There are 7 very common goldfish mistakes that you’re probably making right now…
… and they might be causing you some SERIOUS problems.
Worst of all, you may even think that these mistakes help your goldfish… even though they halt your fish’s potential to grow and thrive.
But what if I told you that fixing these mistakes only takes a few minutes of work?
You’d be pretty psyched, right?
But what ARE these 7 mistakes and how can you fix them?
That’s coming right up…
But First, The Key to a Happy Goldfish
If you’re serious about having your pet goldfish, you’re going to have to do your homework first.
After all:
Who REALLY wants to learn by failing over and over again?
Remember… knowledge is POWER.
But finding reliable resources in a sea of info can be really hard. Lots of people disagree on how to properly care for your pet.
Here’s the good news:
You’re in the right place.
So let’s get to them!
Goldfish Mistake #1: Using Small Bowls for Homes Improperly
“Goldfish don’t need a big tank. They can live just fine in a cute little bowl.”
Well, sort of.
The biggest problem is that they can’t provide enough oxygen because of such a small surface area without a filter or plants.
So the goldfish usually ends up basically… suffocating to death.
Or poisoning itself with it’s own waste.
Yikes.
Toxins can rapidly build up in the water if there’s no filter (which is why every tank needs one) or the bowl isn’t cleaned regularly.
And most goldfish aren’t tough enough to stand it (especially the fancy varieties).
So it’s only a matter of time before they die.
And the more goldfish there are and the more food they are given, the faster that happens.
This gives them a reputation they don’t deserve!
Sometimes the fish may even jump out to escape its living conditions…
Remember:
Goldfish can live VERY LONG LIVES.
… But only if they are taken care of right.
They need you to do that!
While there are the occasional fish that somehow survive being kept in bowls, why not do the best you can to avoid the problems they cause?
Quick fix:
So you’re now horrified that you’re keeping your finned friend in a deadly setup.
Here’s what to do:
1. Withhold food. Most goldfish bowls foul up very quickly because way too much food is going in. That can spell death for your pet. Don’t worry, it will be okay for several weeks if need be.
2. Change the water. If you don’t have a large tank on hand, the best thing you can do meanwhile is change the water EVERY DAY. This will help prevent toxins from building up and keep the oxygen levels good.
3. Get a filter (and ideally plants). Don’t wait another minute if you can help it! A filter will keep down the toxins and keep the water safe.
Read More: Goldfish Bowl 101
Goldfish Mistake #2: Giving Them Too Much Food
Most goldfish owners absolutely LOVE their pets.
To show their love, they use food.
And the more they love them… the more they feed them.
This can amount to quite a bit more food than the fish actually needs.
The results?
…You’re looking at BIG TIME issues with water quality.
The extra goldfish waste overloads the tank, creating a toxic environment.
Not good.
Not only that… but eating so much protein in processed foods damages internal organs as time goes on. This causes all kinds of problems, from swim bladder issues to dropsy.
So many problems could be avoided if goldfish only got what they needed – and no more!
Now I get it:
Feeding your fish is fun. Maybe even the funnest part of having them.
But it isn’t in their best interest to overfeed.
That’s why it’s so important to learn how to feed your goldfish the right way.
Quick fixes:
1. Cut back on the processed foods. WAY back. Surprisingly goldfish only need a little bit of this once a day. Don’t worry, they won’t starve. Scaling back may seem weird at first, but remember – it will still meet their nutritional needs.
2. Offer a fibrous supplement. Your goldfish will feel hungry if it can’t “graze” throughout the day like they do in the wild. Fibrous veggies like raw lettuce or spinach leaves can satisfy their cravings without messing up the water quality (or your fish’s digestion).
3. Be determined. Don’t cave in when your goldfish start wiggling around all cute begging for more. Set out how much they can have beforehand and leave it at that – even if someone happens to get more food than another. Ignore them, walk away, do what you’ve gotta do to resist the urge to grab that food jar! (It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.)
Goldfish Mistake #3: When and How to Clean the Tank
So many goldfish owners only do 25% water changes weekly or even monthly.
They think the filter will do all the work for them.
This is a recipe for disaster.
So why do they do this?
Way too many goldfish owners have this crazy notion that water changes aren’t that important.
… Or that too frequent or too large of a water change is somehow a bad thing.
But that can’t be further from the truth!
When goldfish keepers run into problems with their fish, 99.9% of the time it has to do with their water changing schedule.
Bad water is the biggest killer of goldfish worldwide.
Not disease…
BAD WATER!
Goldfish are constantly excreting a deadly substance called ammonia into the water around them.
It will build up until it kills the fish unless the water is cleaned.
Filtration can only get you so far!
When it comes down to it, only removing and replacing water ensures your fish’s survival.
Listen:
You can never give your goldfish too much fresh, clean water.
If you could or want to do 90% water changes every day, I have three words for you:
GO FOR IT!
But if you can’t, at least do that amount weekly (or biweekly).
This is what they need to prevent things from spiraling downward out of control in the aquarium.
Is this news to you?
How should you take action?
Quick fix:
1. Get a siphon. If your tank is 20 gallons or larger, you won’t want to be hauling buckets to do the job. Invest in a special aquarium hose called the “Python” that reaches from your tank to the sink.
2. Drain & refill the tank. Use your siphon to suck out the nasty debris at the bottom of the tank. Take out 90% of the water and then use treated tap/well water to fill it back up again.
3. Repeat as often as possible. Remember – at least every week! (More really is better.) If you don’t believe me, just read more about it in this article on water changes.
Read a full tutorial: How to change goldfish water
Goldfish Mistake #4: Reaching for the Medicine Cabinet Before the Siphon
This is a REALLY BAD mistake.
So many times a goldfish owner realizes that their fish isn’t well.
Maybe it has bloody streaks in the fins…
Sits on the bottom…
Refuses to eat…
Has ragged fins…
Or gulps at the surface of the water.
What do they assume?
“My fish has a TERRIBLE DISEASE!“
So they rush to the pet store and bust out the medications.
The fish room turns into a pharmacy and the tank ends up caught in the middle of what looks like a science experiment.
As we covered earlier:
I can just about guarantee that your fish’s “illness” is not an illness at all.
Your water is in bad shape!
But the fish owner doesn’t bother to test or change it so they start dumping in store bought meds.
Those harsh chemicals push the water parameters to the point of no return!
It ends up being the nail in the coffin for Bubbles.
So what do you do if you notice your goldfish isn’t its normal self?
Quick fix:
1. Test the water! Reach for your trusty test kit first, not a bottle of medication. Pay extra close attention to ammonia, nitrite and pH (though nitrate is important) to find out if something is off.
2. Change the water. I don’t care if the test came out fine – you can never do too many water changes. Usually several large water changes on a daily basis can bring your fish back to its old self.
3. Cut back on food. As I explained, too much food causes a lot of problems (and it’s easy to overfeed). It won’t hurt your fish to go without a meal until things are back to normal.
Goldfish Mistake #5: Mixing Goldfish with Other Fish
People who love goldfish often love other kinds of fish too (especially tropical varieties).
They think:
“Let’s put them all together! After all, they are both fresh water fish!”
Here’s the bad news:
There are actually several issues caused by mixing species.
The biggest one is compatibility.
See, a goldfish eats any fish that fits in their mouth.
This leads to the “one-day-they’re-here, next-day-they’re-gone” scenario when you look in the tank (especially the older and bigger the goldfish gets).
But tropical fish aren’t innocent either!
They like to nibble on a goldfish’s tasty slime coat.
Algae eaters will actually stick themselves onto the side of the goldfish to eat them alive!
This causes injury and stress.
If you think algae is unsightly, you can try adding Mystery Snails (which won’t ruin your plants and make great companions for goldfish!) or scrubbing it off by hand.
What can you do so you won’t be guilty of this goldfish mistake?
Quick Fixes:
1. Resist temptation. Not getting the fish in the first place will save you the hassle of having to re-home them when things don’t work out. Yeah, I know it’s not easy 😉
2. Get another tank. If you just HAVE to have other kinds of fish, you can always consider getting another tank exclusively for them. That way there won’t be any issues to deal with.
3. Say goodbye. If you didn’t and can’t do the two solutions above, please consider taking your tropical fish back where you bought them from or finding someone who will appreciate them in their own tropical aquarium.
Goldfish Mistake #6: Not Cycling the Tank First
Many first-time goldfish owners buy a fish, bring it home and plop it in a brand new tank.
Then they don’t change the water for a while.
But within a short time, their goldfish is dangerously sick…
… Or dies without warning.
What happened?
It’s something called “New Tank Syndrome.”
I’ll explain:
Goldfish produce waste, which quickly pollutes the water.
Ordinarily, beneficial bacteria in the tank would break this down.
But…
A tank that has only been set up for a few hours or even days does not have that beneficial bacteria.
Cycling the tank (a process that takes weeks) builds up that colony before any fish are added.
Without that colony (or water changes to remove the waste)…
… Total DISASTER awaits!
Quick fixes:
1. Cycle the tank first. Okay, maybe this isn’t technically a “quick” fix. But it is definitely worth considering if you know ahead of time you are planning on getting a goldfish.
2. Do water changes. If the deed’s been done and it’s too late to turn back the clock, you’re going to have to make up for your missing bacteria with huge daily water changes.
3. Reduce feeding. You don’t want to work against yourself by cleaning the tank just to foul it up again with messy foods.
Goldfish Mistake #7: Overcrowding the Tank
Everyone needs their elbow room!
Goldfish are no exception.
In fact, proper space is VERY important to maintaining a healthy tank.
But so many goldfish keepers tend to buy fish after fish despite having limited space.
Now why is that so bad?
See, the more goldfish you have, the faster the water gets polluted. This makes it extremely difficult (if not impossible) to maintain good water quality.
And just like people…
… crowded conditions can make goldfish start having problems getting along with each other.
Quick Fixes:
1. Drive past the pet store. For the good of the fish you already have, sometimes it’s best to just determine not to get any more.
2. Get a bigger tank. So you want a booming goldfish community? Go for a tank (or pond) large enough to accommodate them.
The Best Private Goldfish Group on Facebook
I started the Pure Goldfish Community on Facebook so we could all band together and share tips on husbandry practices.
If you want to know how to avoid making dangerous errors with your finned friends, this is the place to be… hands-down.
Our awesome members share tips and help everyone out.
You don’t have to be a goldfish guru to join – we’ve got people from all walks of life and all levels of experience.
What Do You Think?
Are there any mistakes you’ve made – and corrected – that have made a world of difference in your goldfish keeping experience?
Or are there any mistakes you keep making that you haven’t been able to fix?
Then drop your comment below.
And if you want to avoid all of the other deadly mistakes most goldfish owners make, you REALLY need to take a look at The Truth About Goldfish eBook written by us. We know you’ll love it.
hi Great article but…
You don’t make a recommendation on how much water per fish. Also, would be great to have the gallons translated to litres (the rest of the world has moved into a sensible measuring system – the US will one day, I’m sure…).
So I have a 225 litre tank which equates to around 60 gallons and 6 fish. Is that too many? Also, you say don’t over feed, but how much is too much?
All my water tests show things are fine and I changed around 15% of the water a couple of days ago but my fish are still gulping air.
Please help..
cheers
Mark G
Thanks for your suggestions, Mark. Hopefully I will be doing an article soon all about tank size, but for now I’ll tell you that it depends on the type of fish you have. If you only keep fancies that’s on the cramped side but it will do if you maintain water quality. But 15% is not enough to make a dent in ammonia levels, I’d say do at least 50% weekly or more. =)
So are snails okay to put in a goldfish tank with one gold goldfish and one white goldfish if so what snail should I buy?X
Nerite snails are a good option. They come in lots of colours.
My goldfish is at the top of it’s tank.hes tale is cut and he got red stripes on his fins and he’s body got it to he is always at the top of the tank and he’s back is out of the water
Did you test the water, Noah?
Hi can anyone help me we have a 2.5 tank with two fish I cycled the tank for a week as instructed by Petco I put in the conditioning stuff got the water checked and then gradually introduced them to the tank. I was told by Petco to change out 30% of water after 4 weeks. The 2 fish have been in the tank for two weeks they were doing fine really swimming around with each other until today. Today they seem to be hiding near the filter at the back of the tank they are near the top and they are not very active their tail is moving a lot and they seem to be stationary. I have just looked at your article and I have changed out about 65% of water and put some conditioner back in. I have even changed out the filter even though it is only 2 weeks old. What else do I need to do? I don’t want them to die.
Sounds like you have been given some bad advice by the pet store, Karen. 1 week isn’t enough to cycle a tank – that’s a process that takes up to 8 weeks long, and even then the parameters will still fluctuate when adding new fish. Petco should have told you to change the water every day with new fish… but 2.5 gallons with 2 fish is so small that it will be pretty much impossible to maintain safe parameters.
I’d get them a big enough tank (20 to 30 gallons for fancy goldfish) and do daily water changes, reduce feeding, testing the water every day. After the filter has established a colony of beneficial bacteria then you can reduce the water changes.
Thank you Pure Goldfish I will take your advice. I am annoyed at the pet store because we had planned this out with our young kids and I asked all the questions and thought I was getting good advice as I assumed they knew what they were talking about, obviously not I am just hoping they do not die. Would you suggest a complete 100% water change every day right now as I have only done 65% today before you responded. Thank you
I would do a 90% so you don’t have to take the fish in and out of the tank, but get the benefits of clean water. Oh, and be sure to treat it first as you probably know =)
U get 100 different answers for every single question about goldfish, filter , feeding , changing water , …….,, on line ,,,,
Information is definitely conflicting online. That’s why I wrote a book after 10 years of research and doing it myself to see what works 🙂
I have a gold Fish he looks Like he is dead at the bottom but he still breathing he still eating he’s lays At the bottom of the tank he still looks around I’ve checked the filter that’s OK the water is cloudy could that be doing it to him there’s three other big fish in there that don’t seem to be bothered by it we can’t get the tank clear anymore can we take it apart and clean the whole thing and start over from fresh.. please help me quick.. I get upset about my fish dying just like a regular animal because it’s my job to keep them safe also..
Did you test for ammonia?
Great article for beginners troubleshooting common problems we see with goldfish!
One thing however, algae eaters will not eat your goldfish in my experience. I believe this is a bit of a myth. I keep a clown pleco in my tank with 4 goldfish of varying sizes and they never bother each other. I think what happens is a goldfish may die from some other cause and algae eaters feed on the dead fish or the fish is starving (most algae eaters need more than just algae once they grow larger). At least this is my experience and what I’ve read about it.
