Goldfish died suddenly. Any ideas?

Question

To the best of our knowledge they weren't particularly old. Only clue we have is that their water turned very murky the day before and was like that when their bodies were found, despite being changed. There didn't appear to be any damage to the scales or anything. Thanks.

Answer 1

Without knowing more about the set up it would only be a guess. What size tank? How long has it been set up? How many fish? How often was it cleaned and how much water did you remove? Did it have a filter?

Tiffany K is wrong, they actually have a very long life span of 20+ years, the oldest on record died at the age of 42 or 43. The main reason they die so young is from improper care. Most people think they do fine in small tanks or even bowls but they need way more, even the smaller fancy goldfish need no less then 10 gallons each when babies and 20+ when adults.

Answer 2

Something in the water. Its hard to tell with the info you have given. If you are using zeolite and salt and have not replaced the zeolite it could be that it leached ammonia at high levels in the tank. If you have rocks like sandstone or volcanic (holey rock) they can leach toxins. Painted aquarium ornaments and / or colored rocks can do it. If they suddenly went from being healthy to dead it is most likely some sort of toxin in the water. Could be chlorimines in the tap water and you have to get extra water conditioner for that in addition to dechlorinator. If you haven't changed the water in a very long time then you suddenly change a lot of water the Ph could be very very different and cause this too. (alkalosis or acidocis) Your test kits are your lifeline to the tank without that info you are totally in the dark. But one thing I know for sure is that sick, dead or dieing fish indicate 99% of the time bad water.
Like many things in Asian culture balance and consistancy are the key. Maintain everything the same always like water temp, Ph, no ammonia, no nitrite, <20 ppm Nitrate. Do weekly or bi-weekly water change. Clean your filter and refurbish once a month. Replace lights once a year. Replace food once a month (it goes rotten esp. flake food). Think about their little lives and the environment they live in. Fluctuations in the environment will cause heath problems in fish. Get a few good goldfish books to help you. I have kept GF for many years and this is what I know, you will have to depend on your self for getting information and trial and error. Pet stores (even the fancy aquarium places) I find are clueless. Don't just assume they know what they are talking about. Petco will sell you a 1/2 gallon bowl and tell you its ok to put 6 GF in it, when I know good and well there is no such thing as a goldfish bowl. They will try to sell you meds you don't need that can be harmful to your fish and even kill them. Remember these stores are in business to make money not for the health of any of the animals. They will sell you stuff that they know will kill your fish so you will come back and but more fish and more product. They will not tell you simple non-iodized table salt and a little heat will cure most ailments your fish will encounter. Of course nothing will work if the water is not correct. So don't give up, people have been keeping GF for hundreds of years, long before there was a Petsmart or Petco. So take it in your own hands to get the right info. Start here www.goldfishconnection.com or www.fishdoc.com. These sites have excellent info for free. You can even ask them ?'s but look completely through the site for your answer before you do that or the guys may not reply to you. They are busy fellas. Good luck!

Answer 3

I am agreeing with the ammonia bloom answers. When water suddenly changes to a murky color it is typically because the ammonia level has spiked significantly.

Goldfish are HUGE ammonia producers. They are dirty and poop quite a lot (believe me, I have 2 tanks at work - 2 fish per 10G tank and that's it). They grow to be very large a lot of times and can live to be very old. Even my 10G might be too small by the time my guys are done growing.

Are you keeping them in a filtered tank? Do you do 20-25% water changes per week? Here at work, I am beginning to think I need to do water changes 2x a week as they are such messy fish. I also do weekly water tests with the 5 in 1 test strips.

I am totally anti-bowl fish keeping, so if yours were in a bowl, I can't really help you there.

Answer 4

I'll assume the murky water was a whiteish milky color and say that it was most likely a bacteria bloom that died off in the tank using up too much of the available oxygen. The dead fish in the tank just added to the problem turning that color all the more quickly. Do a daily water change each day to attempt to clear the water and make sure your filter is cleaned well.

Many things can cause a bacteria bloom and die off, but the usual cause is a build up of ammonia in the tank.

Best guess based on the information you gave. More details about the tank and the water (color, smell etc) could lead to a different conclusion.

Answer 5

Did some one "kindly" give them an extra helping of fishfood the day before? this decays and uses up all the oxygen in the water leading to death. It happened to me - a lodger thought they looked hungry - I found them gasping at the water surface. Rescued them by scooping them out in a small container, changing 100% of the water and washing the gravel. Then floated the container in the tank to equalise temperatures and released them back into the tank. They lasted another 10 years or so after this episode.

Answer 6

Unfortunately there isn't enough information to say. When you did your water changes, did you only change 25% of the water? Did you just start your tank or was it an established tank? how high were your nitrates? How about the temperature? Gold fish like cooler water. How about air and water flow in the tank?

The water could have turned murkey for a number of reasons. However with out more infomation, it is hard to say why they died.

Answer 7

It's really hard to tell without more info about the tank. It sounds like you had at least 2 goldfish. You should have a minimum of a 5 gal tank.

You should really contact an aquarium shop that specializes in aquariums, (not like petco or petsmart) You should take a sample of the water in with you so they can test it. That may give a clue as to what happened and from there they can explain what you should do in the future.

Answer 8

you shouldn't change the water in the fish tank as tap water contains to much cloride better to buy a cheap filter system and air pump, also some live plants

Answer 9

Was the water temperature very different to the temperature before you changed it
For one fish to die id say it could be natural causes but two fishes
there has to be a reason
The sudden change in the water temperature doesn`t do them any good

Answer 10

exatly the same thing happened to mine, it was probobly the lack of oxeygen they had in their tank since you dicribed itas murky.But really need more description.Like what temp was the water at.And did you have a filter. Or how much did you feed them?