Help! Can anyone help me with my sick fish?

Question

I was recently given a goldfish, 2 little albino corys and a sucker fish. From day 1 we had problems with the sucker fish, it was behaving irratically and wouldnt eat and eventually it died. From then on i went and bought a tiny little silver fish(like a gold tetra i think!) and a calico moor. Everything seemed to be going along smoothly for a week untill the little fish started to swim irratically and its coloured stripe began to chang into a very pale purple. After a bit or research i put it down to simbladder disease and took action, fortunatly it survived so i put it back into the tank. At the same time i began to notice that the other fish began to miserable and after a few days the little fish died, followed closely, and suddenly, by the albinos. We are left with a golfish and calico moor who look poorly:( They swim in a very depressed manner, somtimes floating upside down. Could this be Ick/ich disease? I havnt noticed any spots but ive checked the water & feed & thats all fine

Thanks for the suggestions! Yeah i regularly clean the tank & filter with a gravel vacum. Ive checked the ph levels which are all fine and i condition and cycle the water before the fish go in! Our pet store owner, who has no ideas on what is happening to the fish, said that i dont need to check for amonia as my water conditioner should clear up the tank water. Our tank and fish were all choosen with the help of our pet shop owner so they all should have enough space. Ill try the trick with the salt and see how that goes! I live on a farm with a huge variety of animals, but i have to say that i never ever expected fish to be this stressful lol!!!

Answer 1

White spots could be due to ick... if your goldfish are swimming upside down... they may have gas, which can eventually kill them... to help this you can catch the fish in a net and hold them, drop one grain of espom salt into their mouth (you can blow gently to make sure it gets down) then place them back in the water. Do this about once a day until you notice your fish swimming better. (a fish expert from back home taught us this trick)

As for all of the other problems in the tank, have you checked the PH and metals/minerals in the water... Also how big is the tank... each fish requires a certain number of gallons PER FISH depending on it's size... Did you allow your tank to cycle before placing new fish in it... it is recommended that you allow your tank to run for at least twenty four hours before placing any fish inside. Also the tank requires a certain amount of bacteria in it for fish to live. You can get this bacteria by allowing some hardier fish (such as guppies) to cycle the tank and help create some, you can buy live bacteria to pour into the tank at the fish store, or you can place about a half a cup to a cup of gravel from a previous cycled tank into a nylon and place it into the tank... partially cover it with rocks, and it will help you grow the bacteria...

We've had TONS of fish all different breeds and sizes and there are hundreds of things that could be wrong... I hope one of these helps.

Answer 2

How often and how much of a waterchange do you do? When was the last time you did one? Ph is always fine on a new tank, it hasnt had a change to go down because of lack of waterchanges. Cycling takes 3-6 weeks and needs a source of ammonia to get it started. Your petstore owner sounds like a moron. Ammonia is extremely important to check and im betting thats what the problem is. What size tank is it exactly? Also mixing goldfish with tropicals is bad. Hence another reason why your petstore is a bad one. They dont know squat.
Baby-juvenile fancy goldfish need 10 gallons PER fish. (orandas, moors, ryukins, fantails ect.)
Baby-juvenile long bodied goldfish need 20 gallons PER fish. (comets,commons, shubunkins)
Adults will need atleast 50 gallons per fish.
Goldfish excrete alot of ammonia wich other fish cannot handle. Also there are dietary differences aswell as different temperatures needed. So only goldfish can live with goldfish. Not just any though, long bodied goldfish are faster and more aggressive then fat fancy goldfish.
In order to help solve your problem we NEED specifics. Buy a master test kit and test for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and ph. Dont just tell us your water tests fine, GIVE us the exact test results. Print out all of the links in the source list and give them to the idiots running the petstore that you got all of your info from. Otherwise more animals are gonna die from them.

Answer 3

There is probably a virus, some bacteria, or some other disease that is troubling your fish. You could try to take your fish out of the tank and place them in another temporary home ( like a large bowl or somehting ). Then take all the water out as well as the decor and gravel. Once everything is out, clean the tank and decor with really warm water while you place the gravel in boiling water. I don't know if this is 100 percent safe but i tried it with my fish and it worked well.

Answer 4

Heres what you should do! Take the remaining fish out of the tank into room temperture water, then set the burner to about 350-375. After water begins to boil, salt and pepper to taste. I'm kidding... Maybe the PH level in the tank is at toxic levels. I had to check mine almost daily. Its really hard when you have multiple species in the tank together(each has different needs).

Answer 5

sounds like the water parameters are way off -- do you do gravel vacuums and weekly water changes? anytime a fish dies in a tank you get major ammonia spikes. goldfish are kind of obvlious to them at lower levels which is probably why they are still around. i would gravel vac and change 1/2 the water asap and do 20% every couple of days. for a week or two and then do follow ups weekly.

Answer 6

Unfortunitly this happens to greater then basically fish at puppy shops. oftentimes if the animal seems, acts healthful while that's bought the puppy shop won't take any responsablitly and could attempt to place the blame on you for undesirable care. which will or won't be the case. that's unfair i comprehend.

Answer 7

your filter can malfunction causing an improper balance for the fish had the same problem myself

Answer 8

it could also be new tank syndrome... it sounds wierd but it happens... also another very common disease besides ich is fin rot !!! VERY COMMON!! i just got ride of the disease from my tank !!

Answer 9

i had a beta fish before and it changes colors and then after a few months i was going to eat breakfast before going to school and it was dead (wwwaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!)

Answer 10

wish i could help. same think happening with my betta fish. no clue what to do