I also have a question for you 🙂
One of my goldfish seems to be gasping for air at the surface while the others are perfectly fine. He doesn’t do it all the time but definitely significantly more than the other fish. I have lots of air entering the tank from a pump and a hob filter, plants healthy, other fish seem healthy. I just can’t figure out what his issue is, any thoughts?
Thanks!
Thanks, for the positive feedback, Aaron! Hmm, regarding the algae eaters I’ve never met a goldfish owner who hasn’t run into problems with them sooner or later… usually later, once the algae eater gets big. The slime coat of the goldfish attracts them. Apple or Nerite snails are, in my opinion, a much safer option, but to each their own =)
Now about the gasping. Have you tested the water for ammonia and nitrite?
No I haven’t. I am getting a test kit soon but have always just relied on common sense and frequent water changes. I will check back in when I test the water. Seems odd that only one has issues.
I’ll try to keep my pleco well fed then. Thanks!
Sometimes the weaker or smaller fish show signs of problems first.
Tested the water and it was very good quality after a week. The goldfish has been better lately. I’ll continue to keep a close eye on him.
Thanks for your help!
I have had trouble with the snails. I have had 3. Replaced each as it died. They have a tendency to flip upside down in the middle of the night and I don’t see it til morning after its too late. Any suggestions as to keeping them upright?
Do you have goldfish with them, Teresa? It could be that the goldfish are harassing them…
Havent noticed too much harrassment. Just typsy snails. Lol
Sometimes it depends on the kind of snail, and the amount of space the goldfish have to explore. In a smaller space they might be more prone to nibbling.
Aaron I just thought you should know that the plecostomus do kill goldfish it is not a myth at all. I have had 3 goldfish die from aggressive plecostomus. The pleco chase the goldfish all around the tank(typically at night) and when the goldfish is to exhausted to get away they latch onto them and drag them to the bottom of the tank and suck off their slime coat and anything else they can get off of them. When you find them in the morning and think it must have died and the pleco is just scavenging just know that was the end result of a night of terror for the goldfish. I had a black more get drug to the bottom of the tank and before I could get there to help him the pleco had almost sucked his eye off….the stress of the even did kill him. And just for the record these three goldfish were killed by three separate plecostomus. When ever one would kill a fish I gave it away and got a new pleco hoping it wouldn’t happen again but as soon as the pleco reach 5″ from my experience they become aggressive as all of them were that size at the time of the events. I now have two brisstlenose algae eaters and they are much calmer and have never shown an signs of aggression they also stay smaller so that’s a plus…..anyone else having problems with a plecos size or aggression may want to look to the brisstlenose as a substitute.
thanks for sharing experience… never heard of that before !
Algie eaters do infact eat goldfish i had a beautiful fancy untill i got the algie eater by the time i realized what was happening it was to late so be careful.
It’s true. 🙁 Sorry you found out the hard way, Lori.
Hi, great article.
I was wondering, what kind of fish can I put in my 60 gallon tank? About two years ago, I got a goldfish and put it in a ten gallon tank, but since that, he’s been growing, so we moved him to a 60 gallon tank. I’ve read that goldfish do great with other goldfish, so I got him a friend (Another goldfish). They’ve only been in the same tank for a few hours, but they seem aggressive towards each other. The older one is bigger than the one we just got, but not by much. The older one keeps chasing the younger one, yet I heard goldfish were okay to put in the same tank. Maybe it will just take time?
Thanks!
Good to hear you liked it, Phil. Sometimes, though not often, goldfish that have lived alone for a while don’t take kindly to newcomers. It also may be that there are some pheromones present (aka breeding behavior!). I’d keep an eye on them for a while, try not to feed foods that contain blood or even hold off on feeding and see how they do.
Thank you so much for the response!
Hopefully they will get along soon. The older fish hasn’t ever seen another fish, so I think he may be curious, but the new fish is pretty scared, as much has happened to her in the last few days. Their names are Mr. Bubbles and Ms. Bubbles, so in time hopefully they will get along, as they were meant to be! =) Thanks for the advice, I’ll try it.
Sure =) I forgot to add that it might be a good idea to make sure the new fish has plenty of places to hide.
I just bought a bunch of tall grass and caves online for them to hide in. Thanks for the suggestion, I think it will help. =)
Hi! I really appreciate all this info, I realize now I should be doing more water changes (even though my fish have always seemed happy, better be safe than sorry).
I have a 40 gallon tank with: a pretty large comet goldfish (~5.5 inches), a 2.5 inch blackmoor, a 2.5 inch fancy goldfish, a 2 inch pleco, and 2 dwarf gouramis. The fancy goldfish is the newest, I got him about 2 weeks ago. All my fish have always gotten along perfectly until today when my fancy kept trying to nibble on my comet! =( I feed them everyday, and fed them this morning, so he shouldnt be hungry. I’ve never had problems with my fish not being compatible so this is really frustrating. My comet is by far the biggest and oldest, he was my first fish in that tank which I’ve had for 3 years. Thank you for any help you can offer!
Thanks for the kind words, Shoshana. Better safe than sorry is the golden rule for goldfish keeping indeed! 😉 For the number of fish you have I’m afraid to say your tank is quite a bit undersized. 40 gallons is really only enough space for 1 comet goldfish. So many fish in that space is likely making your fancy feel cramped.
Hii,, I need some help with my goldfish I have 8 goldfish and 55 gallon tank!! And since 2 months ago some goldfish started to staying on top of the water! What can I do about it
Less goldfish would be my advice, Onessis. A 55 gallon can only comfortably house 5 fancies. So I’d get a bigger tank or find a few of them a new home. Then I’d do lots of water changes to clean up their environment.
I had four very happy and healthy goldfish for a short while.
Then I went away for the weekend and as advised by pet shop, dropped a ‘seven day feeder’ in the tank, following the instructions.
When I came back two days later, one had died, and the others then died one by one.
It was awful. I assume too much food was released and they over-ate
What happened? Am going back to the pet shop to talk to them about his but would appreciate feedback
That’s terrible, ann =( Automatic feeders may work for some types of fish but certainly not goldfish – the pet store should not have told you to get one. They would be better off without food entirely and can go for weeks without eating. Fat reserves, see. You are right about too much food released; likely it messed up your water quality and poisoned your fish.
Thanks for being here. I am new to fish keeping. One of my goldfish was stuck dead to the filter implement this morning. All of your advice here has made me feel much better. I just wanted to say thank you.
You’re the reason Pure Goldfish is around, Lesley =) It’s people like you that make the effort worthwhile. I’m so glad to know you appreciate it.
What a great website. I have a 12 year old goldfish. Been at the bottom of tank for a year. Has been treated last year at a vet with gentamicin and another injectable med. Did not help. Was diagnosed with severe chronic dermatitis with bacilli. I change 24 gallons twice a week in a 55 gallon tank. I use prime. I was using salt at a rate of one tablespoon per five gallons. Did not help. So I took it out. He will only eat boiled egg yolk. Stopped eating peas, gel food, pebbles, shrimp. Hardly eating egg now too. Any suggestions. Really love this little guy?
Happy you’re enjoying it, Linda. Do you have gravel in the tank or any kind of filtration? What are your water parameters for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? KH and GH could also help too…
That is for the quick response. I only keep a small amount of marbles in the tank. The ammonia nitrites are 0, nitrates 5.0, pH 7.4, kh is 80 and GH 100. I have two 20-50 aqua clears. One at each end. Recently added small air stone. Oxygen level is 8.
How often are you cleaning the filters & siphoning the bottom of the tank?
I rinse every other sponge in tank water every third day with water change and siphon the bottom every time I change the water.
Sorry for all the questions, but do you ever clean out the filters themselves?
Oh and I forgot to ask exactly how much you normally would feed him and how often.
Don’t mind answering any questions. That’s the only way to know what’s going on. I really need help. I clean each filter every other time too, lightly with q-tips, cotton balls and aquarium brushes. I usually feed him a few pieces of egg yolk in the morning. He usually spits the peas out that I try to feed him at night. He always loved his peas and pebbles before.
Haven’t heard anymore? Any advice?
Sorry for the delay, Linda, we had our big store launch today. Egg yolk and peas are both very high in protein. For goldfish I would recommend a diet that consists more of fiber, please see our feeding article for my recommended diet plan. Hope this helps =)
Hi – Love your site! I’ve been watching housemate’s fancy goldfish, and you just confirmed my suspicion, that their bodies are bread too small for their organs, thus getting sick. A friend said when they sell goldfish with disabilities, well I wont go on but it’s sick what they do to the poor creatures. Anyway, housemate did not change water or clean gravel of tank, get a siphon, etc. for so long (in spite of my nudges), that one has dropsy and both are gasping at top of tank. I couldn’t take it any longer so I put the one that’s about to burst in a bowl of clean water (boiled the night before to try to remove some chlorine) and at least she is not gasping at the surface, is breathing better. But the other one could not handle shock of moving. So he’s back in dirty tank gasping at surface.
My question is: Is it better to leave the one with dropsy in the clean bowl (with stripes around it, all I found) in spite of the stress of moving, or return it to dirty tank to die? I can’t stand the thought of it dying, have grown attached and she has been such a trooper, hanging on for so long under terrible conditions. (I did do some water changes, but it just wasn’t enough without a syphon or another tank, due to heavy gravel on bottom). Sorry for lengthy post … but I’ve been distressed for weeks over this, and cannot over-step the bounds of owner). Thank you !
Happy to hear you like it, Maria. =) It may make you feel a bit better to know that the body shape of fancy goldfish does not guarantee them health problems… just makes them prone to getting sick, which happens when they are overfed (as they usually are). With proper care and clean water they will live many years of a healthy life.
You’re definitely in a tough place as far as your housemate goes. For both fish to get better they would need perfectly clean water, which can’t happen in a dirty tank. Sadly dropsy is terminal in most cases. The damage usually can’t be reversed. It would probably be kinder to have the fish euthanized. If the other one isn’t too bad off on you could try asking the owner if you could clean the the tank for him or her. If they will let you take the gravel out; it is likely filled with anaerobic bacteria – and clean the bottom with a turkey baster or plastic hosing if you have to.
Hope things turn around! I would be distressed too in your position =(
I have had my gold fish for 4 years. It is in a 20 gallon tank by itself. 2 weeks ago it stopped eating. We feed it flakes. That’sall we’ve fed it . The fish acts like it can’t find the food we put in the tank. It swims and gulfs, but won’t eat. HELP!
Hi Doris, it might be related to how much you are feeding. With flakes it is hard to tell. I recommend pellets for that reason.
I have a fantail gold fish and I bought my fish 4 months ago and I have a filter and haven’t change the filter the day I bought it.when am i supposed to change it?
Well hi there, I don’t want to tell you 😉
If you have carbon than you would change that out on a weekly to every other week basis. If you have some kind of a biofilter than you would squeeze that out as much as you can.
I have three goldies (2 comets and one common) in a 30g tank which I realize is too small but I initially bought the tank for just one of them and my friend moved into a house that had two living in a 5g tank! Soooo I felt bad for them and took them in, but they are getting bigger and the water quality is showing signs of it. Ammonia is and has always been zero but I recently got a small nitrite reading when it has been zero for about a year now. I will have to rehome two of them but for now I am making do with water changes. I was doing the 25% once a week but after reading your article realize it has to be more. My question is about cleaning the gravel and filters. I have read that if you clean the gravel and filters to intensely it can disturb the “good” bacteria or can cause a bacterial bloom. My question is should I vacuum the gravel every time I do a water change if I do it say 3 times a week or should I just change the water and do the vacuuming once a week.
Disturbing the good bacteria is a myth. Not cleaning filters and gravel is what causes a bacterial bloom of anaerobic bacteria (highly toxic). With gravel, you want to vacuum as much as possible. I don’t really recommend gravel because it is very very difficult to keep clean with goldies, but if you must have it the more you clean it the better your fish’s health will be.
Thanks for the article. Most helpful.
I have a 10 gal (60L) Biorb with 2 ryukins and a golden sucker. Unfortunately, I didn’t cycle the tank long enough and am now retrospectively dealing with high nitrite levels. The pH is 7.3 and Ammonia <.2 which is fine according to my test kit (these were much higher). The nitrites are still up though. So I have reduced feeding by 50%, performing 10% water changes every 2 days with treated water and also dosing the new water with bacteria, aquarium salts and phosphorous per a new tank to try and bring the nitrites down to a manageable level. I am also just waiting on a new siphon that includes a vacuum probe for targeting the nasties on the bottom of the tank.
The fish seem to still be eating, pooping, chasing each other around and ignoring Toad (sucker fish). Water testing is occurring every 48 hours at this stage, at the same time I am washing out the filter as well as skimming floaties. I read somewhere that a clogged filter doesn't help. They are surface gasping, one more than the other and I cannot help but be concerned that I am a terrible fishy mamma.
I will now move to daily water changes but I am worried that my little cylindrical dudes (nitrabacter) will not be enough when a friend performs a couple of water changes while I am away (I am doing one the morning that I leave). I just don't want my very expensive birthday present to die.
One more thing, are there any decent articles on actually how to set up and cycle a tank? I have only heard the term but not been overly successful in finding out how to actually go about setting a cycle up?
I’m afraid as long as your fish are in that tank, Juliana, you’re going to have a hard time keeping the nitrites down. It’s recommended to have at least 10 gallons per fancy. You have 3 fish which makes for an overloaded system. The siphon is a good move, though 😉
As a matter of fact, I’m working on an article on just that subject. Stay tuned =)
I just redid the calculation. It is a 15G tank or 60L. I have removed the light for now and increased the water capacity by 2L.
I have been at this daily water change for 5 days now. I have been performing water changes of 8L, reduced feeding by 50% (although I think G&G are stealing the concealed algae wafer I have put in the tank for Toad), vacuuming the gravel of crap, and cleaning the filter at the same time as the water change. Within this 5 days, the nitrites have dropped from 5 to .5, pH is 7.3 and ammonia is now 0. This entire process takes a total of about 10 minutes, which is pretty quick.
Here is the water recipe I have used. 8L tap water with 4 drops of Prime dechlorinator left for 24 hours. Right before you add the water to the tank add 1/2 tsp aquarium salts. 1tsp phosphorus and 1/2 cap of good bacteria (in that order). I have done this combo for the last 5 days and tested every 48 hours. Today is the last daily water change. I need to see what happens when I leave it for 48 hours. So test on Monday night before I do the next change. I am going to add a stalk of oxyweed to my bucket which will likely end up being a hospital bucket.
