I have had two goldfish for about 2.5 months. Seem to be dying after water change.?

Question

My son & I completely changed the water in our 10 gal tank (only kept a LARGE cup full of old water) and left the rocks in. My son decided to clean the little hard plastic coral w/ a toothbrush that I used 4 cleaning that was soaking in bleach. I could smell the bleach and got worried so I soaked the coral in HOT water so it wouldn't hurt the fish. We filled the tank back up, put the fish back in w/ the plants and coral. Of course, cause we left the rocks in before, the water was a bit foggy,but that's normal so far. I put the stabilizer & clarifier in & a little bit of aquarium salt. 2 hrs later, I went back in & not only was it still very foggy, but the fish were barely moving. I thought, ok could be normal, they are a little shocked. Well, another hour later and they were almost just floating. We quickly changed the water again, this time leaving the coral out. This morning, I went to feed them & 1 of them was hardly moving it didn't eat & is still slowly floating. Help?

Before this, they were very healthy, happy and very active. When I would walk in the room, they would swim to the front of the tank and get excited to eat. Now I can barely fine one of them. The other seems to be getting better. I didn't do anything different (except the bleach on the toothbrush).

Thank you all VERY much for your answers. I learned a TON in this short time. I don't know what made me change out the entire tankful of water. Quick update: The smaller fish is swimming around as fast as ever thankfully. Shamu (larger fish) is still just floating there, although, when the smaller one bumps it, it swims around quite nicely. Still won't eat, but is not floating in it's side at all. All fins are still perky, etc. Last time I had a sick fish, the fins were down, etc before he died. Anyway, THANK YOU ALL!!!

Answer 1

You should only change 25% of the water at a time. Otherwise, changes in temperature or chemistry can shock your fish. Small partial changes on a regular (at least once a week) basis are far better for your fish than larger water changes.

Also, when you clean, use a gravel vacuum to clean down into the gravel - this is where the wastes build up. If you don't remove fish "poo" and excess food (there shouldn't be any of this though, if there is, you're overfeeding), these produce ammonia and nitrite (harmful to your fish) as they decompose.

I doubt that if the coral was well rinsed in water (hot or otherwise) after being in bleach BEFORE it was put into the tank that this caused the death of the fish. I've used bleach on a regular basis to clean plastic plants that get algae growth where I've worked, and haven't had fish die afterward.

Another possible problem is that you aren't using the correct water conditioner or dose. It used to be that chlorine was the only chemical added to treat water, but many companies are switching to chloramine. A conditioner that only removes chlorine won't remove this. Some conditioners say they will "break the chloramine bond", but this comverts the chloramine to chlorine and ammonia (both of which are toxic to the fish). You can find out for sure which your water service uses by calling their office tomorrow.


ADDITION: While what you did may have worked out okay for you in the past, your fish should be growing since you first got them. The larger they are, the more wastes they'll produce. So with additional wastes building up, large water changes will create a larger change in the water chemistry. Depending on the type of goldfish you have, you may need to house your two in a 20-30 gallon by the times they're adults.

Answer 2

Did you treat your new water with a dechlorinator? Normally tap water contains chlorine or chloramine or both, which are toxic to fish.

Under normal conditions, partial water changes (25%/week) are all that is needed. Only in emergencies should you change all 10 gallons at once - like if you dropped in a bottle of ammonia, or worse.

The replacement water needs to be treated with a conditioner that removes the chlorine, chloramine and other heavy metals and it should be nearly the same temp and pH as the original water.

After bleaching the plastic coral, you were right to soak it in water, it needs to be rinsed and rinsed until you can no longer smell the bleach. Using a dechlorinator in the soak water will also take care of the problem.

Changing all the water at once can be stressful on your fish, so I recommend that you use a dechlorinator right away and then leave your tank alone and see how everyone looks in the morning.

A test kit is a valuable tool, and you can check your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH to be certain you are within normal levels.

Answer 3

I just don't know where to start! How about this - NEVER even try to keep goldfish in anything less than a 30 gallon (four foot) tank with a seriously powerful filter system. Really, they should make a law about keeping the things in stupid bowls and piddling little tanks. Goldfish are carp; they grow in to big, strong and robust fish and will crush filter systems that are too weak. Under those conditions, infections and diseases of the type you describe become par for the course, the water spends more time looking like milk than anything decent enough to live in and if the environment doesn't kill them the stress will. If you have a tank of less than 30 gallons and don't want to warm it to keep tropicals, think about keeping different species. Most danios, mountain minnows and even guppies will live in an unheated indoor tank with no problems at all. As long as the temperature doesn't dip below the minimal 68 degrees F everything should be fine. These species remain small and manageable, colourful, lively and interesting and best of all they may actually live to see their first birthdays if you give them a few bubbles and feed them properly. They can live and even thrive in small tanks Really, you're never going to have any real success with goldfish with such small volumes of water; they'll do fine while they are still young and small but as they inevitably grow they'll go belly up every time. It's not fair to them. It's not fair to yourself. Don't do it.

Answer 4

You killed it twice. First, you can't completely change the water. The max amount of water your can change is 75% for situation like this. Also tap water most likely have chlorine and heavy metals, so it either have to be conditioned with dechor (buy from pet store) or left sitting for 24 hours.

Second, a drop of bleach can instantly kill any fish. No matter how clean you rinsed it, there's chance a small amount is hidden somewhere. If its on your skin throughly rinse for 10 mins and it should be gone. So next time keep a separate aquarium cleaning tools from others.

Right now you have to buy dechlor and add a lot into the tank, about double the recommended amount from the instruction. Also buy aquarium salt to help its gills and breathing. And hopefully it will survive.

Answer 5

Chlorine bleach is chlorine, the same as in your tap water if you are on a municipal system. Knowing this, your dechlorinator will neuteralize it. Use a 4x normal dose on the tank, dechlor is really difficult to overdose with, you would have to add about a pint to a 10 gallon tank for it to have any ill effect on your fish.

I use a 1 part bleach to 20 part water solution to clean everything in my angel breeding setup. Rinsing with cold water breaks down bleach better than hot water, and using 3 to 4 times the dechlorinator neuteralizes any residual chlorine.

cloudiness is usually a sign of a bacterial bloom, meaning you affected the nitrifying bacteria in your filtration system either by zapping them with chlorine (the bleach) or by letting the filter media dry out. Feed 1/4 normal, change 50% of the water daily until the cloudiness subsides. Less food means less waste produced, this and the water changes will give your nitrifying bacteria a chance to grow back.

Answer 6

Try treating the water with tap water conditioner.

You should not completely change the water of a fish tank. Only change about 10 to 20 percent at a time. And Change more frequently. Also, treat the tap water before adding it to your tank.

Answer 7

sorry but I think the bleach still did it. Hot water isn't always enough the plastic coral might have absorbed some of the bleach because some plastics have tiny pores not seen by the human eye. even a small amount can kill off a tank full of fish

Answer 8

You have to keep the water out of the acquarium for 24 hours from when it comes out of the tap before you put your fish into it unless you treat it. Otherwise the chemicals in the water will kill the fish.