i just added a new plant to my fishbowl and i went away for about 5 minutes
and there were white squigilly things flying around in my tank i looked at pics and they looked like anchor worms is there someway to get the worms out without moving the fish im going to get a 10 gal tank soon but thats later and 1 more q how do you use tweezers and qtips underwater?

if the white squiggly things were like small bits of thread and swiming then they sound like nemotodes these are non parasitic worms, you probably disturbed them in the gravel when you planted the plants.

Ok, take a deep breath. All is not lost.

Anchor Worms typically do not float visibly around in the water - even when they "come in on the plants". An adult worm typically is already attached. The ones that travel are the teenyweeny juvenile ones...

What you may be seeing is planeria. These are tiny little white worms that are often found in tanks. They clean up detrius and waste in a tank that has lots. They are harmless to the fish - in fact harmless to everything except to the esthetics of the tank.

A fish in a bowl (good for you on getting the 10 gallon tank! ) will need LOADS of water changes to keep his water in good shape. So, you do not have to be afraid of changing out the water. I would suggest that you take a syphon tube and carefully clean the gravel that holds your plants in the bowl and replace the old dirty water with new water. This will refresh the bowl as well as remove some of the detrius that the worms are feeding on.

Keep an eye on your fish. When a fish is in a very SMALL volume of water, such as a bowl, not only do the water parameters need to be monitored on a DAILY basis, you will find that any parasites that may be around will attack with a vengence.

If you see a white, stringy looking thing hanging from your fish - with the head of it buried under a scale - usually making a reddish looking sore there, THEN you have anchor worms.

Anchor Worms are relatively easy to erradicate - so do not panic.

Ok?

hmmmm it doesnt seem right bcause i always see my new fish gulping air even after changing water now it wont open its mouth even for food or anything else

ok so "if" i had them on my fish how would they come off???
i mean tweezers and all isnt excactly easy

Do you have any tests for the water? In a volume of water, like a bowl particularly, the fish's waste can very quickly make the water toxic.

The water may look bright and clear - smell fine and look GREAT! But the ammonia from the fish's waste can quickly be deadly.

If you do not have any water tests (ammonia), you can commonly get your water tested for free at just about any fish/pet store.

Do you have any sort of filtration on the bowl? Do you have any aeration devices on the bowl? Is it warm where you are?

The best thing you can do for the fish, barring getting him into a larger volume of filtered water is to change out his water. Change out as much of it as you can - all of it if you can. Replace the water with fresh water - water that has been either left out to sit for a day or that has been treated with a dechlorinator - a water treatment that removes the toxic chlorine that has been added to most tap water.

The fresh water - every day - will go a long way to helping your fish survive.

Here are a few articles of interest that should help you a bit more in understanding goldfish keeping:

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=11275

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/care.html

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have, ok?

Anchor worms are best treated with medication for the worms. A small fish is very difficult to hold and remove anchor worms with tweezers. Since the worms bury their heads under the fish's scales and take a big bite, if you are not very careful when you pull them off, you can pull a large chunk of your fish off, too. Where the worm is imbedded is a wound - a place where a secondary infection can easily set in. Most anchor worm medications also have a secondary antibacterial action - to prevent such occurance.

ok thanks but i can only afford a 10 gal tank in 1 week i have lots of money but its all saved for when im 30
i cant afford going to and from the petsmart im in nc and its summer and i dont have a filter or anything else just food antibacterial food and a net and a plant and they are comets and if i could go to the place to get amonia checked how would I??

ohh and i think it has fungus it has always been deep red color now therews wite sections about a milimeter in diameter

Nearly all of the problems you are describing sound suspiciously like things that are either caused by or exasperated by poor water quality.

I urge you to change out 100% of your water in that bowl every day. Twice a day would be even better.

If you do have a good antibacterial food, you can feed that to the fish. No other food. Feed the anitbacterial food every day - only as much as the fish can eat in a few minutes. Then change out all the water.

If I misunderstood you and you do not have antibacterial food, only feed your fish a tiny tiny tiny amount of the regular food every other day or so. The less food that goes in, the less waste there will be to foul the water.

Change out all the water morning and evening if you can. Do not forget to add the water conditoner to remove the chlorine and other nasties in the tap water and/or let the water sit out overnight before you use it.

what is this "water conditioner" i let my water sit overnight hmm and i change it around once a week
when i get 10 gallon tank and filter will i need to change the water what will i need when i get the 10 gallon?

When you get your ten gallon tank, you will need a filter. This filter should filter at least 100 gallons per hour - or 10 times the water volume every hour. In that filter you will grow some beneficial bacteria that will process the fish's waste into a product that is relatively non-toxic to the fish. When this happens, you will be able to change only a portion of your water out each week to dilute this final product down to a good level.

Until then, your fish are producing ammonia - waste as they eliminate. This is in the bowl water with nothing to process it. It is toxic to the fish, making them sick and making them susceptible to every other problem that comes along.

The best way to deal with this ammonia at this time, since you have no tank, no filter, no "cycle" and no product such as Prime or Amquel, is to change out your water. ALL of it, every day. Perhaps twice a day.

Most tap water is treated at your water treatment plant. One of the things commonly found in tap water is chlorine (and a few other things). This may be harmless to you, but it can kill or greatly harm your fish. This chlorine can be bound from the tap water instantly by a product like Prime or a general water conditioner - they are called dechlorinators. If you do not have these, you can draw the water into a bucket or tub and let it sit out for about 12-24 hours. The chlorine will escape into the air and leave the water in this time. Then the water will be safe to use for the fish.

I suggest that you change out all the water, and when you are done, set out more water to "age". That way it will be available when you need to do another water change.

Did you have any questions on the readings?

ok so if i live in a place were i get water from a well (which i do) and it is filtered do i still need to let it sit out
and could you recommend a place to buy this equipment such as amuquell and such?i now go to my local petsmart in raliegh nc is there a better place to buy fish and tanks and such?

they are correct. There should be a reddened area with a worm or white hair like thing hanging out of it. A couple of my orandas had it once. i used my trusting tweezers to remove the couple ones they had on them and treated the tank with .3 percent salt. the reddened area kind of looks like the reddened area around a zit with the little worms body sticking out and his burried in the reddened area.

ok that doesnt answer my previous qeustion were is a good place to get equipment?in nc.

Oh sorry I thought you were having trouble with what you thought were achor worms.

i was until i realized i needed a larger tank

yes as you already know a bowl is no place for a goldie . I know you are looking for a 1o gallon. Is there any petsmarts or petcos in your area. Actually if you are really strapped for cash petsmart would be the better route. If there are none of those around you I know there are wallyworlds everywhere. you can either buy just a plain 10 gallon there or they have entire ten gallon kits. i would not buy fish from there but they do have supplies if you can not find them anywhere else near you or if you are in a rural area where that is all there is. Hope that helps. Another option is have you heard of www.craigslist.com. They have aquariums for sale on there all the time and you can specify the area you are in and it will only show adds from your area. Most of them are use and you can get them cheap. aught to check it out

*sniffle* all my fish dead decimated destroyed well i just got my tropical aquarium
its pretty coll im not gnna do gold fish for a longlong time now