I think the kids will be fine for a water change every three days while we are away. As we are away for 2 weeks, it will be interesting to see how the tank has coped without me.
Oh, and my year supply of maintenance equipment turned up today. Now to work out what the first aid filter does. 🙂
Oh, I forgot to add that after I have completed the water change, I skim the floaties out with my very fine net as to try and remove as much hard material as possible leaving only fluid for the bacteria to contend with.
If I have to perform daily water changes for the rest of these fishies lives, so be it. I cannot afford a larger tank for them at the moment, so the best thing I can do for them is to keep their water as good as I can make it.
You probably don’t have to do daily water changes, but every other day for the load of that system. But if I were you I would stop adding salt; it stresses them when you alter the salinity and goldfish are not brackish water fish. Glad to hear the nitrites are going down! Keep it up 😀
My fish is at the bottom of her tank, this morning one of the other goldfish with her died, so i cleaned the tank out throughly and made sure it was clean and put my goldfish back, i fed her this morning, now she is at the bottom on her tank not moving at all, except every five seconds she opens her mouth and closes it, i think she might be asleep because shes done it before,PLEASE HELP im really stressed and i dont want her to die!
How long have you had the tank set up, Maheen? Do you have a filter and how often do you normally change the water? Also what size is the tank and have you tested the water?
hello I need some help . I will try and make it briff not sure if I can ok. I had redcap oranada anout 3.5 ins long. in 10 gallon tank. bought a 20 long tank . pored the water from 10 gallon and filled the rest with tap water , well I havent been able to get it clear. bought a aqua clear 50 filter and not helping. doing 30% water changes everyday and adding prime ! when I do the water changes. I unplug everything than when I am done turn it back on poop come spiting out, I am getting frustrated can you please help me
You might try upping the water change percentage to 90% instead of 30%, Patti. But just remember that not cleaning the filter enough or having a substrate could be a trap for debris! Hope that helps.
Great article and helpful suggestions!! I have a scenario that’s been puzzling me and my brother-in-law for a while now. He has a 50 gal tropical fish tank for a few years. He always changed the water regularly every 1-2 weeks. The water in his tank is crystal clear – better than mine (72 Gal)…lol. On Xmas day, I took 3 fantail goldfish out from my tank and brought back to him. Prior to releasing the fish into his tank, I had the plastic bag with fish sitting in his tank for 15 min. to acclimate to his tank temperature. Then I released them into the new environment. After 1/2 – 1 hr. one of the goldfish was sitting at the bottom and the other one was resting on the live plant. And I saw one of the blue Gourami was nibbling on the goldfish tail. At this point I figured that this poor thing – death is imminent. Then the other 2 goldfish died soon afterward.
My sister-in-law was saying a few days before Xmas – she bought 3 fish from a pet store and they all died after the next day. Every time a new fish died in their tank, we kept thinking – could it be the water or what’s killing them? But the thing is, the water in the tank is clean and clear. I don’t smell any ammonia when I open the tank cover to take a sniff…hehe. In the past, I gave them a few plecotomus (3″ – 5″ size) and they died after a few days. My BIL claims that he always test the water in his tank and recently changed the filter pads in his canister filter last week. Oh…he doesn’t feed the fish 2x a day like I do :).
Do you have any idea what can cause some of the new fish to die once they were introduced into the tank? I don’t have any problem when I buy more fish and put them into my tank. And embarrassing to admit that the water color of my tank is not crystal clear like my BIL’s. My tank has like a light orange/red color from the food flakes that I feed my fish, with a stronger smell of ammonia every time I pass by my tank. Although with a possible of higher content of ammonia in my tank, unclear water color – my fish have been surviving with no problems so far. I am going to change the water in my fish tank in the next day or two. I usually change about 75-85% in my tank.
Clear water can be some of the deadliest, Tim. If there is any level of it in the water the system of the fish becomes stressed and can cause death. Ammonia isn’t something you can smell in a fish tank, the only way to know for sure if there is ammonia in the tank is by testing for it. Not sure if your brother-in-law is testing specifically for it though. And not sure if any of the bag water was released into the tank with the fish… if so, it’s usually very high in ammonia and could cause the water to get polluted. Goldfish are very sensitive to it. What you can smell in a tank is the fish waste or plants in the tank, which have a distinctly “fishy” smell. If you can smell it strongly that usually means it’s a good idea to change the water, though it may not guarantee you have ammonia levels. If your brother-in-law’s tank has gravel or if the filter itself isn’t cleaned out often (not just changing the pads) that could be a potential cause of ammonia accumulation. Tropical fish have different stocking requirements than goldies anyway so it’s best to have one tank per kind. Hope this makes sense =)
Hello Pure Goldfish! I have a small Oranda goldfish (his name is Dabi and he’s very very sweet). He was a surprise for Christmas, a very stressful little surprise for Christmas- I had none of the equipment to keep him! For a few days he was doing alright in a ten gallon tank with a filter and air stone, but now he has a small brown spot on his side, and spends most of the day behind a small purple plant I bought for him. I am obviously very worried something is wrong, what do you think it might be and what can I do to help him? Also, what should I use to treat my water before putting it in the tank? Thank you so very much,
Grace
Hi there Grace =) Probably Dabi is going through new tank syndrome, Grace. Basically the water is going bad from his poo. What you can do to help him is change the water at the bottom of the tank to suck up the waste until 50% is drained, and replace it with treated tap water of the same temp and do that each day until the system gets established (it will need a filter for that to happen). You can use any kind of chlorine remover and follow the bottle’s instructions, but my favorite is Prime because it helps with ammonia.
Thank you so much petsmart said my goldfish would be fine with an algae eater and it was for about a year and just these past few days I’ve noticed red blotches on it. Finally I sat and watched my algae eater stalk my good fish and then start chewing on his side. I thought my fish was dying but thanks to you guys I now know my algae eater is trying to eat it alive. But will my gold fish be okay or is he still going to die?
I was afraid that was the case :/ If you get the algae eater out of there and keep the water really clean your fish has a chance, but of course I don’t know how extensive the damage is. Hope he recovers soon!
His side is really red behind his stomach and he keeps laying down but I have them separated and the other goldfish is protecting and helping him thank you for getting back to me so quickly and I’m about to clean the tank. Again thank you you’ve saved him and my other goldfish.
Hope he recovers soon Stacey! Take care.
Your site was very helpful but I would need a more specific answer if someone could help me my goldfish and I would greatly appreciate it!
Here is our problem…
My goldfish is a fancy goldfish (Celestial) I’ve had him since he was about 6 weeks old in a 10 Gallon aquarium with a small zebra snail for company. He just turned 1 year old last month. So he has been with me for a year now and since I got him he has always gulped for air at least 1 up to 20 times a day that i actually witness. He swims up to the top and gulps a number of times then swims back down and continues whatever he was doing before. The problem is I have no idea why he keeps doing this! I have tested my amonia levels, they’re normal. I have tested my Nitrate levels, normal as well. The temperature is stable and controlled to what I was told is adeal for him which is 70 degrees. I feed him 3 sinking pellets 3 times a day. I dont know if that is too much every pet store has told me its appropriate. He sometimes gulps so much air that his swim bladder probably fills with air which causes him alot of difficulty to swim down and cause him difficulty in general with his swimming.
I dont know what is causing him to constantly gulp air.
I tried recently changing his diet by giving him half of one skinned pea in the morning followed by 3 sinking pellets at supper and the other half of the pea before bed around 12am.
Please help us I dont want him to constantly be struggling but I dont know what else to do for the little guy.
Thanks,
Jen 🙁
Hi Jennifer, I think you might be overfeeding. Please have a look at our feeding advice for how much/often to feed. So much food is probably leading to ammonia issues.
Thank you Pure Goldfish! I just read all the feeding advice my last question is how many pellets is what he should be having… Im going to put romaine lettuce in the tank and this weekend pick up aquarium plants like those listed so in combination with having healthy snacks available 24/7 how many pellets should i be giving him for his extra nutrients he needs ?
3 pellets each day =)
Are you putting Romaine lettuce in your goldfish tank??
I have 2 goldfish a common and a fantail but my fantail some times gulps at the surface and the the other follows and i change the water recently please help am i over feeding them? also i got a fish tank and with the filter were the water runs back. their no pad that goes on it. is their supposed to be a pad? thanks
You can check out our advice on food to know if you are overfeeding. It is recommended to have some kind of substance to grow beneficial bacteria on in the filter that doesn’t get thrown out all the time, like a sponge. =)
hi weare first time owners who have two beautifull fancy goldfish but week back we clean the whole tank and they so happy swimming all over and friendly but for 4days one of ouer fishes dusnt swim around stays on one place half in middel in coner but when we feeding time they both eat but you can see something wrong our other goldfish is happy swiming around and looks worry about other one hehe
How often do you normally change the water, and how much, morne?
I have a goldfish and i accedently put in to much food its stuck at the bottom I tried to scoop it out but it didn’t work so I was thinking of changing the watter but i don’t know how to do that plz help
A siphon will be your best friend in this case… or even a turkey baster, if you don’t have a siphon. Hope that helps 😉
Hi Pure Goldfish,
I have a question… I have recently bought my celestial goldfish a real plant to snack on and he loves it hes rubbing himself in it hes ;loving it! My question is can i get rid of all my fake plants and replace them with all real plants? Will he eat too much if heres too many plants? will it affect my water balance?
Thanks
Jennifer & Fish
Yes, absolutely. Fake plants really don’t serve much purpose except making more to clean for you. Goldfish are meant to have an unlimited supply of plants, they will never eat too much of them 🙂 It might affect your water balance… but for the better. Plants aid in the nitrogen cycle.
What kind of plants would you recommend ?
Jen 🙂
It depends on if you want them to get eaten or not, ha ha. If you want to keep them around Java fern and Anubias are nice. But if you want them for food then elodea and duckweed are good choices.
Thank you so much Pure Goldfish! you’ve been a huge help!!
o please help. i have two good sized goldifsh in a new to them 10 gallon tank (about a month in) and first, the algae bloom came, and we went on line and it said to just let it work itself out, so we waited a week, it did not clear up, so we did a full water change with well water and one fish was gasping at the surface, so we went back onoline and it said softener was the problem, so we bought gallons of spring water at the store and did a 90% water change, and today they are both gasping at the surface off and on….between the milky water and gasping fish, what am i doing wrong??
when they were in a 5 gallon tank i didn’t have these problems. dont want my frick fish and frack fish to die. PLEASE HELP!!!!
Likely that’s new tank syndrome, Kate. Not sure if you have a filter or not, but for 2 goldies you really should have at least a 20 gallon tank. It will be difficult to keep the water quality good with the setup you have now. In the meantime I would do 90% water changes every day until the fish improve. Then you can reduce it to weekly, assuming your tank is cycled.
So our story is quite long. A year and 1/2 ago, we had two common or comet (can’t remember) goldfish, and then we bought 5 more comet goldfish and mixed them all in a 20gal tank. Everything was grand for several weeks, we bought two more, (a case of enough is never enough!) and it went well, then about august of 2014, (9 fish in a 20gallon tank, yes, I know, BAD IDEA), we noticed one of the smaller white goldfish was looking rather sad or unhappy ‘sick’ if you will, we took him out and put him in a fresh water square glass thingy, he recovered nicely afte 1 or 2 days. We put him back, 2 weeks later, still august, we notice he is sick and has some sort of white filmy stuff on him. Taken out same process, Saturday night, absolutely fine, Sunday Morning, dead. And we then are a lil bit worred, so we think it was somehow caused by the heat, and we move the tank from the 10 window room, to the main room, about 5-15 degree difference depending on the day, Monday, another fish another comet has died. We then treat the water. Tuesday, 5 more fish passed away. We were left with only one. We FRANTICALLY moved them out, and cleaned the tank top to bottom. He survived. But, since they were the only two survivors and and in separate glasses (to recover in) we decide to get two more a couple days later after the tank and fish have recovered. Those four lasted until January where the plague AGAIN started up. (Both times it looked like parasites). We lost 3 of the four. One of the newer ones survived, named Mabele the 3rd (we’ve had 3 mabele’s). She was the last fish left, and again, depression, so we got 4 more fish and transferred ALL of them (after she recovered) into our ten gallon tank. Fast forward to November 2015, everything is fine, we notice one day, one of the 5 are missing, we search all over and couldn’t find it. We assumed a loss, and then a couple days later after thanksgiving, ANOTHER one was missing. Again, we searched and cleaned the tank. Recently the third and final (goldfish up until this point), goldfish went missing and died. Now there are only two. A ‘new’ orange one, and Mabele the 3rd, survivor of the 2nd massacre. Have you ANY idea what was the cause of this madness?
After the second ‘massacre,’ we cleaned the tank thouroghly and replaced the goldfish with the much easier platy fish. We got 7 from petco two were preggers, and the next day we saw a little baby. They repopulated and grew and we eventually had about 10 adults and 50 or so babies. As well as two (transferred from ANOTHER tank) female bettas. Just this year, we noticed the platies were no longer ‘producing’ babies, and soon after day after day, so many many many platies died for unknown reasons, and now we had two, but one died just today, and now we only have one platy. We are completely clueless as to why or what happen! (By the way, the bettas legit watched the ‘massacre’ and now are living the good life). In otherwords, the bettas are COMPLETELY fine. Again, we have little to know clue what happened with the platies or goldfish. But, I could see some reasons for the goldfish, but nothing at all for the platies. Please help!
That whole page was a rough draft, had a few mistakes in it. That final platy is doing very well, she looks happy and darts around like she normally does. The bettas are still enjoying the good life. Lol
Hi Pure Goldfish!!
First of all thank you so much for this article and all the information, as well as answering all the questions. I really need some help here!! So here is the story. I’m a dog person (had many during my life) and know all about it but never had a fish, until this week. My husband’s boss just moved to another country and he and his wife had a beautiful Goldfish ( I think is a fantail ). they didn’t have any loving possible next parent for the baby and when we were helping with the move my husband and I decided to adopt the fish. To my surprise, big surprise, this fish is 6 years old ! and it’s living in a ahem :S 10 gallon tank !!!! I didn’t really know anything about this, I just noticed that the fish is too big for the tank is in. I started researching, measuring and figured is a 10 gal.. So anyway they gave me this baby 4 days ago and I already adore it. The thing is I notice so many things not going Ok and don’t know where to begin helping or what to do.
