what's happening to my small freshwater tank and fish?

Question

5L or 2.6gallon tank...one week old...three feeder goldfish and one betta...after one day with the fish it got extremely cloudy and smelly....two days later, smallest goldfish died....now th next smallest is MISSING! eegad... how do I clean the tank...is it possible that the bigger (1.5 inches goldfish) or betta ate the smaller one? now only two fish...betta and goldfish....plastic plants and two mini caves in tank....no heater, but light and filter. Help ...salespeople recommended these fish....but I know nothing!

I forgot to say that we took out the dead fish...cannot find the second smallest goldfish anywhere...that means now there is only the beta (whose colour seems to have dulled in only three days) and the biggest goldfish (1.5inches). the betta is not swimming but rather staying at the very top corner of the tank and the goldfish is psychoticallly swimming up and down and around the other side of the small tank.

Answer 1

First off, the psychotic swimming is because they are suffering from ammonia poisoning. You need to do a 50% water change immediately and every day until you resolve this problem.
The feeder goldfish may seem small now, but if they survive this tiny tank with toxic water, they can grow to 12 inches long! Never ever listen to sales people from those pet store chains. With the exception of the truly knowledgeable employee who I do wish to acknowledge, by far and away, the huge majority of these people have no clue about how to properly keep fish. We've all learned this the hard way, so it's not your fault. As a starting point, one goldfish must have a minimum of 10 gallons of water. This is why your tank is getting smelly and fish are dying. Because the tank is too small and there just isn't enough water in the tank to cycle all the waste the goldfish create. And, because of the internal structure of goldfish, which is different than other fish, they create more waste than any other type of fish. You're now down to two fish and these two fish shouldn't be kept together anyway because the betta needs heated water. My suggestion would be to keep the betta in the 2.5 gallon tank. This is a decent size tank for the betta. Get a heater and a filter and learn about water cycling, water changes and tank maintenance and you're good to go with the betta. You can get a 10 gallon tank for now for the remaining goldfish, but be advised that if he survives and grows to larger than 3 inches, he is going to need at least a 40 gallon tank, so you can buy as he grows or plan ahead now. Goldfish don't need heaters, but they do need excellent fitration. It should pump 10x the water for the size of the tank. So, if you have a 10 gallon tank, you have to have a filter that pumps 100 gallons of water per hour. Get a master test kit so you will be able to know when your water is healthy. Again, learn about cycling the water, water changes and tank cleaning and you'll be good to go! Good luck!

Answer 2

You have to do a little more research before you get living things like that. They all have different habits and need different thing in order to be happy. Foresure the tank was way too small for that many fish. They say you need ATLEAST a gallon of water per inch of fish. But you have to consider the fish. That is kind of a general rule. Gold fish are super messy eaters and poopers, so you may want to increase the amount of space they have. One thing you might want to do before you add fish to a brand new tank, is buy a few zebra danios. They are very touchy fish and also inexpensive. If you have those in there for a few days and they live, then you can bet that some golds will be fine. They are generally more sturdy. Also, before even adding zebras, you might want to set up your tank and let it sit for a few days so it can start growing soem algae and getting a healthy system started. Also, make sure you treat the water with what ever brand of water treatment, but make sure that the brand will work for your type of water. Maybe bring a sample in to a "pet shop"...Not a petco or pet smart. The smaller shops usually have knowledable people who actually care about the fish they are selling rather than being the fish wranglers that work at the super stores. They can test the water for you and recommend the right treatment!!!! Fish a super fun, jsut have to be careful!

Good luck!

Answer 3

First of all...Do not put the betta with goldfish. Second, that tank isn't big enough for all those fish. It sounds like one of the fish died and decomposed in the water. I would suggest getting at least a ten gallon tank. Siphon a quarter of the water out and replace with fresh water about twice per week. Make sure you have a good filter!

Answer 4

way too many fish for such a small tank...especially with how messy goldfish are. i'd try to return everything live you have left and then do some reading on aquarium cycling and bio loads and you'll get a really good idea of all the things that were going wrong in your situation. if you just wanted to have a small tank, i'd get a 5G minimum, but a 10G isn't really that big and will be much more rewarding. If you don't care about the size of the tank but really wanted goldies, shoot for something more along the lines of 40G and get maybe 3 fancies. even then, i'd look to upgrading to a 55G or larger for when they get really big.

if you figure out what you want ahead of time and do research instead of listening to the pet-shop people, you'll have many more positive experiences with fish instead of hating the whole thing as a situation that can only end in dirtiness and dead fish!

i've gotten alot of helpful info from Aquaria Central - http://www.aquariacentral.com (especially the forums! read up on what went wrong with other people and learn from someone else's mistakes!) - but there are several other websites out there with tons of easy to absorb info.

hope that helps!

Answer 5

Sounds like they are dying because the tank is too small. Goldfish will eat other dead goldfish, so that could have happened, it died and was eaten. Betta's mouths are too small to eat other fish. I would keep just one fish in that size tank. Salespeople usually don't know anything, depending on where you go.

Answer 6

set up the tank and fill it with water and upload aquasafe and biostart. you ought to enable the aquarium run for no less than a week in the past including any fish to it. bear in concepts that some fish choose very spectacular situations to thrive. So seek the internet for what situations (Ph, temperature, Kh etc.) your fish ought to have and likewise think of with reference to the size of the fish and how briskly they reproduce so as that the tank won't become overcrowded :) good success alongside with your new aquarium!

Answer 7

sounds like your tank is stressed out, I think the one goldfish has been eaten, and betta's are notorius for eating smaller items. Maybe go back to salespersonnal and explain what is happening, maybe even demand your money back, they obviously do not know what they are doing.

Answer 8

try to use filtered water if possible. the chlorine in tap water is deadly to fish.