Hello, I am new to this site and in desperate need of someone's help. My local aquarium shops have been unable to determine my problem and I am extremely upset at the loss of 2 of my fish already this weekend. I will provide the details of my tank first:

- Water levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & PH) were tested on Friday at a local aquarium shop and all levels were determined to be normal.
- I have a 75 Gallon Goldfish tank
- This particular tank has been established for almost a year but I have had the goldfish for about 2 1/2 years.
- I have an AquaClear 110 Filter
- I complete a 25% water change about once a month (usually a professional comes in but the last 3 months - I have completed this).
- I have 1 Comet Goldfish, 2 Black Moors, 1 white with orange forehead (sorry I don't know his name) & a Koi. I also have a Pleco.
- I currently use Prime conditioners along with aquarium salt
- I have added some parasite treatment made by Jungle Labs
- No new fish to the tank in a year
- I feed them small sinking pellets and occassional shrimp pellets
- I have not noticed anything unusual on the fish
- A week ago today the first incident of stange behavior began. One of my orange comet fish started spinning uncontrollably and thrashing throughout the tank. After speaking to several local aquarium shops they told me he had swim bladder and that he was going to die. I got online and began researching and I thought it would be worth it to treat the water for parasites and/or bacteria. I removed the carbon, treated the water and made the room dark so he could possibly calm down. I woke up the next morning and he was perfectly fine. I added the carbon back in 2 days. On Friday, I came home from work to my Shubunkin being dead. I immediately headed out to have the water tested and talk to a professional about what could be happening. Everyone else in the tank was behaving normally. The water tested normal. She told me to add some more salt and a little more slime coat and to watch the tank. Last night at 10pm - the original orange fish that had the problem began thrashing around the tank. I then began researching again and discovered that almost all of his symptions matched those of an internal parasite - he spent several hours suffering laying on the bottom of the tank. He was unable to swim most of the time but would have fits of uncontrollable darting throughout the tank. I treated the water again and hoped for the best. When I got up this morning - he was dead. So far today, everyone is acting ok.

To give you an indication to how tough these fish are - last November, I lost my home to a tornado. We were forceably evacuated and I was made to leave not only my fish but also my dogs and cats and frog. Insulation, glass and depris was in their tank. They survived for 2 days like this before Animal Control gained access to my home and removed them. They then were cared for by my local Petsmart in a pond until I could rent a home and replace my tank. During all of this - I only lost my loach because Animal Control could not catch him. The Koi became part of our family when he bonded with my fish in the pond at Petsmart.

This is heartbreaking for both myself and my children. We have survived so much together and now they are just dying and I cannot seem to stop it. Any help any of you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I do not want to lose anymore members of my fish family. They are very special to us.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my post.

First, I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your fish and, even more, the loss of your home due to a hurricane. I live in Florida, so I know about the devastation those things can cause.

I'm relatively new to much of the more in depth goldfish care, so I probably won't be a lot of help. There were a few things that did pop out to me, though.

The first thing was the mention that you have a pleco in the tank. It's usually cautioned to not put plecos in with goldfish as the pleco will 'eat' the slime coat off of the goldfish. It may not be noticeable, but if your pleco is dining on your gf's slime coat, that can leave them stressed and vulnerable to all sorts of things.

Second is the koi. Koi, being a single-tail gf, is a 'faster' swimmer than the fancies and that can sometimes cause problems when mixed due to 1) stress and 2) being faster, the slower fancies may not be getting enough food. Also, koi grow HUGE and are normally considered pond fish. Hopefully, someone much more knowledgable than I will weigh in on that.

You said you salted. Do you know what solution you have going now? Tonic level of salt is .1% (1 tsp per gal) while medicinal application of salt is .2%, preferable .3% percent. Salt should be added slowly to bring it up .3%. Bring it to .1%, 12 hours later add another 1 tsp per gal to up it to .2% and then, do the same to bring it to .3% 12 hours later. Also, I've been told it's not advisable to mix salt with meds. Again, hoping someone more qualified comes on to clarify that.

Do you know how many gallons per hour your pump runs? The rule of thumb is 10x the volume of the tank, which would be 750 gph for your size tank. Goldfish produce a lot of waste and need to have the highest filtration rate possible.

Have you noticed any other symptons? Such as split fins or red streaks? How do their gills look? Is their poop white and stringy? Are there any white spots on them anywhere?

Lastly, and most importantly, I'd suggest that you try and get some test kits to test the water. They make master kits that test Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte and pH and it would help tremendously to know exactly what those parameters are. My fish have been doing great for years, but I lost one a few weeks ago to a simple pH crash and have been dealing with a host of other issues related to the crash.

Again, I know I haven't been much help. There is a list of questions at the top of the forum, and if you could answer as many of those as possible, especially the water parameter ?'s, that would help greatly in aiding a determination of what is going on with your fish.