I’ve changed water 2 times by now, because the fish is constantly gulping at the surface of the water.This is my main concern. It is there every 5 min. The old parents told me to change water only 1 a month (!) and to keep half the old water. To me that sounded really bad to be honest. I give my dogs mineral water that gives you an idea of my policy with water. So I decided to change the water today but as I’m reading I need to keep doing this daily until I change the tank. That would be my next question, or my real question, how can I help him be OK until the next tank is ready? Today I searched for tanks and I’ll be heading to petco tomorrow morning to get a 50 gal tank ! I want to give him the best!
Please any information and tips you can give me will be highly appreciated as a new goldfish mom !!! Another thing I’d like to know is if this fish needs company ! my husband and I were thinking about getting another tank and 2 extra fish and grow the new 2 until they are the size that can be compatible with this one, but I’d like your opinion. Thank you so much in anticipation !!!! <3
Hi Pure Goldfish,
Thanks you for posting all this. It has been educational. Wish I had looked for info before I bought goldfish. So…..For xmas I bought my children 2 goldfish and a small tank. I realized that the tank was too small but figured they would hold on till I could afford to buy a big one. I changed the water every other day or so but when I did that I changed 100% of it and transferred the fish to another container momentarily . Then I would put them back in the clean water. I wasn’t aware that there was anything wrong with plain tap water so I just added that straight in. After a couple of weeks the fish looked miserable…sitting at the end of the tank, hardly moving. They were quite attached to each other. Additionally they seemed to be hungry and I over fed them….not a whole lot but twice a day instead of once. Then I notice this white cotton wool like substance coming around the tank. Fish started gulping for air at the top and lying on its side at the top. Again I changed the water taking the fish out and then transferring them back in. And one of the poor guys died there and then. So I guess I did so much wrong stuff here I basically killed him. Now the other one is alive but still there is a little white substance coming. I faster him for 3 days and today I fed him and he won’t eat anything..its like he doesn’t even see the food. The new big tank is coming tomorrow. Please tell me what to do?
Well Maria, likely your fish are experiencing New Tank Syndrome. To counteract that you must change the water daily 50 to 90%, being sure that the water you are replacing it with is treated and the pH isn’t too low. There is no need to move the fish around during water changes if you do it properly with a bottom siphon, it only will stress them out. You will need to have some kind of filtration if you don’t already, so that way after a while you won’t have to change the water so much. If the fish won’t eat, don’t feed… it will only further deteriorate the water quality. Be sure to remove any gravel and keep the bottom of the tank and the filter free of crud 😉 Hope your other guy makes it. Everyone loses fish sooner or later, it happens. The main thing is to do the best you can to keep the tank clean and that will take you a long way! 🙂
Hello there ? I just bought a baby gold fish a few hours ago and I’m super excited since I really love fish ? Anyways, the pet store shop keeper told me to feed my goldfish one flake every two days… I’m just wondering whether that amount of food it very little ? Btw my baby gold fish lives in bowl, and when I read your article I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore ? I hope you answer my question ?
Hi Sara, congrats on your new baby! Exactly how big is it? That will determine how much food it needs. If it is an inch or less than it will need lots of frequent meals to keep it growing, but I wouldn’t advise doing that until it gets a bigger tank because you don’t want the water to go bad. That happens very easily in bowls. Best wishes for your new friend! 😀
My fish is constipated some hes was eating peas last week and was producing stool but larger than usual… however last Friday he didnt eat any of the peas i gave him and hasnt eaten since, he is lathargic on the ground and wont eat how can i help him if he doesnt want to eat!?
If the fish doesn’t eat, Jay, please don’t feed him. It will only mess up the water. Fasting may actually be the best thing for him.
Hey, great article btw. I followed everything here %100 and my fish are happy and healthy. One question though, I followed did everything, not over feeding,weekly water tests,I have a filter too, lots of hiding spots and plants and my tank still gets kind of cloudy. I’m kind of worried cause my bubble eyed fish is now gasping for air. Thanks please respond ?
Hey Parker, do you have any gravel or substrate, and does your filter get cleaned regularly?
Hey Pure Goldfish, I totally agree with every thing you say, I have 3 gold fish now and a baby algae eater. I have a filter, 2 real plants, hiding spots etc. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I checked the water it’s cold how they like it. It always gets that cloudy look though I know it’s not good for them. Please show suggestions for a subscriber. (Ps keep up the good work??) ?
Hi there Pdiddy! Sure, I’ll give you my suggestions. But first… how big is your tank, and how often do you normally change the water?
I have a 35 gallon tank, I change the water weekly (I iust did it today) all of the fish love each other. One is pregnant.
Yes, I wash it monthly
(Ps me and Parker are the same person. I accidentally changed it)
I mean Pdiddy
Ha ha no worries 😉 Monthly? That’s definitely your problem. For a normal setup goldfish have to have weekly water changes of at least 50% at least. Any less than that and the water will go bad quickly.
Hi, I think Parker said that he changes the water weekly, and washes the tank monthly. Can you please clarify if he also supposed to wash it weekly too? Or just change the water? I’m curious too. Thanks!
Looking back on that I see I got a bit mixed up. To clarify, weekly water changes are necessary, but I’m not really sure what was meant by “washing.” I’m assuming it means dumping everything out and rinsing it in the tap, which should not be done. Hope that clears things up!
K weekly then?
Yep 🙂 Absolute must.
Ok thanks! Wish good luck for the fish babies.??
Hello, Thanks for all the info. I have 7 juvenile comet goldfish in a 55 gallon tank with a ton of filtration. I know this tank is too small for them long term. However I’m wondering if they will be ok living in there for 6 months to a year? We are planning on putting them in our pond at that time, but they are too little right now. Or should we consider getting a bigger tank until then? Thanks
If you keep the tank really clean, Marianne, they might be okay until you can put them in the pond.
Ok thanks, I hope so. My hubby is pretty anal about water changes so we do them several times a week. I’m just worried about stunting their growth as I’m not sure how long it takes them to grow
You won’t stunt them with enough water changes 🙂
Why does my fish keep gulping for air all the time?? Anyone have an Idea.
You may be having water quality problems, Jennifer. Have you tried testing it?
Hey Parker’s back 😀
I was wondering if I could feed my gold fish crickets?
Hi again! Well, it might be possible, if the fish is big enough, but personally I wouldn’t do that. I would stick with fish-safe foods. 🙂
Hi Pure Goldfish,
I have never had fish and never really expected to. My husband “won” a comet goldfish from work a couple weeks ago. I think it was a very irresponsible prize and no one was aware that living creatures would be the prizes. I bought a bowl for him, then, after some googling, realized that he needed more space. We bought a 13 gal tank, filter, heater, gravel, and hiding areas/decorations. I put some safe start bacterial in the tank. THEN, since I bought the tank, my husband brought 2 more fish that were left at his work sitting in a small bowl because 2 of his coworkers didn’t want their “prize” and left them at the office. So they were living in the office for about a week, and he took them because he though since we had a big tank he could help them because they were struggling at his office and looked sad and like they were gasping for air all the time (we both feel for animal). So now we have 3 “feeder fish” in a 13 Gal. I know that’s way too small, and I feel bad about their situation, but I was wondering if it will work until next autumn when we will have more money to get an appropriate tank, filter, etc.? If you think it’s ok, how often should I change their water since they are in a smaller space? Also, do you know how old “feeder goldfish” are? I am worried about them breeding and creating some nightmarish situation of death like was mentioned in one of the comments above. We care about their well being and want them happy and comfortable. I have been filling the tank with culigan water, which I will not be able to continue due to cost. If I put tap water in the tank, should I put water conditioner in the tank directly before I add the tap water, or after? I don’t want to accidentally hurt them with chlorinated tap water, nor do I want to hurt them with concentrated water conditioner chemicals, if I add that first. Any advice would be appreciated and thank you for all the helpful information in your article. 🙂
To answer your questions… yes, it can work until Fall, provided the tank and water are kept clean. If it was me, I would change their water at least every other day. Most feeder fish are probably 6 months to a year old, so I wouldn’t worry about them breeding just yet. Likely they wouldn’t even if they could in that setup. And yes, absolutely you must treat the water before adding it to the tank. Water conditioner is meant to be fish safe when used in the right amount. It is the tap which has the bad stuff.
Hello ,
I have two goldfish , and a 20 gallon tank , one of them died a week back so my brother bought another to keep it company , initially the new one was floating around always waiting for food and was not showing any signs of lethargy , but last night after i changed around 70 percent of the water it was constantly gasping for air and today i again did a 80 percent water change cleaned the gravel , but its sitting at the bottom breathing slowly and only stirs if the other one is around , what could be wrong ?
Hi yuki, did you try testing the water? Also, when was the last time you cleaned the filter?
Hey Pure Goldfish, thanks for all the help, my tank looks amazing now. I’m training my goldfish do play games and it’s working slowly. I’m actually entering a drawing contest and I’m drawing the fish. Just wanted to say thanks for the last time. Bye !
Awesome! That sounds like a lot of fun. Bye Parker/Pdiddy 🙂
Hello Pure Goldfish – Amazing information. Thank you.
I am a complete newbie to this world. My son last week won 2 gold fish(one actually gold in color and the other greyish) at a fair. So now we are in a learning curve. Bought a starter 10 gallon tank from Petco. Added some gravel, and also have 2 fake plants. (now that I read through your website, i know that I signed up for more cleaning work).
Here are is setup :
– 10 gallon tank
– cycled it only for 2 days (advised by petco)
– have 2 gold fish sharing the tank
– 2 plastic plants
– 1 cm of gravel at the botton
– have a filter, running 24/7
– changing water around 50% every other day
My problem :
– I see the fish coming to the surface for air
– I see dark blotches on one of them
– Havent done the water testing yet. Will have to take that to petco (any recomendations on buying a testing kit)
Need advice on
– What am i doing wrong ?
– can I use the tetra safestart plus to jump start the ammonia cycle with the needed bacteria ?
– when you say wash the filter, is it enough to just take out the filter, and wash it with de-clorinated water ?
– what to do with the dark blotches on the fish ?
Any comments appreciated
Again – great wealth of info on the website.
Thanks for your positive feedback, Shaun! To answer your questions…
As far as what are you doing wrong off right off the bat I notice the tank is undersized and the bacteria colony is not established. This is a recipe for ammonia problems, as you are seeing with the black spots (burns).
Don’t waste your money on Safestart. At this point all you can do is daily water changes until you can upgrade the tank and the filter gets established. It will take much longer than 2 days.
As to the filter, not sure what kind you are using, but dechlorinated water is not necessary just use old tank water.
For the dark blotches, take it as a sign that your fish are in danger. Feed sparingly or nothing at all, clean the filter daily and upgrade your tank as soon as you can. It will make things much easier.
Hope that helps 🙂
Thanks for the reply Pure Goldfish. Some more questions :
– The filter I have is a biological Aqueon QuietFlow™ Power Filter. It sits on the rim of the tank. So I take out the filter, and rinse in the old tank water ? Do I do this daily ?
– And for the tank size, what is recommended ?
– Any chance once the bacteria establishes I can continue with the same 10 gallon tank ?
– When you say feed the fish sparingly, do I feed them every other day ? And when do I start feeding them every day ?
Thanks for your time
Yes, take out the cartridge and swish in old tank water with every water change. Unless it is a carbon cartridge, then you have to throw it out and replace weekly.
For 2 goldies that are slim-bodied you will need 80 gallons min. If they are fancies then 20 gallons min. Your tank is not big enough for even 1 fish. It will make water quality management close to impossible and potentially cause stunting. Bigger tanks are actually easier to take care of.
If they are not acting well, don’t feed. Only feed when they are behaving and looking normally again.
Pure Goldfish, if I keep cleaning the tank and the filter everyday, am I not disturbing the little bit of beneficial bacteria that is trying to make home in the tank ?
How and when should I stop this daily cleaning cycle ?
Thanks
Short answer, no 🙂 Beneficial bacteria is not disturbed by even vigorous scrubbing. They are clingers and only tap water will get them off.
You can stop the daily cleaning when the fish has gotten back to its normal self.
We have a 10 gal tank and I’m having such a hard time with the nitrate and nitrite levels being high… I was told that it is due to the gold fish we have? What can I do to lower those levels… I do water changes between 25% to 50% every couple weeks can you help me out.
More frequent water changes would definitely be the solution, unless your tank is overcrowded – then you may need to reassess the stocking levels.
Hi. Love this article. Wonder if you can help with my query. I have 4 fancy goldfish that I had in a 120 litre tank. One stopped eating and mostly sitting at the bottom of the tank. All the other 3 thriving active and growing. I was struggling to keep my 2 tanks of this size so I put my fancies in my other tank which has a few platies and white clouds. For the first 3 or 4 days I thought my little sunbeam had turned a corner as she seemed again active and swimming with the others but then went back to sitting at the bottom. Occasionally she has a little swim round and often go to the top and blows out bubbles on her way back down. I do a couple of 20% water changes a week. I was cleaning the filter media each week but didn’t know if I should be doing that. I am very new to fish keeping…..only 6 months in. It’s been a while now she’s been like this i just don’t know what to do for the best?? Hope you may be able to advice me. Thank you
Hi, and thanks! So, you have 4 fancies and some tropicals in a 120litre, is that correct?
Thank you for replying. Yes that’s correct. I know it seems a lot but the fancies are not massive as yet and there are not many of the smaller fish. There seems plenty of room. It doesn’t look over crowded ? My tank is a good shape as it’s much longer in length than height which I read was important and I got the bigger fluval u4 filter rather than the u3 as I read with fancies you can’t get enough filtration. I couldn’t possibly cope with a larger tank though. I did a really good syphon of the sand yesterday and cut back on the feeding as it states in your article and actually sunbeam is swimming around this morning a lot more which she hasn’t done for ages. I haven’t seen her eat yet though ? Really difficult knowing if I’m feeding enough though. My other 3 are scatting around frantically looking for food which makes me think I haven’t put enough in. I hate the thought of them being hungry. All my other fish all look healthy and active.
With goldfish it’s not just about size, it’s about waste load and invisible toxins they produce. Check our feeding article, if you haven’t already, to know if you are feeding the right amount. Goldfish are hungry no matter how much they eat.
