Hopefully someone will be able to help me out....but I can't give the water quality info 'cos I don't have a testing kit

I got two new goldfish last week, the tank was set up for 2 weeks before I put them in. They are/were fed flake food twice a day. On Saturday they started to sit at the bottom of the tank but came up for food and did eat. The smaller one died this morning (aaww) and the other one is now covered in some sort of white/clear stuff and some of it is floating around in the tank. I can't really explain what it looks like, tho, but I suppose it's kind of mucusy.

I did speak to someone this morning about a water test kit (this guy runs an aquarium shop), but he said to wait and see if the fish would improve before spending a fortune on something that might not make a bit of difference (I did not notice the mucusy stuff on the fish this morning). He did comment on the shop that the fish were bought from (all tanks linked and none quarantined)! Maybe this was inevitable?

[/b]14 gallon tank, running for 2 weeks
Elite mini filter/pump
10% water change yesterday and another 10% today, after wee one died
2 fish were in tank, approx 2" (now dead) and 3"
Prime added with water changes (1/4 cap)

Sorry if all this is a bit vague! I used to keep fish years ago, in a normal bowl without a filter/pump, etc and they lasted for years.

Hopefully someone will be able to help me out!

Sounds like the slime Coat is coming off your fish.It could be slime disease.Does your fish have cloudy eyes.Is it flicking or rubbing,If so your fish has a parasitic infection.I would first suggest taking a sample of your tank water to your LFS and ask them to test it and write down the exact results.You will need to ensure you have good water quality as that in itself will help.I also suggest salting your tank up to 0.3% with aquarium salt this will help with fungal and parasitic infections.To salt the tank you mix 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt per gallon of water. 12 hours later repeat to reach 0.2% then again another 12 hours later to achieve 0.3%.When mixing salt remove some water from your tank and dissolve salt in it then add it back to your tank

Cheers for the fast reply, Blue!!

The fish is on it's last legs I think. It's swimming head first into the side of the tank and can't seem to keep upright. When I was watching just a coupla minutes ago, it darted round the tank and landed upside down in one of the plants but hasn't moved yet. Also, it's gills are working a lot harder now than earlier on today.

My brother bought 2 fish about 2 months (when we got our 1st 2) ago and his are thriving. They came from the same shop as ours and are huge now! He's not using tap water for water changes - he uses water straight from the burn outside his house. We also got 2 fish at the same time as my brother but they both died within a few days.

Maybe our tap water is not safe, even with the conditioners? If this fish doesn't recover I think we'll cut our losses and get a budgie.

Do an immediate water change now of around 50% see if that helps and try get some aquarium salt I have had a fish I thought was ready to just die once and he pulled through don't give up

It's too late.....it's gone. That was instant.....it wasn't too bad this morning and I didn't see any of the mucusy stuff at all.

I'll do the water change now (50%), give the gravel a good stir, take out any debris and leave the tank for a few weeks and then maybe get another 2.

Thanks for your help though! If you've got any tips for next time, that would be very, very helpful. Also, should I tell this shop about this, or do you think it's something that I did wrong? they should not get away with supplying people sick fish!

Sorry about your fish. If you are going to plan on other fish then please get test kits to test your water. You will need ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph and kh and gh. It sounds like the ph might be too low for the fish and theres no buffer to help keep it up. When a ph crash happens the fish become covered in slime coat and die quite quickly.

I'm so sorry your fish passed away I myself have bought fish in the past that have developed illness within days of me getting them.Last time it happened I went back to store and checked tank my fish had come out of they were all infected with white spot.The store was good about it they offered to take my fish back but I refused so they gave me meds free of charge to treat them.With a lot of fish diseases it can take a few days for symptoms to show so the store may not have noticed any symptoms as when I bought mine non of fish in tank had any signs of illness.

Thanks for the advice guys, it was very helpful!

Our wee lassie was watching me change the water and asking where the fishies had gone (she's only 20 months)!! I think we'll get a test kit and try some more fish in a few weeks...thanks again for all your help - any problems next time I'll know where to come!!

Sorry to hear that you lost both fish.We normally recommend 10 gal.s per Goldie because of the waste they produce and the speed that they grow.A 14 gal. would be okay for a short time if they were very small fish.As your tank wasn't cycled to begin with, having two fish at 2 inches and 3 inches big probably had the ammonia level very high,and not enough water was being taken out.
I wouldn't give up on fish just yet,but I would take a look at these.They'll help you alot. Good luck!


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

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