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Posted by Adam Lion on April 22, 2005, 4:51 am
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Okay, well ebfore i came to uni i had goldfish in the pond in our back
garden. Both of them lived fine and never had a problem and i used to go and
watch them while studying for my exams.
Well I have final exams coming up, and i live in a flat, so no pond, so i
thought id get a tnak and some goldfish. So off i go to the store. I quizzed
the guy on what to do, my mum had issues keeping ehr fish alive in another
pond so i figured they could be pretty fragile. So i came away with a
smallish tank, gravel for the bottom, a water pump thing and 2 small
goldfish (about an inch and a half to 2 inches long each). The guy told me
to wash the gravel, so i did that. I put it in the bottom of the tank and
spread it out pretty evenly. He told me to half fill the tank or so, add the
pump, then to rest the bag with the fish in the water (we did this back home
with pondfish to let the temperature adjust). Coming home we noticed the bag
had a small leak, but the fish seemed completely undisturbed by this. I elft
the back there for alkmost an hour, then, as the guy in the store had told
me, i took the corner off the bag and left it. After about half an hour both
fish had swum out and were happily swimming around.
Now the guy told me that theyd probably settle near the bottom of the tank
at first, and that i should top it up slowly then leave it (wtihout feeding
the fish) until they were swimming aroudn happily.
Well they swam around msot of the afternoon in the lwoer half of the tank.
The smaller fish settled in one corner, pretty much resting on the gravel,
but staying upright. The other seemed to playa roudn in the bubble stream
form the filter a bit then did the same. I figured this was what the guy had
said, so i didnt worry and when it got dark outside i turned the lights off
and went to bed.
When i woke up this morning the bigger of the fish is dead and the smaller
one is still sat in the same corner at the bottom. he doesnt appear to be
distresse,d gasping for air or anything. he's swum out into the middle a
little then backed away into the corner again a few times, but doesant seem
too happy.
Im wondering what killed the bigger fish, and if it's related to the reason
the smaller one is just sitting in the corner. my girlfriend picked out the
fish that died, so it'd be really useful if i could work out what went
wrong, i dont want to just egt mroe fish if they're going to die. Our water
isnt the greatest, but the shop is in the same area, the guy said it would
be okay, and it seems really clear.
anyone have any suggestions. When the store opens im gonna call them and ask
them about it, and i can go through this afternoon if needs be. I want to
get a couple of nice happy healthy fish, but obviously im not gonna get mroe
fish if they're going to die straight away.
hope soemone can help
Adam
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Posted by nk on April 22, 2005, 2:26 pm
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Adam,
I just lost my first message to you.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you that you made two major errors, one of
which you can do something about as soon as you can get to a store:
FIRST: Your tank did not cycle. Go to the nearest aquarium shop that
carries a product called STABILITY by SeaChem. It will help cycle and
settle the tank down quickly. Afterward, at your leisure, do a search
and learn about cycling your aquarium so you understand what happened.
SECOND: You did not acclimate your fish properly. While the bag is
floating, you must add a little bit of the aquarium water to it at a
time. Wait 5-10-15 minutes to see if there is a bad reaction from your
fish. If not, add more water -same amount as you just added - to the
bag and repeat until more than 70% of the water in the bag is from your
tank. You may have to first empty some of the water from your bag (use
a small cup or ladle to take it out, and get rid of it.) When the fish
has been acclimated, you may net him out of the bag, or empty most of
the water into your sink (squeeze bag at the end so fish doesn't go down
the drain) and then let the fish swim into the tank.
IF you fish shows signs of stress after you first add the tank water to
the bag, go slower and add much less of the water.
The reason for this is that your home water and the water the fish is in
may be very different in PH, hardness, salinity (salt), ammonia and
other factors. If you don't acclimate the fish, they go into shock --
so you must do it slowly.
The advice of not filling the tank makes no sense whatever to me. You
would then have to top it off, adding still more water to the aquarium
before your fish have adjusted to the first change from bag to aquarium!
Did they tell you about treating the water with dechlorinator first????
Keep us posted.
n
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Posted by nk on April 22, 2005, 2:40 pm
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http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/care/care1.htm#buying%20a%20new%20goldfish
This is an excellent web site for an overview of what where why and how.
n
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Posted by Adam Lion on April 23, 2005, 12:55 pm
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> http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/care/care1.htm#buying%20a%20new%20goldfish
>
> This is an excellent web site for an overview of what where why and how.
>
> n
it seems to have a lot of good pointers, and thanks for the advice. Went
back to the store today and the guy said i should leave the tank to cycle
before trying more fish. It's been cycling for nearly 3 days now. Thank's
for all the advice and ill let you know how it goes when i try adding
another fish or two.
cheers
Adam
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Posted by Geezer From The Freezer on April 25, 2005, 5:42 am
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Adam how big is your tank?
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>
> This is an excellent web site for an overview of what where why and how.
>
> n