Hello , I have two redcap orandas and two telescope fishes in 60 gallon tank . The orandas have been added recently to the tank I have been doing regular water changes per week . Now the problem is that the two of orandas have not been eating since they have Been brought. All the food I gv them is consumed by telescope fishes. I also noticed orandas sitting down the tank near my filter . And is it fine to have only one filter for 60 gallon tank?
Hoping for your reply soon as I can’t see them resting down as normal fishes swim regularly…
How much % of water do you change at a time, and do you have a substrate? Also, how often do you clean the filter?
Regularly I changed 50% but since they we resting in bottom I started changing 90% and I guess it helped . They are now playing around with tankmates. I clean my filter in month.
Now,a new problem has occurred as I feed evry fish the telescopes eat all the food and orandas juss see the food gulp and then throw it out without eating. What is the solution?
You might be feeding too much. Have you checked out our feeding article?
Thanks for all the great info Pure Goldfish. Can you please explain how to cycle a tank? Also, you mentioned that raw lettuce or spinach is a good supplement for goldfish. Is one piece of fresh, raw baby spinach a good amount for one goldfish, or would you put in a portion of a piece? Thank you.
You are most welcome, Robert! Cycling is an involved process, but in summary it is done through the gradual and consistent introduction of ammonia to the tank until nitrate shows up on test readings. You can try one piece of spinach and see how quickly it gets eaten. If it goes in a couple of days you may want to put more in at a time.
Please can you tell me if cleaning the filter media in old tank water each week then taking the whole filter out each month is too much ? Should I rinse the media every other week and once a month take the whole filter out. Thank you. By the way sun beam has not been sat on the bottom for 2 days. Not sure what has made a difference but so pleased my little one is swimming. Still can’t wait to see her go for food like she is hungry but at least she’s not just slumped at the bottom of the tank. Thank you
As often as possible for the filter. You can’t clean it enough. Be sure no stagnant pockets of crud are getting built up in it!
My goldfish is gulping oxygen cause he is a fishbowl we change the water everyday and give him 3 food balls every 5 days so anything more we need to do for the gulping problem??
As you said, there really isn’t anything more you can do for him until you give him a bigger tank. Water changes are all you can do.
Hello. I had a goldfish in a tank that had cycled for a month or so. I was doing 40% water changes weekly and then I noticed he had started laying in the corner and not moving. I did a 50% water change and he still didn’t perk up. So then the next day I did another 50% water change and still no sign of him getting better. Later that day he died. I checked my water levels and they were all good. My local fish store told me he died because I did to many water changes and he went into shock and died. They told me from now on do 25% water changes weekly instead of 40% water changes weekly. I got a new fish and he seems to be doing fine except when he is suspended vertically in the tank towards the surface gulping air. I tested all my levels with an API fresh water test kit and they were all exactly were they are supposed to be except the PH is a little high. I’m not quite sure why he is doing this. My only thought could be from the ph level being to high. It is at 8.
What the pet store told you is probably not why he died. They are used to giving advice for tropical tanks, not goldfish tanks. Exactly what are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? Also, do you have a substrate, and how often are you cleaning the filter?
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate: 15
I changed the filter once every 2 weeks but am now just reading that all the good bacteria are in the filter and that I need to use the filter for longer and then when I am finished with it swish it out into the aquarium. Am I correct?
I am not sure why my oranda is gulping air when the water levels are good?
And the ph is at 8
Is substrate gravel? If it is then yes, I have substrate
Yes, gravel is substrate, which is a trap for bad bacteria. I would advise to remove it, and up the cleaning of your filter. The more the better.
Remove all of the gravel? Won’t that get rid of the good and bad bacteria?
Also when you say clean the filter do you mean replace the filter cartridge or the actual filter unit?
No, it won’t. Bacteria live mostly in the filter.
I mean, swish out the filter cartridge in old tank water and wash out the inside of the filter unit. So, both 🙂
Great Article ,
Thanks!
Hi..is it alright to clean the goldfish tank every 2 days?..maybe do a 50% water change every 2 days?
Absolutely 🙂
Thanks for your article above it was very informative especially for a new goldfish owner like myself.
We recently got a little ‘feeder’ goldfish, my son won it in school.
So we went out and bought a 10 gallon tank and a filter and some friends.
We bought 2, 2-3 inch goldfish and 3 more little tiny feeders (as they call it in the store).
After the first few days the first feeder died.
So we went back to the store and they said we need to condition our water from the chlorine.
So we started that and a week went by OK.
Our water started getting cloudy so we changed 80% of it.
The next day it was cloudy again, so back to the store we went.
This time they sold us Acurel F and Fluval waste control biological cleaner.
It cleared up the cloudness for 1 day.
So this time I brought them a water sample.
The sample showed high ammonia, so they sold us Prime concentrated conditioner to detox the amonia and a Fluval filter ammonia remover for my filter.
Well the water for clear, BUT the goldfish (especially the little feeders) started turning black.
So I looked that up and saw that it said that really was from the previous high amonia levels and it was now coming out.
But right away another feeder died (yesterday) and this morning another one. I also changed the water twice over the last 2 days (80%) and added the water conditioner and other stuff back in.
So now I’m down to 1 big (3 inch) 1- 2inch and 2 tiny feeders.
BTW, in the store they said that our 10 gallon can handle what we HAD but from reading all your replies I am believing that was incorrect.
So now what can I do to make sure the last 2 feeders don’t die and what about the black from the previous high amonia levels, will it correct itself.
I also plan to return to the store today to get the current water checked out again.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Also, why did they die right after I corrected the ammonia issue and not before? They lasted a week like that but the day I corrected the ammonia issue 2 died off.
Is there a such thing of too much of a correction???
Oh one more thing, I changed the filter 2 days ago with a water change, replaced it with a new one. It was only 1-2 weeks old but with so much waste build up it looked like it needed to be replaced.
I am reading above now and see that the good bacteria lives in it. Was that a mistake and is that part of my problem, that I got rid of it and need the good bacteria from it?
If the fish are turning black, it does not necessarily mean the ammonia spike is over. Likely there was still a high ammonia concentration present, as your tank is not cycled and sorry to say overstocked, so the fish are continually putting out more ammonia than the filtration can handle, but even the stress of going through an ammonia surge could have caused death shortly afterwards. It is quite toxic. Correcting the ammonia issue can’t be done effectively with chemicals, only water changes provide that solution. And yes, you do not want to throw away the filter, you want to clean it often.
I have a goldfish who is hiding inside the filter housing. It’s a Tetra Whisper filter. Is this normal behavior? Is it dangerous? I’ve noticed he likes to wedge himself between things. We just got him last week and are new to keeping fish, so I really don’t know if it’s normal or not.
Probably not normal, Jenn. Goldfish do that when they are weak and/or stressed. You may need to look into your water quality.
Until this morning, we had 2 goldfish living in a 10 gallon tank. We had one for about 3 years, the other for 2. The older one had been having some problems for a long time — swim bladder issued for a while (peas!), and his tail didn’t seem right — but they were both getting along. I’d replaced 50% of the water about weekly, with complete changes every 10 days to 2 weeks. The complete changes would include wiping down the glass (no cleaners), scrubbing the decorations with an old toothbrush, and rinsing out hte gravel. Changed the carbon filter whenever nasty.
Yesterday I decided the gravel was getting too hard to keep looking clean, and my daughter picked out some fun mixed-color gravel. Rinsed it per the instructions, did my usual full water exchange & cleaning. This morning I woke up to the older fish dead on the bottom, and the younger one was gone by lunchtime. The lonly thing I can think of is that I must not have rinsed off the gravel well enough, and they somehow suffocated on sparkly dust.
Any other thoughts? I’d hate not to learn from this. I’ll miss them.
Removing the old gravel likely released toxic pockets of bad bacteria. Gravel is not a good choice for goldfish because, as you know, it is impossible to keep clean. As for other thoughts… a 10 gallon tank really is only enough space for one fancy fish. The space gets foul too quickly otherwise. If you consider getting more fish my advice would be only to get one, unless you plan on getting a larger tank.
HI I have 7 goldfish in a 2.5 gallon tank and have had them for a few weeks. I know this is too small ,the water is dirty, fish seem to gasp for air at top a lot. Some seem to be turning black. Bought a 13 gallon tank today..I know still not big enough but can’t afford bigger right now. Didn’t realize how big of a tank they needed. How do I go about moving them to the new tank without killing them. Should I put all the old water in the new tank? Should I put the new bigger filter in the new tank with clean water first? Then the old filter and water and fish? What about the old gravel? And I got new travel as well. This whole process worried me I don’t want to kill them.
Don’t save the old water, it’s loaded with toxins. You would do best to use tap water that has been treated. Use both filters on the new tank, but clean the old one in old tank water first. Toss the gravel, it will only complicate things for the worse. It is not going to be easy to keep 7 goldfish alive even in a 13 gallon, so there sadly is a chance that some or all won’t make it… hope that helps! 🙂
Hi! I recently got a goldfish. He does not have a proper tank, just a large plastic bin, no air pump so far, and no filter. I do full water changes every other day, and feed him a small pinch of fish food each night.
I am not sure what causes it, but whenever I check on him, he seems to be gasping, and his gills are moving at abnormally fast speeds. When I gently reach into the tank with clean hands to test his reaction, he doesn’t seem to move unless I really push him around. Might it be an illness? I’m really worried about him. This is the 2nd day I have him, and I don’t want him to suddenly die on me.
Hi Jennine! Have you checked out our feeding article? I think he might be getting too much food which leads to foul water.
Oh, I just recently went to the pet store and purchased a 5.5 gallon tank, along with Api Stress Coat and a Bacteria thing from Top Fin. I set up the tank yesterday, and I placed my fish in it. I also have a large plant in it, and a small filter hanging from the side. I have read other articles about the overfeeding, so I haven’t fed him today or yesterday. He seems lethargic, though, same as before, and would only move if I really push him.
And since I have a tank, the Pet Store recommended I do 90% water changes every week instead of every day .
My suggestion is to up your water changes to daily. Sadly, a 5.5 gallon tank isn’t large enough for him… goldfish need at least 10 gallons apiece, and your tank isn’t cycled so he is probably experiencing new tank syndrome.
Hey Pure Goldfish!, your site is FABULOUS by the way! I have a couple questions. About 4wks ago, we went to Petsmart to buy more platies for or main tank (disaster struck, long story), anyways, we decided to get 3 small goldies, and one bigger one to go with the two big ones we already had that looked lonely.
The new fish cooperated well the first few days. (The big fish we got even seemed like he had been there about 3 months). We fed them regularly, and all, then we woke up one day, and all three of the smaller fish were dead. And we have little clue why! I somehow managed to lose my favourite fish. 🙁 Well, we noticed that one of the other orange ones we had previously had white fuzzy stuff on him. IMMEDIATELY took him and the other two fish out and put them in separate tanks, and cleaned our tank. I am just curious to what you think may have caused this shenanigan, (we even cleaned the tank right before we put the fish in), I am not too pleased as that cute lil’ black and orange one is now gone. Shark was his name.
What should we do to prevent this in the future if we get more? If it was something related to bad water, why dis all 3 little ones die ON THE SAME day, why not the others with? See my point? We’re just a bit confused. Is it different for bigfer fish than smaller fish, lesser immune system? That’s what I figure. Cuz’ if they had all had the same imm. system, they’d likely have all died.
I hope ya respond asap, thanks!
So, you had 6 fish in a 20 gallon tank, am I correct?
Yes, that’s correct. But the 3 were 2-4 inches, and the other three less than an inch.
Yes, I am aware it’s a bit too small. But the three remaining have lived there for about 1-2 years. (Our oldest is 2), (the second is 1 and 1/2 years), and of course the third is new. (But probably half a year old?)
They’re doing fantastic by the way. I am just a little disappointed that the three smaller ones didn’t make it.
My immediate thought is Ick and New Tank Syndrome. Thanks!
Help. We got a 10 gal tank for our granddaughter, see love to watch fish. We cycled the tank for a week then got her some tropical fish, well they all died over a few months. We took the tank apart, cleanded everything, we used no soap or cleaners of any kind just hot water. Set it back up cycled for about a week, i got a test kit and tested the water everything was good. We got some goldfish this time, just prettier, brighter, we got home and floated the bag about 20 min and at the same time i got a bigger stronger filter but one still made for a 10 gal tank, i am running both filters right now so the new one can cycle. they seemed to be doing very good and they ate and swimming around but this morning they are a huddled under the small filter and not swimming around and not eating, the tank readings are still good mostly except it reads stress. Help please oh we got 4 fish.
Hi! 4 fish in a 10 gallon is (even with good filtration) not a setup that can support your fish; it’s recommended to have 10 gallons per fancy at least. Also, 1 week is also not enough time to cycle the tank, that is a process that takes several weeks and the careful and gradual adding of an ammonia source. Your fish are experiencing new tank syndrome coupled with overcrowding (which makes NTS worse). You will need to change the water frequently until you can get a larger tank.
Sorry for the late reply! Your answer to my previous question was phenomenal. I do have another question though. I have been doing what you are telling me to do, but for some reason my fish keels swimming back and forth, super close to the long side of the thank. He won’t come off the side, unless to eat. Yesterday, he wasn’t acting like this, but when I woke up today and looked at him, he was. Is there something wrong?
Yes, that’s a sign of irritation. Even with daily water changes though, it will be hard to keep the water quality good in that space, likely that’s what his behavior is telling you. You may not want to be feeding anything while he is acting abnormal.
Thank you! I think that is a good decision. My for the past 2 days, he is not been passing any stool. Even with my weak filter, there should be some left, but from what I have observed, there is none.
So what do you do if your fish enjoys rubbing against your finger? I mean is it dangerous to let your goldfish do that? Or is it a sign that your goldfish really. likes you?
No, it’s not dangerous if they are the one rubbing. If you are rubbing the fish though, that could be damaging the slime coat. It might be that the fish is begging for food 🙂
Thanks I was worried that it was causing damage if it rubbed against me. Now that I know it won’t makes me feel better about it. And my fish does like to eat alot I feed it only twice a day and I don’t think it likes that routine.
Yeah check out our feeding article, would be my suggestion 🙂
I wanted to take a moment to say JOB WELL DONE!!
I entered the world of goldfish after having marine set ups for years, so goldfish
Have been a very zen experience.
Although I’m more then fluent in the world of fish I am always reading and learning
New methods and updating my knowledge of fish science.
I came across your page by chance and have to say this is without doubt one of
The best “guide to goldfish”.
Thank you for taking the time, failure with goldfish can drive people away from this
Interesting and wonderful hobby.
