My goldfish are distressed and dying...help!!!

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

 Yesterday i found one of my small pearl scales just about dead. All of them were fine in the morning. The pearlscale died about 6 hours later.   I did a 80% water change and the others seemed fine.  I just looked at them now and one if my large orandas is on its side on the bottom struggling.  The other two are flasing on everything and banging into things in the tank.  I feel like they are all going to die...  I hope someone can help me.

20180116_005738.mp4

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

Test Results for the Following:

* Ammonia Level(Tank) .50 ppm

* Nitrite Level(Tank) zero

* Nitrate level(Tank) zero

* Ammonia Level(Tap) .25

* Nitrite Level(Tap) zero

* Nitrate level(Tap)zero

* Ph Level, Tank (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) 6.5

* Ph Level, Tap (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines) 6.5

Other Required Info:

* Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops? Drops Master test kit

* Water temperature? 65f

* Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running? 35 gallon Over a year

* What is the name and "size of the filter"(s)? 2 x 20 gallon HOB 1x 30 gallon HOB

* How often do you change the water and how much? 1 x per week 80%

* How many days ago was the last water change and how much did you change? 1

* How many fish in the tank and their size? 2 large oranda, 1 small oranda, 1 small pearlscale.

* What kind of water additives or conditioners? Prime,  seachem Safe

* What do you feed your fish and how often? 1 x pet day. i try not to overfeed

* Any new fish added to the tank? No

* Any medications added to the tank? 1 % salt yesterday

* List entire medication/treatment history for fish and tank.Please include salt, Prazi, PP, etc and the approximate time and duration of treatment. None

* Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? None

* Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc.? Yes acting crazy,bumping into things flashing on the bottom, one on side in distress.

 

Edited January 16, 2018 by shakaho
readability

[shakaho 6,312]

Please give us the brand name of your filters and the flow rate in gallons per hour if possible.

"* What do you feed your fish and how often? 1 x pet day. i try not to overfeed"  What is "pet"?  How much do you feed?

Did you put in 1% salt (10 teaspoons per gallon) or 0.1% salt (one teaspoon per gallon)?

Did you test the water before or after the 80% water change?

How often do you clean your filters and how do you clean them?

 

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

6 minutes ago, shakaho said:

Please give us the brand name of your filters and the flow rate in gallons per hour if possible.

"* What do you feed your fish and how often? 1 x pet day. i try not to overfeed"  What is "pet"?  How much do you feed?

Did you put in 1% salt (10 teaspoons per gallon) or 0.1% salt (one teaspoon per gallon)?

Did you test the water before or after the 80% water change?

How often do you clean your filters and how do you clean them?

 

2 x 20 gal  hobs are aquaclear. The 30 gal is tge black whisper wheel?  I think thats what you call it.  I usually rotate and rinse one media in used tank water at each water change

I use North Pro sinking goldfish food. A small pinch for each fish. I x per day. 

0.1 for the salt. I used One teaspoon per 1 gallon of salt.

 

Before the water change the amonia was 2 ppm. Zero nitrites 1ppm nitrates.

[DawnMichele 6,045]

Sorry for your loss. I hope your other Goldfish feel better soon.

[shakaho 6,312]

Obviously, your system has not cycled, since you had 2 ppm ammonia.  That amount of ammonia could certainly account for the symptoms.  

Have you changed any media in your filters?  Can you think of anything that might have damaged the cycle?

Please add 2X the recommended dose of Prime to the tank daily.  

How did you measure 1ppm nitrate?

[koko 14,340]

1 hour ago, shakaho said:

Obviously, your system has not cycled, since you had 2 ppm ammonia.  That amount of ammonia could certainly account for the symptoms.  

Have you changed any media in your filters?  Can you think of anything that might have damaged the cycle?

Please add 2X the recommended dose of Prime to the tank daily.  

How did you measure 1ppm nitrate?

How about the ph levels? 

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

Ph 7.6 

Ammonia midday today:  not quite zero...not quite .25

Nitrites zero

Nitrates zero

Just now i took some stuff out of another tank.  I may squeeze out the media in  the other tank. Into this one??

Two fish look good and happy. The one  large oranda is still stressed but maybe a bit less than yesterday.

[FishyMandy 6,277]

Do you think you might be able to do the tests and take a photo of the tubes near the chart? The PH and ammonia fluctuations seem a bit strange. if you're getting ammonia it seems that something has messed with your cycle

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

On 16/01/2018 at 11:00 PM, FishyMandy said:

Do you think you might be able to do the tests and take a photo of the tubes near the chart? The PH and ammonia fluctuations seem a bit strange. if you're getting ammonia it seems that something has messed with your cycle

Well three of the 4 fish died. Im so bummed out. The one left is still not happy. Flashing the bottom and anything else in the tank. Shivering then shooting forward. Going to the top and catching air.  And also lost a bunch of scales on her side.  I have no idea what im doing wrong. I hope she is still alive in the morning. 

[shakaho 6,312]

When you test for nitrate do you shake the bottle and the tube for the full time?  If you don't, you have no test.

The first picture shows a pH of 7.4 - 7.6.  I assume this is tap water.  What do you get for the tank?

The second picture shows 0.25 - 0.5 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate.  Tap water? Tank water?

