Sorry, an error came up when I tried that last post and it was such a long one!!

I'll start again...

We have lost 3 fish in about a week.

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: not tested
pH: constantly 7.3
We do a water change every week (25%) and add water conditioner to remove chlorine and cycle (good bacteria)
We have 6 fish in a 13 gallon (all baby fish)
We have a great filter (crystal clear water)
We feed them sinking pellets, frozen brine shrimp and peas (we vary every day).

The first one died from swim bladder problems (no other symptoms). A week later Numnut died from parasites (we thought his head was just growing, hence the white stuff on his red cap but it turns out it was a slime layer)...started treating with sterazin...a day later Precious (oranda) started laying on the bottom and died 24 hours later with no visible symptoms.

We are doing everything I can possibly think of to look after these fish!!

any ideas??

x Abrya

im so sorry to hear that. are you soaking the pellets before you feed them? this causes swim bladder and it sounds like precious might have died from this too. with the parisites, im not sure what you can do. i know wynkin had problems with parasites. maybe she can help you with this.
good luck!
xxx

You need to have at least 10 gallons of water for each fish. Even though they are babies they are overcrowded and can still produce a lot of waste.
I would try testing the nitrates to see if you're changing the water often enough because even though the nitrite is at 0 that doesn't mean that the nitrates aren't high. Hope this helps

Blinky: We haven't been soaking the sinking pellets but we will from now on.

Athena: I know we need a bigger tank for the fish, but it's not possible at the moment When we got the fish in the first place we had no idea they needed 10 gallons per fish. We're new to the goldfish thing. About the nitrates...I thought ammonia and nitrite were toxic to the fish but not nitrates. What can high nitrate levels do to the fish?

Thanks!

Abrya

nitrates are good in small amounts but if the level gets too high it can be just as harmful.