I did want to add that I think people should know the history and origins of these
Highly respected creatures. I don’t think people understand that all goldfish stem
From the same parentage or how many years of breeding it took to create fancies.
One last interesting fact is how many breeds have ended up extinct due to important
Moments in human history.
Thanks for your kind words, Jordan! Definitely will take your thoughts on educating about history into consideration for future articles 🙂 Would you care to elaborate on the relation between extinct breeds and human history?
Hi…this is a great site….I read most of the questions and answers above. And now I have these to ask you……I’ve had one ordinary goldfish for 5 years and he’s been happy most of the time. Currently he has 3 or 4 red spots so we’re doing 50% water changes twice a week. He’s also sitting at the bottom of the tank….that’s new. Questions: you don’t like gravel…so if we removed it, what do you recommend? If we replace the silk plants with live plants that he can eat, don’t those plants have to be set in sand? If yes, how in heaven’s name do we clean sand? We have a filter that hangs over the top edge. Up until now we have rinsed the permanent filter in old water and replaced the carbon filter about twice a month. Is that OK? We vacuum the gravel about twice a month. Should we do it more often? We have always added salt. Should we continue doing so? Did I read correctly that the good bacteria is on the filter unit? The unit always feels slimy. Is that the way it’s supposed to feel? When we clean the tank, gravel and plants, we always rinse the entire filter unit in old water. Hope you can answer my questions and correct whatever we’re doing wrong. When Fishy is about 7″ long. We’re looking to place him in a pond if we can find one somewhere. We’re getting too old to take care of him much longer. Thanking you in advance. Natalie
Thanks Natalie 🙂
To answer your questions…
Bare bottom.
Depends on the plant, but many plants just need to be tied down or you could set them in small glass jars.
Your filter change schedule is probably a big part of the problem. They need to be cleaned at least with every water change.
Gravel has to be vacuumed at least every water change, preferably more, and preferrably no gravel.
No don’t add salt. Salt will stress him.
Yes good bacteria grows on surfaces in the filter unit, but mostly on the filter media you provide. Slime is normal.
Hope that helps 🙂
Pure Goldfish….thank you so much for responding.Once we remove the gravel, how should we clean the bottom of the tank….vacuum? scrape? wipe with soft cloth? Replace carbon filter twice a week? Your last line above…bacteria grows on the filter media. What is filter “media”? Will those red spots go away?
Sure 🙂 Vacuum is best. It sounds like you don’t have any filter media, which is a permanent surface for the beneficial bacteria to grow on like a sponge. You can replace the carbon filter weekly but I would also put some media in there. With good water quality the spots will heal.
Heyah! I have this problem with my black demekins every mornings. Everyday I woke up and turn on the aquarium lights they’re all like half black and half white??? … But later they’ll return to normal… Will it be bad for their health? And how do I prevent this?
Hey 🙂 Typically goldfish will lose color when they sleep. It’s normal, not really much you can do. Black is a very unstable color and it may end up changing to more panda color as time goes on.
Hello! Your site is soooo helpful 😀 but I wanted to ask… How do you avoid cloudy water in the first place? Because I saw our neighbors aquarium always so cloudy O.O … And I also plan to buy a tank soon and I don’t want that to happen… Any advise?
I just found your comment buried in with the others, Lousia, sorry for the delay in response! Avoiding cloudy water is as simple as keeping the tank water changed on a regular basis. Water clouds when it isn’t changed often enough or too much food is being dumped in.
Hi, I’m Tim and I have used your website and I have had a lot of success in keeping goldfish. I think I have a problem though in my one 30 gallon tank, with two larger goldfish which we have had for about a year. They are great; they swim to the edge of the tank to greet us and they can be somewhat hand fed. Very tame fish. We feed them 2 or 3 pellets every other day, sometimes go longer without feeding. The tank is cleaned with 50% to 80% water every other week. The filter is changed every month, and it’s a good filter. However our female has recently filled with eggs. I believe it has been 5 days since we have noticed she has eggs. At first she was fine and we have noticed normal feeding behavior, so on the third day I added a breeding mop. They were interested in the mop at first, and the female started hiding at the bottom of a stone arch and just staying there. We fed her one pellet after that for two days then stopped feeding her because she would just stay there which we were told by our vet friend can be normal behavior. However, today we noticed she was on her side at the bottom of the tank and wouldn’t come up like she usually does when I pass by the tank to say hi (they’re friendly). Her behavior did not change and stayed at the bottom on her side for a few hours so I transferred her to our medical tank (we had it ready for the eggs or any baby fish that spawned from her eggs). Unfortunately I believe the eggs may either be impacted or she has dropsy, in which case I will not hesitate to euthanize her as she will probably not recover from it. If you have any advice I will gladly listen.
Glad the site is proving helpful to you, Tim. Egg binding is rare and I wouldn’t suspect that to be the cause without eliminating the possibilities of water problems. I’m concerned about your filter schedule; if you have carbon cartridges, those don’t last longer than 7 days or so, which means you only get about 1/4 of active filtration you need each month. If she is on her side, that is probably a sign she isn’t going to recover and sadly I think euthanasia is the best choice… but of course, only you as the owner know when it’s time.
Please help!!! My Comet is Floating near the filter and isnt eating at all, its very close to the filter, i can see that its ill, my other comet is perfectly fine. Im worried please help me out!
I am feeding Flakes and I have somewhere around a 5 gallon tank to 10 gallons, It is still breathing/etc I hope i can fix this easily!
It sounds like you have an overcrowding issue, Karuko. For now you should change the water and clean filters, but the long-term fix will involve upgrading to a larger tank.
I just brought 3 gold fish and I put it in a large plastic container is that OK for the gold fish to live in. Also my sister brought a. 3 gold fish and put them in a small glass bowl is it bad? Also my other sister brought 7 fish and put them in a large glass bowl would
they die quickly?
Hey danno! How big is your plastic container? Is it a tub? As for bowls… yes, they kill goldfish faster than just about anything I know. Goldies need proper tanks to do well, 10 gallons per fancy (double tail) with filtration and frequent water changes.
Hi, so I’ve had an oranda gold fish for about 2 months in a 20 gallon tank. About 2 weeks ago, I bought another oranda and they seemed fine together. And just the other day, I bought another. Not even 20 minutes of having the new fish in the tank, the oranda I bought two weeks ago started showing signs of sickness. She was laying at the bottom of the tank and not moving at all.. Only swap up to eat but only ate a little. I also noticed white spots on her wren. I immediately took the new fish out of the tank and put him in a separate one.. It’s been about 4 hours now and my 2 week fish is still showing signs. What should I do?
My first oranda is doing just fine though btw
Hi Claudia, did you happen to introduce any water from the bag into the tank? I’m thinking your water has ammonia.
I recently got fish. I got 2, they were different species but from the same tank. Before I found out about your website from a friend, it was too late. One of my fish had been gulping air for 2 days, and then she tipped over a lot and died the next day. My other fish then spent about a week and a half on its own before I got a new fish today. Its a different species to the other fish. Different to the one that died as well. I got a hew fish from a different store, and I floated the bag for ten minutes like they said at the pet shop before putting the fish straight into the tank. I also cleaned the water then. I didn’t know you were supposed to clean it weekly, so this is the first time I replaced the water (about 50%). My older fish seems to want to go up to the new fish, but when he does, the new fish chases him around the tank for about max 10seconds. He keeps going back, so he obviously isn’t getting hurt, but I’m worried they aren’t getting along very well and I might have to, well, give one back. I really don’t want to! ?. What should I do? Also, sometimes when they go up to gulp air or just go to the top, they will float complete vertical up. Should I be worried? They are the same size, just one is a think called a black moor and the other I’m not sure. It is white with orange and black spots.
Thanks,
Laura
If your fish are having aggression issues, I think it would be best to give one back as hard as that would be. Goldfish really should only be kept with other goldfish. As far as gulping air goes, that is usually a sign of an ammonia problem.
Thanks, my fish have calmed down now, I think they were just getting to know each other. My black moor has been flapping his fins, but he hasn’t really swum around that much. Is there anything wrong or is it usual when they are new?
Thanks
Laura
It is possible that things aren’t right in the tank, it could be anything from your stocking situation to how long the tank has been set up… more details would help 🙂
wat water i should use ? and food?
Tap water treated with chlorine remover is fine in most cases, but it depends on your water source. For food, you can check out our feeding article for advice 🙂
I have two comet gold fish I just got them about two weeks ago and they where doing just fine until they started going to the top of my 3.5 gallon tank to get more oxygen there are lots of bubbles at the top. The worst thing is, is that they are starting to get small black spots on them. I don’t know if its the filter, but every fish I got has not lived past 6 months what do I do.
Your fish are getting ammonia poisoning, Lia, so you will need to change the water every day until you can get a bigger tank and do not feed.
also I’m a teen on a small budget because I have spent a lot on my two 25 cent petsmart goldfish.
To save money, you can consider a plastic tub or bin or anything fish safe (be creative) for a suitable living space.
How big does the bin or tank have to be and what type of filter.
For 2 single tail goldfish, those actually get enormous. They need 40 gallons apiece. For filtration, it depends on your water change schedule and there are many options that all have pros and cons. Slim bodied goldfish can tolerate strong current, so you can have a more powerful one.
Hi, i think my goldfish has a mild case of Ich. He doesn’t seem uncomfortable, he’s behaviour is normal, he’s not flashing or anything. Tho he’s got white spots all over him, but not so many in total. They are not exactly what everyone describe on internet, they don’t look exactly like salt grains: they are not bleach-white and they seem a bit fluffy, not coarse.
My problem is i don’t have a heater nor the money to buy one now to give them the heat-treatment but i’ve been reading it’s possible to clear out with only salt so i’ve been doing that for a few days now, didn’t keep count but i assume i’m on my 6th day today. I took out all decoration i had in the tank and part of the gravel too. Now i disturb the gravel every time i change the water as i read part of the ich protozoan’s cycle is in the gravel. I did big daily water changes, almost full water change, then half, then once every two days i do a half, and always disturb the gravel.
I do have the medicine for Ich but i’m an “all natural” type of person. I wanted to ask if you think this is working or should i use the medicine? the spots on his body have been getting worse since i started treatment which i know is a sign of it working, but they’ve been staying that way now for a while.
Thanks!
I’m with you, Hanna, and wouldn’t use the medicine. Chances are it will make things worse, because ich is a sign that something isn’t right with the tank itself. I would take all the gravel out, change the water 90% daily and focus on clean water.
Hi! I have a 350 L pond (approx 92 gallons). I had two standard goldfish and one day (about a week ago) the water went cloudy and stunk (it seemed to happen overnight) and one of the fish died. I went into emergency mode; removing the dead fish, pulling out any excess/dead plant matter, and changing most of the water.
The colour of the water has cleared and I have tested the chemicals (nitrates/ph etc) which are all within expected levels. I have been changing the water (approx 50-60% at a time) daily since the issue.
Today I bought some more fish so we now have 4 goldfish total (2 standard goldfish, one nymph, and 1 shubunkin) one is an adult and the other three are the new young ones. As soon as I put them in the pond, they all started gulping at the surface.
The chemicals are still at the right levels (I just retested) and I’ve been changing the water over daily.
I do not have a filtration set up on the pond – which has worked fine for the last 4 years – it’s only been the last week we’ve had issues.I do not have the means to set up a filtration set up for the location of the pond – are there other ways to aerate the water?
Thank you so much in advance for any comments/suggestions.
Without filtration, the stocking capacity goes down, and the need for larger water changes goes up. Aeration can be accomplished through water changes, air pumps/filters or water fixtures, but plants can help to release oxygen into the water and absorb excess nitrates.
Hello, Pure Goldfish! I have 2 Small Comets in a 5 to 6 gallon tank , Also with 3 Baby Fish which are perfectly fine, I bought the Comets before the 3 baby fish, Anyway, One of my Small Comets are Staying very close to the filter, at the top, the other is surfacing and swimming around the top alot, (They both start eating the surface of the water, < What it looks like) They stay near the air pump bubbles flowing around the surface of the water, I can see alot of oxygen flowing through the water, I can see their gills moving normally (I think that means that they are breathing) I never cleaned the gravel before and I've only started cleaning the gravel recently, I clean the whole tank Weekly or in 5 days, I do not have a test kit, very expensive in my area, I added some ammonia remover as instructed just incase, recently aswell. The main problem is that my 2 Small Comets are Surfacing quite alot (They do go down once in a while to swim around the bottom, They normally go inside one of the decorations I've set, its an effiel tower with a hole in the bottom where it is very dark) and they almost look like they are gasping or eating the surface.
Thank you very much.
Hi 🙂 Your issue definitely has to do with the size of the tank you are keeping that many fish in. 5 to 6 gallons sadly isn’t enough water volume for the waste load even one goldfish produces. The ammonia remover will not help you in the case of toxic bacteria buildup, which is likely happening. You will need to get a larger tank, but until then you can change the water every day.
Hi,
I clean my tank at least twice a week, and my fish has recently been gulping for air. Also, 3 times i have noticed ‘poo’ dangling. I have taken it out each time and think that it might be because he eats too much of the food i put out for my 2 fish. Is there something i can do to stop it? He my favourite and I’m stuck on what to do!
Help and thanks in advanced
Laura
By the way, the fish that died, did the same thing, gulped air in that area and also he had ‘poo’.
It very well could be overfeeding. Have you checked out our article on the subject?
My small comet has a white patch on its skin its like 1 little extra layer of skin as a patch, its white and I think its Body Fungus but im not sure, help me out in anyway please! If you know what this is, Pure Goldfish can you give me the causes of it? Our other comet had the same thing, we had to humanely euthanize it because it was heavily breathing and not moving on the gravel, Please help! What is thiis white patch!?
Photos: http://imgur.com/lcARfYH
http://imgur.com/EKgC1k6
http://imgur.com/3C84qD1
http://imgur.com/goYPSTH
To me, it looks like a fungal infection. Those are caused by prolonged exposure to poor water quality.
Hi, I’m hoping you can help me out. One of my goldfishes is repeatedly gasping for air, I don’t know what else i can do to help. I changed 20% of the water as I do on a regular basis, I also checked the ammonia and pH both are a-okay. I don’t have a nitrate kit so perhaps that’s worthwhile. But do you have any other suggestions? Does my filter positioning have anything to do with it..
How big is your tank? What kind of filter do you have and how often are you cleaning it and the tank?
