Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 4, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 Hi Everyone, I am still reeling from the sudden death of one of my goldfish. I have four butterfly telescope eyes that seem to be doing really well. I have been doing two 90% water changes a week and they have been getting a wide variety of foods. I did a water change yesterday and the four fish seemed fine as usual when I put them back in the tank. I fed them one small meal after the water change and again they were all feeding normally. When I got up this morning all seemed fine and all four fish ate some commercial gel food I had made and that they have been eating for months. A few hours later I noticed that Akiko was floating upside down and was a bit listless. When I neared the tank she righted herself and swam with the others but seems a bit slow. I went out for a few hours and when I got home she was dead. I removed her from the tank and then tested the water parameters. The pH is 7.2 and everything else was at zero. I know it is too late for Akiko but can anyone suggest what might have happened. I include a picture of Akiko after I removed her from the tank, she looks healthy and there is no damage I can see. No blood in her fins or eyes etc. I wonder if she had heart failure or something similar? Your thoughts would be much appreciated. I am very upset at this sudden loss and I know only you guys will understand how I feel. Test results of the aquarium water Akiko a few minutes after I removed her from the tank 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helper FishyMandy Posted April 4, 2015 Helper Share Posted April 4, 2015 I can't give any insight as to what happened, but I just wanted to say I'm very sorry for your loss : 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 4, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 Thank you, I was wondering if she could have been egg bound, she is very round bodied and did spawn a few times earlier in the year 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Daniel Posted April 4, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 I'm sorry for your loss, Tony. Unfortunately this thing seems to happen from time to time and they just die completely out of the blue. You're not the first person this happened to and there have been several discussions about it over the years. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Mr.B Posted April 4, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 Sorry for your loss, this same thing happened to one of my fish. Left for work and he was gone when I got home. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 4, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 Thanks for your kind words. I guess I will never really know what happened. I am just sad to have lost such a sweet little fish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DawnMichele Posted April 4, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 Sorry for your loss. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member MT28 Posted April 4, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 That's so sad and so inexplicable--I'm really sorry for your loss. Your remaining little fish are so lucky to have a conscientious caretaker like you thought! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Mr. Hyde Posted April 4, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 4, 2015 That's a shame. Sorry your fish died. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 5, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 5, 2015 Thanks again everyone. I am watching the remaining three fish like a hawk for any signs of trouble - everything seems to be going along like normal for now 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chai Posted April 5, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 5, 2015 I had a huge scare the other day.. It's such a terrible gut-twisting feeling when you can't figure out what the heck went wrong. I'd suggest a necropsy if you're wanting to get to the bottom of it, but it's not something everyone feels comfortable doing to a beloved pet. I'm very very sorry for your loss. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 5, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 5, 2015 I wouldn't know what I was looking for if I did a necropsy, another fish is acting strangely it is sitting on the bottom. Should I do another water change? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chai Posted April 5, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 5, 2015 Yes, definitely do a water change if you find a spontaneous fish death like that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 5, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 5, 2015 Thanks I will do a water change today 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted April 6, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 6, 2015 Thanks I will do a water change today I'm very sorry for your loss. I would test your tap water parameters including pH before you do the water change. Is it possible that you forgot to add the water conditioner? Did you match the temperature? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 6, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 6, 2015 Hi Jared, thank you for your feedback. To answer your questions: - Yes I have tested the tap water, it is zero for all the things I can test for, the pH may be a little bit higher in the tap water than the tank by the time I am ready to do the water change. It is hard to tell if the pH is the same as the blue colour is difficult to compare. I don't think the pH would be very different. I am changing the water by about 90% twice a week so the water parameters don't change much over 3 or 4 days. I am very careful with my fish when I am doing a water change, I have outlined my process below. - I always make sure the water in the tank and bucket are the same temperature. - I do not put the fish back into the tank immediately. I remove a jug of bucket water and put it into the tank, then put a jug of tank water into the bucket. I do this about four times which means I have replaced about half the bucket water with tank water over about half an hour. The water is then the same pretty much in both the tank and the bucket. - I then lift the fish into the tank in a bowl of water from the bucket into the tank. - I then gently lower the bowl into the tank so the goldfish can swim out of the bowl into the tank. - I never put the fish back if I can see any fine bubbles in the tank water but do if there are only bubbles on the leaves of the plants The fish I thought might have a problem was only sitting on the bottom the one time I reported it on this post. All three are swimming around like normal again. I should mention I did do another water change today as was suggested by Chai. I was even more careful than usual doing the water change. It is early autumn here in Sydney Australia and the water temperature from the cold water tap is still the same as the tank water. I will be even more careful with matching temperatures next time if you think that could have been the problem. It was more than 24 hours later that my fish died after the water change. Is that long enough for pH to kill a fish? Thanks again for looking into this for me. I love goldfish but do find them very delicate. I am incredibly careful with them but it seems the slightest variation from perfect and they are in trouble. I have had these 4 fish since July last year and despite some worrying moments (which I have been helped with by this forum); I have managed to get them to a good size and I though healthy. The fish that died is not one of the ones I have had problems with before. I think that is why I was so shocked when she died within a few hours of me noticing she was in trouble. I am going to stop writing now I am beginning to ramble. Any further insights would be greatly appreciated 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 6, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 6, 2015 I forgot to mention I did not forget the water conditioner 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted April 6, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 6, 2015 It sounds like you are doing everything correctly. I don't think you need to change anything. I'm guessing the fish just had some sort of internal organ failure 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member 4prettyfish Posted April 6, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 6, 2015 I'm so sorry for the sudden unknown death of your beautiful fish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 10, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hi Jared, Just a few questions more if you don't mind: The directions on the Fluke & Tapeworm Tablets (BluePlanet) - each table contains 100mg of Prazi. I am dosing with 15 tables for my 300 liter tank. The directions on the bottle say a 25% water change after 2 days. Do you think it would matter if I did a 90% water change? The directions also say to repeat the treatment in 7 days, that I can do; but looking at the Prazi schedule on this website there are many more treatments. After day one there is another treatment on days: 6, 11, 16, 21, 26. I am concerned I will overdose the fish, is it safe to do this many treatments with the product I am using - thanks again 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted April 10, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hi Jared, Just a few questions more if you don't mind: The directions on the Fluke & Tapeworm Tablets (BluePlanet) - each table contains 100mg of Prazi. I am dosing with 15 tables for my 300 liter tank. The directions on the bottle say a 25% water change after 2 days. Do you think it would matter if I did a 90% water change? The directions also say to repeat the treatment in 7 days, that I can do; but looking at the Prazi schedule on this website there are many more treatments. After day one there is another treatment on days: 6, 11, 16, 21, 26. I am concerned I will overdose the fish, is it safe to do this many treatments with the product I am using - thanks again I'm not sure why you would do a water change after 2 days. I'm going to report this to the moderator team. I think Helen has used the Blue Planet tablets and may be able to answer your question better than I can. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 10, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2015 Thank you, I worry I will do something that will hurt my fish. A month of Prazi treatments seems like a lot to me but i am not an expert on this stuff. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted April 10, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2015 Thank you, I worry I will do something that will hurt my fish. A month of Prazi treatments seems like a lot to me but i am not an expert on this stuff. Okay, Helen said to ignore the directions which was my thought as well. Try doing four of the 5-day rounds in a row as outlined in the Koko's schedule. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member TonySydney Posted April 10, 2015 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2015 Thanks Jared - will do, I bought more Prazi today. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jmetzger72 Posted April 10, 2015 Regular Member Share Posted April 10, 2015 Thanks Jared - will do, I bought more Prazi today. So, no water changes except on day 5 unless absolutely necessary. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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