The third picture isn't readable.  Please stand the tubes upright (so we are looking through the entire contents of the tube)  and make sure each tube has a white background. Something is funny about the lighting  in this picture.  As you can see, the ammonia colors on the card in the picture don't match real life.  Nitrite is zero but we can't determine the nitrate because of the lack of a white background.

[koko 14,340]

how is it going?

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

Hi there...i was off line for a while so excuse my absense. I ended up losing 3 of the 4 fish in the tank. I am having to use collected rain water because out tap water has between .25 and .50 ppm ammonia righr out if rhe faucet. The rain water is about Ph 6. so i have beem trying to buffer it to about 7.5. But i keep getting these big swings in PH and when that happens the fish suffer. Do you think that ph of 6 is okay over the long term? And if i did small water changes more frequently do you think that the bio filter could cope with .25 ppm ammonia? Tap water is about 7 - 7.5 Ph.

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[DawnMichele 6,045]

Sorry for your loss.

[shakaho 6,312]

7 hours ago, vimandvigrrrpet said:

Hi there...i was off line for a while so excuse my absense. I ended up losing 3 of the 4 fish in the tank. I am having to use collected rain water because out tap water has between .25 and .50 ppm ammonia righr out if rhe faucet. The rain water is about Ph 6. so i have beem trying to buffer it to about 7.5. But i keep getting these big swings in PH and when that happens the fish suffer. Do you think that ph of 6 is okay over the long term? And if i did small water changes more frequently do you think that the bio filter could cope with .25 ppm ammonia? Tap water is about 7 - 7.5 Ph.

Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk
 

Use your tap water.  Just change your water change schedule.  If your tank has cycled and you change 10% of the water daily or even 20% every other day, a dose of Prime (for the full tank volume) with each water change will protect your fish from up to 1ppm of ammonia.  

While one can adapt the fish and the nitrifiers to a stable pH of 6,  you would have to do it gradually over a period of a month or two.  Even then, the low KH will reduce the activity of the nitrifiers, giving you a consistently weak cycle and a decreasing pH. so you would have to add baking soda to the water.  

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

Use your tap water.  Just change your water change schedule.  If your tank has cycled and you change 10% of the water daily or even 20% every other day, a dose of Prime (for the full tank volume) with each water change will protect your fish from up to 1ppm of ammonia.  
While one can adapt the fish and the nitrifiers to a stable pH of 6,  you would have to do it gradually over a period of a month or two.  Even then, the low KH will reduce the activity of the nitrifiers, giving you a consistently weak cycle and a decreasing pH. so you would have to add baking soda to the water.  

Thanks! I will giventhe 10% a day a try and see how it goes.

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[Arctic Mama 3,625]

Agree with Shakaho.  Changing your schedule and buffering the water with baking soda is going to be much easier to control and give you more pH stability.   I’m sorry so many fish passed!

 

if you can, next time you photograph tubes can you set them against a white piece of paper out in the sunlight?  Or that should help us see the color a little better and with no distortion.

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

Agree with Shakaho.  Changing your schedule and buffering the water with baking soda is going to be much easier to control and give you more pH stability.   I’m sorry so many fish passed!
 
if you can, next time you photograph tubes can you set them against a white piece of paper out in the sunlight?  Or that should help us see the color a little better and with no distortion.

Yes...i will get proper photos of the tubes in the future. Im going to go with doing small water changes daily. So far it is working out fine. And i was pretty heartbroken when i couldnt save the 3 that died. Especially since i think is was my mistake that did them in. The one that survived lost about 1/4 of her scales on one side but they seem to be growing back and she seems very happy at the moment. I keep telling myself that some lessons are harder than others...but i miss the little cuties alot. But so far so good...i think i have it under control. Thanks to the help you guys have given me...so thanks so much!!

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[koko 14,340]

43 minutes ago, vimandvigrrrpet said:

I keep telling myself that some lessons are harder than others...but i miss the little cuties alot. But so far so good...i think i have it under control. Thanks to the help you guys have given me...so thanks so much!!

That is so so true. I learned a very hard one of not having hollow anything in my tank that the water doesn't move through. I lost my Chocolate Oranda because of that mistake.  

Anytime that is what we are here for  plus talk and talk about fish

Going to take your sentence and put in my sig  

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

So a quick update...i have been doing about 10% water change a day. They seem to really like this routine. Everyone seems to be okay. I have one panda fantail that still looks a bit off. But today it was swimming in the middle of the tank and is eating well. So fingers crossed...and thank you all so much for all the help. Me and my fishes appreciate it more than you know!

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[DawnMichele 6,045]

Glad to hear thing's are going well!!  

[vimandvigrrrpet 35]

Glad to hear thing's are going well!!  2:

Thanks ...they are really looking good and happy now. Im doing about a 20% water change every day. Everyone is swimming in the middle of the tank...eating well. Im so happy they are happy. People think I am weird that I am so attached to my fish...but i really do love them. They are like floating jewels. And calming and gentle... Haha im just a goldgish junkie i think.

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[koko 14,340]

8 hours ago, vimandvigrrrpet said:

Thanks ...they are really looking good and happy now. Im doing about a 20% water change every day. Everyone is swimming in the middle of the tank...eating well. Im so happy they are happy. People think I am weird that I am so attached to my fish...but i really do love them. They are like floating jewels. And calming and gentle... Haha im just a goldgish junkie i think.

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Me too. My family thinks Im nuts for keeping them since they all fish for fish