Hi there,
I made the huge mistake of putting my goldfish into a 40 gallon tank without cycling it first. The next morning, I woke up and found that 3 of the 5 fish were dead. Their gills looked normal. I tested the water for ammonia levels and it basically at 0! I can’t figure out what killed my beauties. The pH was around 7.3, temp was around 72. I used well water in the tank. Also, the fish were put in the tank gradually. Any ideas what caused this?
It’s probably one of two things. Possibly the way the fish were introduced into the tank caused water from the bag to contaminate the tank. This is very common. But it is also likely that there was a large ammonia spike which fell before testing, as the parameters in an uncycled tank will rise and fall suddenly.
I would like to know how to help my fish. One of my goldfish is sleeping all the time abd is just floating at the top of the water shes not doing the as if she needs air so what is wrong with her?
Can you provide some more details about your setup, Natalie? Such as, how many fish, what size tank, diet and water change schedule? Thanks!
i have recently got 2 gold fish and bought a small tank as i was told by the people from the fish store that they would be fine in a small tank and they where doing fine until recently i noticed they are both swimming t the top of the tank but i jst cleaned their tank yesterday and i was wondering should i be worried. i dont have a filter or anything like that i just pills i put for oxygen twice a week. i am really worried they are going to die and if its over feeding i am not sure how much i should be putting in there
Check out our feeding article as to how much you should feed, and be sure to focus on keeping their water changed as often as you can.
I have had my fish tank for 8 years and never had any issues. I have a 30 gallon tank with goldfish. I had 3 gold fish. One is 7 inches, the second is 5 inches and the last was 2.5 inches. I only had a filter and some decorations in my tank. I do 25% water changes monthly and I always rinse out the filter machine when I do the water change as there is always so much sludge. In 8 years I have never tested my water for anything but ammonia as the pet store 8 years ago said it wasn’t needed as long as I did my water changes. 2 weeks ago I noticed black climbing up the glass of the tank and the baby goldfish appeared to have white specks. I went to pet store and bought ICK and treated my tank. The guy in the pet store told me I really should have a air stone in a gold fish tank so I purchased one. The baby looked a little better a few days later but WOW did she ever look pregnant. Then her scales started to look funny and by the time I caught it I realized the baby had dropsy. I went to the store and the pet store gave me Mircolife Artemiss to treat my tank. I used this but boy did it cloud my tank. I did a 25% water change, my baby died and my other two large goldfish appear to be fine with the exception that the largest goldfish is now losing scales. I went back to the pet store and bought a water test kit. The nitrates was 0 and the ammonia was ideal. The pet store did not have a PH test so I dont know that. My tank is not near a window or heater, I threw all decorations out so the only thing in the tank is filter tube, and airstone. Airstone is now turning orange. I only fed my fish 1x a day and only a pinch. I have bought flakes, pellets and dried shrimp. My fish as soon as I put the shrimp in tank they swmin to the very bottom and wont touch the dried shrimp.. I have tried cuccumber in the tank and they act like they are scared of that to. Any suggestions on the black, why my fish is losing scales. Thanks for your time.
The black could be a form of algae growth. The missing scales are an indication of severe water contamination. 25% monthly is not sufficient for goldfish and the filters have to be cleaned as often as possible, or bad bacteria gets out of control, and the fish’s immune system being very weak will come down with all manner of problems.
BTW the goldfish I purchased when they were just babies and they are now 8 years old. Could age be a factor?
Nope, 8 is young for a goldie 😉
1 fish per 5 to 6 gallons. When you feed flakes that float, gold fish sometimes thinks there might be food and skim the top of the water which makes it look like it’s gulping air. So pellets could be better. Another option is to make sure you add good aerators (bubble makers) if truly gulping for air is a problem. Also there’s no such thing as too much filtration. I use a 300-400 gallon filter (fluval fx6) on a 60 gallon tank. Not to mention it has additional two marineland bio filters with 4 bio wheels. It will save a lot of headache in the future. If you forget cleaning, or busy or go on vacation , whatever it gives you good room to work with.
And surely don’t ever mix and match anything with goldfish and also algae eaters create more problem for the fish although they make the tank look nice. I tried about 4 different varieties and once the algae eaters get big , they will almost always stick on the goldfish at night or when they’re resting (it’s hard to detect sometimes) and suck the living slime out of them and causing infection and redness and wounds on the body. So finally no more algae eaters. Maybe suggested snails might be an option.
I don’t know how much I agree with 90% water change every week. If you don’t have a professional high capacity filtration system then maybe.
Once your tank is cycled ammonia is never a problem if you’ve good bio filters and décor and other rocks etc,. where good bacteria can grow. It’s the nitrates after.
And it’s better to feed them lettuce, oranges, peas and stuff on and off few times a week. Occasionally I also add a vitamin boost to the water.
I have a common goldfish that I got 2 days ago. He is always hiding under my plant and used to go up to the top and get air (he doesn’t do that anymore). I’m not always home because of school. So I was wondering what is happening. Also he is on the other side of my room and not close to the window. Is he getting enough light? BTW Great article!! It has helped me a lot!!?
He is also trying to eat the water
What size tank is your fish in, Dito? If you didn’t cycle it ahead of time, likely that is the problem.
It is a 12 x 6 x 8 inch tank
Yeah that’s too small of a tank for one goldfish, and since it’s not cycled you will need to do daily water changes.
How big does the tank need to be? And could I keep him in the tank I have until I get a new tank and cycle it?
For a slim-bodied goldfish? 40 gallons minimum. Ponds are ideal. Yes, you could, with daily water changes, but it will require careful monitoring.
Do I need to do daily changes if I have a carbon filter?
Absolutely.
Hi Pure Goldfish – I would like some advice if you could please help. I am paying the consequences of an in-fish cycle for my new tank. after the first day my very young goldfish had an ammonia burn so I did a 70% water change twice the following day. After the first water change he seemed fine. After the second WC however – he keeps gasping for air constantly and I am worried. I treated every bucket of water (from the tap) with Tetra AquaSafe which eliminates chlorine, chloramine, and other hard metals as well a protective coating on the fish.
The tank also has the venturi on so there are enough bubbles on the surface for oxygen. I really do not know why he keeps gasping for air. Could it be that the water I put the second time may have been a slightly warmer temperature and is affecting him?
Hey 🙂 Most likely the ammonia levels are still surging and falling sporadically. You will want to be doing daily 70% water changes until the tank is cycled.
i have a goldfish that lies in the bottom of my tank and seems that it has problems getting up hes still alive because sometimes he tries to get up and eat i separated him from the my other fishes so he can have more space and be able to eat i dont know what else to do can you please help me i dont want him to die
Hey Maria, have you tried testing the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? How big is your tank, and what is your water change schedule like?
Hey Pure Goldfish, my three goldfishes are half a year old, and lately two of them have been lying at the bottom of the tank with their fins tucked in. Only one of them is eating and the other one isn’t. I only change half of the water once a week, and sometimes even once in two weeks. Straight after changing the water I filter it.both are opening and closing their mouths none stop. I only feed flakes and nothing else. Do you know what’s happening? I would appreciate it if you could answer quickly, as I don’t want them to suffer.
What size is the tank? Weekly water changes are mandatory… the clamped fins indicate irritation from a water problem.
I’m sort of worried about my 2 goldfish, my dad bought them 3 weeks ago and had been caring for them until yesterday when we moved them to my room, but they both seem to be hanging around the filter at the back of the tank a lot and not really moving from that spot, could this be anything to do with the water? About three days before we bought the fish we filled the tank with tap water and I think my dad has only cleaned the tank once so far, is there something better I should be doing? Also how do I properly clean the tank? I’ve searched but can only find instructions on how to clean and set up some sort of tank kit.
If you’ve only cleaned the tank once there is no question about it, your fish are in bad water. What you can do is use a siphon to remove 75% of the water and refill it with treated tap water. If you have gravel you would siphon that part. You can swish and dump the filter/filter media out in the old tank water.
Instead of treated tap water, is it true that I can put normal tap water in the tank (without the fish in it) and leave it to filter over night before putting them back in it? Because I don’t have anything to treat the water with and no money to buy any with
I wouldn’t do it that way, I would let the water sit out in a tub overnight rather than moving the fish out overnight. 🙂
My daughter won 4 goldfish at the carnival. One has died so we’re down to 3. We bought a 3 gallon tank and have it running with filter and treated to clean water. We haven’t put the fish in because in the instructions it says to let it filtrate for 24 hours. we’ve got about 10 more hours to go. In the mean time the three goldfish are still in the same container we brought them home in. Im afraid they are going to die in the small amount of water they’ve been in since yesterday. Any suggestions as to what I can do to keep them from dying? Please help asap. I’ve been looking online, but I can’t find any answers.
The more space they have, the less chance there will be of them dying. But, the bad news is that moving them from the small amount of water they are in to a 3 gallon tank is probably not going to help them all that much, because the water volume is far smaller than what is suitable for goldfish (it is recommended to have at least 10 gallons per fancy fish). They produce a lot of waste and it will quickly foul up even with a filter if there isn’t enough water volume to dilute it until you can change the water. I’d advise putting them in the 3 gallon right away, until you can get them a more suitable home. 24 hours won’t do anything to make the tank safe for goldfish, it takes weeks for it to “cycle” and that itself is a process. Since you already have the fish you will need to do water changes of at least 90% daily, preferably twice daily, and feed very very sparingly. Hope that helps 🙂
I have four 1 1/2 inch goldfish that I took in from school after a goldfish experiment. I set them up in a 5 gallon tank (it was the only we could afford since I’m going to college soon) but the water was clear last night when I moved them in, but my parents are being a liiiittle stingy with what we buy for them and I’m gonna have to go and buy nitrate and ammonia testers, but I don’t know what exactly to look for. The water is cloudy and all the air bubbles I saw last night on the sides of the aquarium last night are gone now. Any advice on that?
You don’t have to have a test kit, it is better to invest in a larger tank size because the water quality in that size of tank with that many fish will perpetually be bad, sadly :/ Even a Tupperware tub can be a great place to keep them (for 4 fancies you will want at least 40 gallons) on a budget.
Euhm, not sure you are right about cleaning ALL the water. You need bacteria in your water to break off the nitrites and turn it into nitrates. this bacteria is NEEDED and is also in your FILTER.
There is a reason you need to wait more than 3 weeks before you put any fish in your aquarium, so that there are enough bacteria in your water and there isn’t going to be a nitrite peak = poison for fish. I have a 70L aquarium and clean the water only about 25L. my fish are perfectly fine and do not die.
Hi Greenday1 😀 Bacteria themselves do not live in water, they live on surfaces in the tank (mainly the filter). You are absolutely right about waiting several weeks to get that colony going though. Nitrite is super deadly.
Hey there!
My younger brother recently brought home two goldfish from school. We had no food or a proper tank at first so one died overnight before I could get what it needed. The one goldfish that survived seemed to be thriving in the new 10 gall tank for a couple days. (The water had been conditioned but the filter had only been running for a day before he was plopped in the new tank) But just the other day the fish seemed to slow down and mainly hang out in a corner. Also his poop is all of a sudden clear and long/stringy and not breaking away from his bum. He is only eating flakes atm, will try something else soon and add in some greens to the diet. But in the meantime it seems he has been suffering from new tank syndrome and it looks like I need to do a water change asap. I have a question about doing this. After I siphon the water out can I just add tap water from the bath tub and then condition it while the fish is in the tank? Or do I fill a bucket with tap water, condition it, leave it over night, then add to the tank? And the filter has only been running for a week, is it too early to change the cartridge or do you think it’s necessary? Any advice helps, thanks
Yes, you can condition the water in the tank with the fish, as long as you put the conditioner in first. No need to leave overnight if you have conditioner but the bucket method is fine too. It’s not too early for the carbon as it doesn’t last more than 7 days.
Hi,
Please help! My son has been asking for a goldfish for ages and I’ve decided to buy him some. I bought a tank (125L) which is a used one as I couldn’t afford a new one of such capacity. To begin with, how many comet gold fishes can I put in the tank? Do I need to recycle the used tank before putting the fishes into them? What do Ineed to do before putting them in there to ensure their safety and wellbeing? You can email me your response please if you don’t mind. Thanks in advance
Even one comet would be pushing it. Fancies would probably be better suited for a tank of that size. And yes, you do need to cycle the tank beforehand. A cycled tank is crucial if you don’t want to do daily water changes.
Hi,
We have a 53 gallon tank established about two months ago with one 2 inch oranda. 10 days ago we added two new four inch orandas, including a little guy we’re calling Tonton. Tonton is struggling.
On day 1 we put him into the new tank he started insistently playing at the surface and around the airstone. On day 3 we got him we noticed he floats belly up to the surface of the water when he goes to sleep. We immediately got the water tested (it was normal, water change not recommended), started feeding him peas (he poops just fine) but on day 8 this still isn’t resolved, so we give him a salt water bath (1 tbsp water in a bucket). On day 9 this is still happening the aquarium store recommend we stop feeding and suggest he “might be on his way out”, which is devastating because we’re attached to the fish and have literally tried everything we can. After we come back from the aquarium store he’s still insistently playing at the surface all day. Today is day 10. He floats at the bottom of the tank and doesn’t have much energy..
We’ve had the water tested twice, including yesterday(ammonia and nitrite =0, nitrate =10, kh=4, gh=6). Our cycle was complete before we added Tonton, we changed 10% of water on day 8. The two other fish are fine. Prior to stopping feeding on day 9 Tonton’s appetite and energy were good and he was always a good position in the water column when he was awake. All the fish get sinking Spectrum and for the last week additionally get green peas. The two other fish still both appear to be in really good health. The aquarium is bare bottom, has one live plant (we added a capful of leaf zone to the water on day 3 before we knew he was sick), and several boulders for the fish to hide in and behind. We have a water heater (currently 67f), an external Eheim water pump intake at one end of the tank and a the filter outlet and airstone at the other end of the tank.
Can you think of anything to help Tonton? We live in a small town and the only local aquarium store has given up on us, we can’t find anyone else with Orandas to ask for advice. We feel absolutely awful!
Try fasting Tonton and doing daily 50% water changes. It may be his bowels are overloaded.
