and she has the sad eyes, she is interested in ood but she will eat it then spilt it back out,at first i thought she didnt like the gold fish crumbles, but she is doing the same with the flakes, please help me if anyone can i dont want to loose her as my ranchu really likes her.

Hi Puggirl, welcome to Koko's, we're getting quite a few Aussies on here lately and it's good to see B)

20L is around 5 gallons so I'm sorry to tell you that you're tank is not large enough for goldfish unless they are tiny weeny babies (this is because gf eat alot and make a lot of mess). Nevertheless, you can make do until you move and get a larger tank but it'll be quite a bit of work.

New tanks are very dangerous, even when they are large enough for goldfish. Until your filter has cycled which can take 4-6 weeks your water can quickly become toxic and even kill your fish. This is how it happens :-

Fish eat and breath then poop and pee creating waste products. About 3 days into the life of a new tank ammonia will become present in the water as a result of these waste products. This is deadly, change a little bit of water everyday and purchase some water conditioner that neutralises ammonia, such as Prime or Amquel or Stress Coat, there are lots on the market. I prefer Prime.

As your tank matures (around day 5) bacteria will grow that transform the ammonia into nitrites, guess what? these are deadly too. More daily water changes (Prime actually neutralises nitrites as well).

Eventually around day 21, bacteria will grown that transforms the nitrites into NitrAtes, these can be keep under control by weekly water changes of 30-50%.

Look on Koko's home page for more detailed information on "The Cycle of the Tank". Some members, including myself, use a product called 'New Improved Cycle' that adds the bacteria you need to the water and helps your tank cycle more quickly.

Now to your unhappy fish. All the symptoms you mentioned sometimes do occur when fish move to a new home, some fish stress out more than others. What worries me most is the spitting out of food, that's not good sign. It could mean an internal bacterial infection.

First of all get your water in order. If you don't have any water conditioner get some ASAP. If you can afford it buy some test kits for ammonia and nitrite, or take a sample of your water to the lfs (local fish shop) and ask them to test it for you. Most shops do it for free.

If your fish is still not eating or improving in 2 days, post back and someone will recommend medication.

Good Luck!

great thanks annette, i have a ph tester is that what you mean?? i have been testing the water everyday and today it is it's best yet, i went out on the weekend and bought some neutrilizer, just to have incase. but anyhow i must go now i will post again after work about my fish stilll not eating very interested in food but spits it right out ????? iks she a fussy eater?????

Your fish may just be getting used to a new environment. I have had a sarasa comet (his name is Fin) since June and he never eats when I feed them. He eats after I've gone away. Maybe your fish does this as well. Ah, well if your fish spits it out he may not like the food you are giving him, he might get used to it to. I would go back to the store you bought him from and ask what type of food they were feeding the type of fish you bought. If you could get some of that type of food. Feed that and see what happens. If he eats it, then good. After a few days of feeding that, feed some mixed with the food you orginally had. Soon he might just get used to your kind of fish food.
When fish spit food out - they are tasting it, I think?, and maybe your new fish doesn't like that food taste.

i think what annette meant by test kits was:

ammonia/nitrIte/nitrAte and ph too.

youll need them right now more than ever. ammonia and nitrites are building up to very toxic levels right about now. youll need to be doing 25-50% (or more) water changes every day to keep the levels down low. ammonia should be kept at 1ppm or less. nitrite should be kept at 2ppm or less. all the while youll need to be adding aquarium salt at 2 1/2 teaspoons per gallon to the water that your adding back.the aquarium salt will help your goldies to deal with the nitrItes by allowing them to "breathe" better. once the ammonia and nitrites disappear from the test results (up to a month), you can discontinue the salt.

it is very important that you get your test kits and aquarium salt as soon as you can. otherwise, theres no way to know how much water you need to change everyday.

i hope this helps.

post back soon.

paul

Not to alarm you, but thats the same thing my goldfish did before he died. It was mostly because of the Ammonia. He was trying so hard to eat but after he would grab a bit of flakes he would have to spit them back out to breath. He sat on the bottom all day long and looked like he was facing death right in the face. And i didn't even know how funny he had been acting for awhile.

Was she acting this way when you got here from the pet store? or did she act this ways after you put here in your tank?

What other kinds of food does she spit out?

Does the other fish show signs of the same thing she does? Is she afraid of the ranchu?

<_< sorry but my fish did the same before dying, the other started to do this too but i saved him using stuff for gill flukes.

so u have water conditioner in ur water???? Ur not just using straight tape water r u???

I hope ur fish is ok... u can by stress Zyme... which is a product which reduces stress when moving fish 2 a new home... if u decide it is stress thia may help...