Is my black moor dying????

Question

Hi as a new fish owner any help would be gratefully received. I have a 60 litre orb. Been up and running for a while,so got two fish last sunday was advised by the fish store that two would be fine. One goldfish one black moor. Overnight on monday the goldfish died,thought it would as floating at top of tank. Black moor fine,very active!
Went and got another black moor on thurs,again fish store said it was ok.It was lively in tank at shop,did as i should to aclimatise it,but a few hours later it sunk to the botom and has basically been there ever since,keeps burying itself under the rock or plants.
The first fish is still doing great,so after reading the answers to other questions i assume it cant be a water problem,as he would be sick too?
Sorry to ramble on but i thought id let you know it all. Just want to know if i can do anything or if its going to die,feel sad that if it is then its taking so long,poor little thing.
Cheers if anyone can help. Em

Answer 1

Unfortunately employees at fish stores do not always know what they are talking about and often say things just to get you to buy fish and other products. No it was not a good idea to put two of these fish in a 60L tank which is about equal to 15 U.S. gal One of these fish need a 20 US gal minumum which is about 80L.

If your first fish is still doing well you may be OK to keep him in the tank but I would go ahead and return the sick one to the fish store and they should be able to give you your money back. I know it can be very sad to watch fish suffer.

I am also guessing that your tank has not been previously cycled beforing buying these fish which can be very hard and even fatal to fish untill this is accomplished due to high levels of ammonia and nitrites. This can be especialy so with gold fish because they create so much ammonia on their own. They are messy fish that produce alot of waste and they get very large increasing their waste production so it is very important to have plenty of filtraion and to do high volume water changes on a regular basis, 50% weekly should suffice.

If you do not have a test kit already I would suggest buying one or having your water tested by the fish store. If the ammonia or nitrites are above zero then this is likely why your fish have died and are suffering. A moderate amount of nitrates are OK. (nitrites and nitrates are two different things)

I will give you a link to some good information about the nitrogen cycle in a tank so that you might better undersatnd the proccess.

http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

There are also methods to cycle your tank without using fish called the fishless cycle, therefore reducing the chance of harming them, but this takes time first before the tank is ready for fish. You could return both fish and cycle your tank this way before going back to buy more. This is the most humane way to go. I would not keep more than one moor in that tank though, if at all so you will need to return one anyway, you could just as well return them both and finish cycling your tank before you go back to get more fish.

http://fishlesscycling.com/articles.html

Answer 2

The bio orb you have is a little more than 15 US gallons. That will bo okay for your goldfish only for a little while, because as adults, you'll need to have something ablout twice as large for them.

What your fish store hasn't told you about however, is cycling. This is where you build up bacteria that convert the wastes of your fish (that are toxic to them) into less harmful substances. Any fish will give off ammonia as a part of its wastes, and the the bacteria convert this to nitrite, then to nitrate. The fish cal live in about 80 times the concentration of nitrite as they can ammonia or nitrite without dying. It sounds as though ammonia poisoning is what killed your first goldfish, and you'll need to keep an eye on the other fish to be sure ammonia or nitrite doesn't kill them as well. Until you develop the bacteria you need, you'll have to keep up with partial water changes to remove these - around 15% twice a week to 25% once a week is a good start, although you might want to test your water (or have your pet store do it) to make certain the levels are within an acceptable range - preferable less than 0.5 ppm. Evenetually, both of these will go to zero, and you'll only detect nitrate, which you want to keep below 40 ppm.

It also helps not to overfeed your fish (only give them what they can eat in 2-3 minutes, twice a day at the most) and use a gravel vacuum to clean the gravel so no wastes accumulate. If you haven't done a recent change, remove 50% of the water and replace it (slowly) with water near the same temperature, and using whatever you do to remove chlorine/chloramine.

Your first fish may have adapted slowly to the ammonia/nitrite levels, but the second hasn't yet - and these can be more of a problem as your fish get larger.

Answer 3

The new fish is adjusting to new water conditions. But this is a sign of stress so watch him closely for the first couple of weeks. Sometimes newly arrived fish will do this right before they break out with ick. Keep an eye out for tiny white spots that look like salt dusted all over the fish. To be on the safe side have your water tested to make sure there's no ammonia or nitrite in the water. If there is either one of these toxins present start changing the water.
I don't think the fish is at death's door but he's definatly showing signs of stress.

Answer 4

black moor goldfish will substitute shade, the colour black is volatile genetically in goldfish and that they're going to frequently revert to their bronze/gold colorings. as for the floating, this is a demonstration of a difficulty with its swimbladder. the undertaking ought to the two be via constipation consequently of overfeeding with processed flake ingredients, try feeding it some cooked deshelled backyard peas and then no nutrients at pondering some days and notice the way it does. swimbladders is additionally effected by using inner micro organism or inner parasite problems, it ought to additionally be a genetic deformity - black moors as properly as all fancy goldfish have stunted bodies that motives their inner organs to be a sprint deformed and cramped. swimbladder drugs will basically artwork in the experience that your fish truthfully has an inner bacterial an infection.

Answer 5

I would buy some test strips or have a pet store test your water... also you didnt mention your filtration? Goldfish don't need amazing filtration but they need oxygen; air stones might help...

sorry I checked out the biorb website and noticed that they have filtration built-in

This may sound stupid but did you dechlorinate your water?