Oh, and I forgot to say The people here are awesome. Amazingly knowledgable and so helpful. It's real hard to not become addicted to this place, lol.

Lisa

You need to tell us the exact numbers for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph.

The thrashing around does not sound like swim bladder problems but more to do with water quality.
The koi im afraid should be relocated to a pond as they need 250 gallons each. Im surprised that a professional is only doing a water change once a month and really once a week is the minimum for your tank. With whats been happening I think 50% twice a week would be better.
How big are your fish and what exactly do you have left?

Just for info, koi is not a gf, although they're related. But yeah they can grow to over a metre long and need 250 gallons each.

Same as sandy, the thing I noticed most is the waterchange regime you've been doing. 25% a month is not enough and u need to up the frequency to what sandy has advised. And u don't need a professional just to do a waterchange, none of us here do, and we got a 60-yr old grandma here who has a dozen tanks and she does all the waterchanges herself

See?! I told you all I was still a green newbie! I'm also old and forgetful. Koi are of the carp family/species, correct? I'm vaguely remembering reading that on here somewhere once. Please correct me if I'm still wrong, so I don't go around spreading more incorrect info!

I'm also glad to see others addressed the water changes that I neglected to do. One thing I have learned is that water changes are your fish's BEST friend. Once a week is the minimum, and at least twice a week when having problems.

I've also learned that goldfish (and koi!) can live for quite a good while - years, even - in less than ideal water conditions, but it will eventually take it's toll.

Another thing that hasn't been asked yet is what temp is your tank? GF normally do best with temps in the mid-70's. I keep my tank at a steady and constant 76 degrees.

Really, it would help so much if you could reply back with as specific as possible answers to the questions at the top of the forum. I'll bow out now and let those with much more experience and knowledge (and less memory problems, lol) take over.

Lisa

Get yourself the Aquarium Pharmacueticals Drop Test Master Kit.You can pick one of those up pretty reasonable. I too believe that you are having more problems with water quality,than the Pet Store advised you. They tend to use Test Strips which are not the most reliable at all.
The Aquaclear 110 is not a big enough filter on a 75 gal. Goldfish tank.On my 75 gal.,I use the 110,but I also use an Emperor 400,along with it.Goldfish are recommended to have ten x's filtration of the size of their tank which would be at least 750gph(gallons per hour).The Aquaclear 110 is only doing 500 gph.
I think that right now you need to start large water changes.On mine,I do 50 % or more 1-2 times per week.Getting those test kits though will help determine what your tank is reading and what needs to be changed out weekly,along with gravel vac's.
There's a ton of info I want to pass on,but I don't want to overwhelm you,as I know information is flying all over the place here.
Against All Odds,I want to welcome you to koko's.I want to tell you how your story touched my heart,and the last thing that I want to say,is to hang in there.You are now amongst friends that would like to help you and your fish.Post soon so we know what's going on.

Correct! and so are goldfish. They're all in the carp family, and are capable to interbreed.

Thank you everybody for all of your advice. Firstly, I don't have the specific test results as I did not complete them but I can get some today. Secondly, the aquarium shop that I use I do trust completley. She has been open for many, many years and they have never lead me down the wrong road yet. I do agree that more regular testing is needed and I will buy the kit that was suggested. She did not test with strips but with several test tubes, droppers etc. I also was given my tank recommendations by what I would consider a professional and never second guessed that I would need a bigger filter for my tank. Before the tornado - I was doing weekly water changes but when I established this tank - I was told I was changing the water too much and to bring it down. I will again start a more agressive water change schedule. I do assume that I should only change my carbon once a month, correct? Also, would you recommend I replace my filter or simply add to it. I would hate to throw away a filter I paid quite a bit of money for.

I also agree about the Koi - I know he is going to need different arrangements once he grows. I am not looking forward to this as I do not have a pond.

I have not noticed any of the other physical signs you asked about and as of yesterday morning everyone seems to be acting fine. I still have carbon out and was planning on repeating the Parasite treatment after a 25% water change as recommended tomorrow. Should I replace the carbon or continue with the treatment?

Also, I think I may feed my guys too much. What do you recommend?

Thanks again for all of your help and your wonderful welcome.

How are things going?

you don't need to throw away your filter... just add another one. as devs said before you need at least 750 gph and your aquaclear 110 is only running 500 gph. you need a filter that runs at least 250 gph.

i feed my goldies 3 times a day, and a fair amount. i find that as long as you keep up with your water parameters, and based on your water testing results, perform your water changes, you can't really go wrong with feeding. if however you find that a large portion of the food you feed is not being eaten, then i would worry about over feeding.

also if you have a tank with gravel, i find that a lot of waste collects in it. when you do water changes, if you're using a syphon, it helps if you kinda push it down into the gravel and give it a little twist.. you'll be surprised at how much goldfish poo you can get just doing that.

as for the carbon replacement and water treatment, i'll leave that up to the more knowledgable members. i'm a bit rusty on my info.