Hi - this is my first posting here; I have been reading your message boards and find them very useful. Anyway, about a week ago, I "inherited" two goldish in a one gallon tank. Well, they seemed to be doing fine up until yesterday when i noticed that the water smelled really foul. The person I took them from had just done a water change (dont know what percentage) before they brought them to me, and yesterday I did a 50% water change (dechlorinated), and this morning about another 30%. I have to say though, that the water still smells pretty bad - hard to describe it. Right now these poor little guys are resting on the bottom of the tank, and any food i give them gets chewed up and spit out. Aside from the obvious (I am looking for the PROPER size tank and water testing equipment), what can I do for them right away?

Thanks

Hi,

I think this one should be asked at the "Goldfish Diseases";
please try to provide more information,
such as the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, PH, tank size, etc,
just look at the red boxes in the "Goldfish Diseases" section;
you'd get more responses there.

these articles should help also to give you some ideas about proper housing for the goldfish:

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

-ike-

well i would get at least a 20-30 gallon tank for those guys STAT! you won't want to waste time as a bowl (one gallon no less) will be the Grim Reaper to those little fishies! Goldfish need at least 10 gallons each to live long healthy comfortable lives. Here's the case in a nutshell, there is no filtration in a bowl, which leaves no room for a natural cycle of food & poop into ammonia, then ammonia into nitrite, nitrite into nitrate, nitrate emptied out with the water changes. The poop and leftover food builds up in a bowl and decomposed filling the whole bowl with bad ammonia that can kill a fish very easily. Also proper aeration is a necesity for any bowl (don't let the pet store or anyone else tell you they don't need an air bubbler 'cause they do!! and lots of it!)
BUT
what you can do in the meantime is do a good vacuuming of the tank with a syphon everyday making sure to collect poop and uneaten food and change about 75% or more of the water once a day. fill the bowl back up with water that has been sitting with no lid from the tap for at least 24 hours. (this will make sure the chlorine evaporates. you should do this even though you use dechlorinators or water purifiers). this should perk them right up, seeing as how clean water works wonders. also, if you have enough room, drop an air bubble in there through the top hole, it may not look pretty, but it will give them the oxygen that they obviously are craving.
but seriously, if you want to keep these guys, get them a big old tank and feed them a good variety of food like flakes, pellets, peas, oranges, cucumber, lettuce, brine shrimp, daphnia, and blood worms (not all at once LOL, but mix it up for them because they, just like us, enjoy a good variety in their diet)
hope this helps!!

also, i forgot, only feed them what they can eat in about 1 minute and make sure to scoop any uneaten food out after that time. feeding them twice a day is good, as long as your not giving them a whole bunch of food. this can cause other diseases like swim bladder disease and constipation. also, soak any flake or pellet food in their tank water (outside the bowl) before giving it to them. this reduces the amount of air they take in when they eat. hopefully their appetites will start to perk up with the water changes. good luck!

Wow, thanks so much for your reply - I think you have given me some good advice there. I totally agree about the tank size, and plan to upgrade to a larger system.. my first thought when I got these guys was that they were too cramped in that little tank. I went out to the pet store this morning and bought a new air stone which turned out to be a good thing because when I replaced it I found that the one that was in there was virtually eroded to nothing! I changed the water again and I see a big improvement already - the fish are swimming around a little more and getting back to their old selves already. Believe me, there is nothing I would like more than to see these guys live a long, happy and healthy life!