Hi! I have some trouble with my goldfish, as you can probably understand since I’m writing to you. Anyway, my goldfish have been in my tank for over a month and things have been going okay, not the best though. I have to orandas in a 27 gallon tank and one of them has some problem. I first noticed he had weird swimming patterns but that went away in about two days, next thing happened recently. The same fishes hood or wen appeared to have been almost shrunken, he had also got some white spots in his wen, most likely growing spots since he didn’t have any white spots on the rest of his body (ich). I changed the water every day in abound three day period and he started to look better, he now has the same problem and is also bottom sitting. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I change water every fourth day(60%) and I use water conditioner of course, the thing I think I’m doing wrong is feeding them to much and maybe I don’t varie my food to much, although I think my pet store lied to me about cycling as well since they told me to add some bacteria from a bottle and wait for a week before buying a fish which I now know is wrong. So I changed the water in my tank once more for two days but no change, I really need help so please reply, I have searched around the whole internet for a similar case but I haven’t been successful.
Sincerely Daniel
The pet store definitely gave you wrong advice, Daniel. Bacteria in a bottle is not going to cycle the tank. It’s a different kind than the bacteria that goldfish need to cycle the tank anyway. Keep changing the water daily and cleaning the filter often. Also, if you think you are overfeeding be sure to take a look at our feeding article for more instructions on that if you haven’t already 🙂
Hi, I’m a new fish owner, just bought the fish today!
I bought two little goldfish, one is a black moor and the other is a gold and silver one, and I don’t remember the type, I’m sorry!
I let my tank cycle for three days as advised by the pet shop I purchased both the tank and the fish from. My tank is a 23l and the fish themselves are both tiny.
I was wondering if you could give me some advice as I am most definitely a newbie and would love my fishies to live a long and happy life!
My main questions are:
How often/much do you feed them? I bought flakes and blood worms at the advice of the pet shop. I figured I would feed them one pinch of flakes a day and the blood worms once a week? Is this ok?
I also purchased a syphon. How often do you use this? Does this also suck up water? Is this how you go about doing these water changes too? If not, how do I do that? Do I use a jug and take out old water and put new water in?
I bought a magnet cleaner thing, which in hindsight looks a bit rubbish really. If it’s useful, how often should I clean the sides of the tank with it?
I’m a bit worried about the little silver and gold fish at the minute. It seems to have little “holes” in its top fin along its back. It doesn’t seem to be affecting the way it swims, and it seems fine, but what does that mean? Again, I’ve only just bought these today. Also, the same fish keeps going up to the surface and gasping, but I actually think now that maybe it’s only when I go over to the tank, like it’s waiting to be fed! When I sit next to the tank or move away, the fish doesn’t do it. Maybe it’s just gotten used to the people in the pet shop only coming over to feed them?
Any other advice you can give to this first time fish owner would be greatly appreciated. I love all animals, big or small, so definitely would not like to lose them!!
Thanks a bunch!!
Hi Janey! Well, the pet store gave you bad advice. 3 days isn’t nearly enough time to cycle the tank. That is a process that takes several weeks. That means your fish are experiencing New Tank Syndrome (gasping and holes in fins are two signs of that). Also, 23 l isn’t enough for 2 goldfish sadly 🙁 They need at least 40 l per fish or they will foul up their space too quickly. Siphons should be used weekly for established tanks, daily for new tanks. It does suck up the water, you want to remove at least half and then replace it with clean treated water. Hope that helps 🙂
Hi I have a comit goldfish in my tank along with 4 shrimp and a snail . My filter has stopped working and I am wondering if my fish will be ok with out It . And if so for how long
Depends on how big the tank is, Bethany, but for probably not longer than 24 hours you should be okay… unless you do water changes, that will get you along further.
Thank you for replying so quickly, I will do regular water changes and get a new filter as soon as possible. Thank you for your help and the tips .
Oh and will the shrimp and snail be ok without the filter . If so for how long ?
I would say about the same time as the goldfish, maybe a little longer even.
Hi there! Not a first-time fish-owner but this is definitely my first go as a much more educated fish-owner. Kind of stuck in a strange position here, wondering what I should do!
I just inherited a goldfish, very abruptly and with very little warning. A very pretty white comet named Rosie. The well-intentioned but misinformed college student who gave her to me has been keeping her in a sparse glass bowl with a handful of rocks in the bottom. *sigh* Obviously I know enough to know that this is not right at all, so I have bought a suitable sized tank for the immediate future (10g) until I can afford a bigger one, and it is all set up and currently cycling as per all the advice I have found on the Internet. The thing is, Rosie is still in the bowl she came in, and I hate seeing her obvious boredom and discomfort while the beautiful tank merrily cycles away. But since it’s been a long, long time since I had fish, I don’t have another tank to use as an interim home.
Should I keep Rosie in the bowl while the tank cycles, or is there something else you can recommend as a better container? If the glass bowl is the best option, what can I do to minimize her discomfort while we play the waiting game? And lastly, how can I speed up the cycling process? The saddest thing I can think of is if this beautiful fish passes before she can experience a happier home. 🙁
Please help, oh Goldfish Guru!
Rosie must get out of the bowl asap. A Tupperware container or anything really that is fish safe would be a much better holding tank until your other one is cycled, preferably with lots of space and minimal feeding and lots of water changes. Then, when the tank is done cycling you can put her in there 😉 Hope that helps!
Thank you for confirming that! Watching her is breaking my heart.
What other household containers are fish-safe? Is plastic generally okay in the short term? I have a clamshell underbed container that isn’t very tall but is quite broad…she would definitely have space to move.
UPDATE: I acted fast, transferred Rosie to the plastic container (after doing a little research on fish-safe plastic…hooray for Google!) which has a lid I can prop open and it’s even translucent, so she can observe and be observed fairly easily. I’ve got at least 3 gallons of water in there. I’ve never seen a look of wonderment on a fish’s face before, but she seems pleasantly surprised by how big the world is, all of a sudden! 😀 As I write this she is exploring her new boundaries, cautiously at first but now she’s flicking her tail and doing the goldfish dance.
Suddenly the wait for good bacteria to grow doesn’t feel so daunting and worrying. Thank you for your help!!
Aww that’s so sweet 🙂 Rosie sounds like she has quite the personality. Just keep it super clean while you wait 😉
Previously you had told me to put a sponge into the tank. Did you mean a manmade sponge or one that was live at one time?
Also, is water from a dehumidifier good to use in the tank?
Manmade sponge 🙂
No, don’t use dehumidifier water. It can contain lead & other metals from the parts, not safe even to drink.
Hi, I just got a new Gold fish named Diego. Before I got him I filled my half a gallon bowl with water and let it sit for two or three days. I was wondering if that was enough water for him? Also I got some food from my neighbor for Diego. The food she gave me was for large fish but Diego is only an inch long, and is “thin”. So I just tried the food today and he won’t eat it.? I only gave him a pebble since it expands in water. He still hasn’t eaten it. He also is now staying still at the bottom of the tank but when I go up to him he swims away. He also spends time at the surface suking air, is he suffocating?!!!!? I just worry about him because even though he is a 28 cent Walmart fantail gold fish, I still love him. Can you tell me how to PROPERLY take care of him? Thanks.?
Hey Sharona! 🙂 1/2 gallon isn’t enough for goldies. If Diego is a slim-bodied goldfish (I’m assuming he is from your comment) then he should really have at least a 40 gallon tank to himself. That is because he will likely grow to be over 12 inches plus and need the space, as well as the clean water.
If he isn’t eating though, that likely indicates a problem (also the surface gulping). This is probably because the bowl is becoming quickly polluted with his waste & uneaten food, as well as ammonia produced through his gills. If you could get him into a bigger space (even a Tupperware container) that would be great. He will need lots of water changes and don’t feed if he isn’t eating.
hi. why this article say different things about the feading?:
http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-aquariums/fish-food/feeding-koi-and-goldfish.aspx
Thanks for showing me that link, gil, this is causing me to do some more research to get to the bottom of things 🙂 Will let you know when I have some conclusive answers.
Hi!!! It’s me again, I got a 40 gallon tank for my 5 fishes, sadly 1 died from a birth defect 🙁 But I have 4 now 2 Fantails 2 normal ones… But 1 of the normal ones are like Growing black stuff on its lips, It’s not stringy, so it’s either maturing (I think) or something is up with ammonia, thanks Pure Goldfish!
Ps when I said Normal fish I meant Comit goldfish ( sorry for not making that clear )
Sounds like ammonia burns, definitely need to take action 🙂
Lol when the goldfish was saying help!
XD
Pls I need help!!! My goldfish is not moving. I just changed the water now and dropped the fish to the bowl. (First of all I have a small bowl). One big and one small. I brought it before 1 month. It didn’t have any problem. I fed 3 times a day. The food was like sticks. I gave 5 sticks each time. And when I changed the water the fishes were ok!! But after 20 minutes the big fish is not moving. It’s like shocked and not breathing. But it is not floating on top of the water like dead fishes. Just staying down.pls help!!! What happened? ????
Sounds like ammonia poisoning to me, Abeth. Bowls quickly grow toxic for goldfish especially with more than one fish in there and being fed 3 times a day.
Have a distraught 10 year old as both shubunkin goldfish have died after only 2 weeks. Purchased tank & fish from petsathome doing only a 3 day tank cycle as told. Think both fish had red bellies. What now? Bit nervous about starting again even though son is upset and wants to replace them – can’t face more trauma. Done 2 water changes in this time. Tank is a spongebob 15 litre with small filter. Any advice greatly received.
You will need 2 things: a tank cycled longer than 3 days (more like 3 weeks, the cycling process doesn’t happen instantly) and a tank larger than 15 litres – that’s not big enough even for one goldfish. I suggest keeping fancy goldfish rather than slim-bodied goldfish as they require less space, if size is an issue. Go for at least a 40 liter tank per fancy. 🙂
Hi my son won 2 goldfish at a fair with their grandparents 4 days ago. I bought a tank but unfortunately did not know about cycling it before hand. It’s been 3 days since we introduced them into the tank but it’s getting cloudy. I’ve read several things all contradictory so I’m not sure of the best action. The water was treated and the tank has a filter. Feeding a pinch of food twice a day. What advice can you give me? Many thanks
Water changes daily and minimal feeding 🙂
Hi there, I had two goldfish that came from a local pet shop, and they’ve been living very well for around 3-2 years. However a couple weeks ago one of them had died and I thought goldfish lasted around 2 years, but seeing the difference between 2 years and 30 years had got me concerned. I was hoping for some advice as after the other fish had died, we bought 2 new ones but after a week one of those died too. It was a small goldfish with small fins. Earlier on this morning though one of my eldest fish had died living for around 3 years, so it was left with the one we bought from the pet shop a couple of weeks ago. We decided to change the water and clean the fish tank properly and it’s around a good size to fit two fish in. We’ve put some stress coat into the fish tank and let the filter run for around an hour while the the goldfish is in the bowel waiting to get back into it’s tank. (Also got new pebbles) I was wondering for advice on how to keep it for 30 years and it’s getting myself quite stressed and of course family too. – Thanks
Hey Harry! Exactly how big is the tank volume, and what was your water change schedule like? That might give us some clues into what went wrong.
You will want to be sure it is enough for the goldfish you have, and you should definitely change the water daily because an hour isn’t enough time to run the tank to prepare it for fish. That’s a process that takes several weeks and it can be pretty tricky.
You said a lot of cool stuff but I still don’t know how do you take care of your Goldfish in steps because I am going to get a fish soon and my friends who already has a fish needs to know what to do with it. I’ve looked on other website has helped me. Please answer me back ASAP I need to know what the answer is before 6pm because that’s when I’m meeting my friend at that time. Thank You
I would definitely check out our care article for more info on that subject 🙂
Hey, I’ve been looking up what’s wrong, it’s either just growing up and changing colors, ( it’s a baby ) it was also from Petco, tons of them were dying from other sicknesses, and I got this 1 and put it in my tank ( because I’m so stupid ) and…… It infected ALL 4 of my fish with ich, it’s cured now but I was wondering, what do you think it is, growing up, or anomia problems ( I spelled that wrong ) and P.S the Black color is only on his Lips and edges of his fins
Hey, I’ve learned that the black stuff could also be a sign of growing ( it’s a baby fish btw ) and it might also be that ALL of the fish from my Petco are sick with something, ( and because I’m so stupid ) I put him in my tank immediately and he infected all my fish with ich, it’s cured but the blackness only affects that 1 fish, do you think it’s just growing or anomia strikes ( I know that’s spelled wrong )
In that case it could be coloring up, if it is just on lips and fins chances are just its markings.
Hello Pure Goldfish, no other website told me this, but how do you tell if your fish was born with black, or if it’s ammonia burns?
If it seems more like distinctive markings that don’t go away, chances are it’s markings 🙂
Hi Pure Goldfish, I just 4 goldish yesterday for my son. After reading your Webpage, I’ve learnt that our pet store has not given me the right advice. Like all others, I don’t want to see the fish die. I’ve been told to clean the aquarium once or twice a month. I know now that I’ve got to do it daily.
Also, if I feed them fish food, can I feed them spinach leaves/lettuce on the same day? Thank you.
Argh, pet stores… >:( Yes, you can feed them the spinach and lettuce at once, though they may not eat it all 🙂
Hello There,
I have 4 gold fish. recently after changing water one of my fish keep floating on top of the surface. I have all 4 fish for more than 3 years now. but one fish keeping coming up after I feed them. Every time I feed them one fish floats sideway on top of the surface and when it tries to go back into the bottom of the tank something pushes her back on top of the surface. I feel like she have air bubble in her tummy. If I don’t give them food for 1 day she starts behaving normal but then again same thing after eating food. any suggestion.
Thanks in advance for your help and saving my little gold fish.
It sounds like swim bladder disorder. Time for a fast on only raw leafy veggies for at least 2 weeks! 🙂
I have 1 fancy goldfish. He was hanging out at the bottom of the tank for a couple days. I did a 100% waterchange and now he’s hanging out at the top. I have a 10 gallon tank, and just one fish. Thanks for the advice
Hi Christine, did you try testing the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH?
Hello,
Surely if you do a full water change or keep changing everyday then that’s not balancing the water correctly? A cycle needs to build up doesn’t it? I change my water every 3 or so days but only 30% and sometimes I do it with bottled water from the supermarket to be safe. My fish has been fine for 2 months but he seems to be obsessed with the bubbles that come out of the tube. It’s a biorb 31 or so gallons, I vacuum the bottom every few days as well and use ammonia remover and there’s only the one gold fish but he seems to be at the top all the time sucking bubbles but I don’t know why?
Any help would be great, thank you
The cycle doesn’t happen in the water itself. It happens on the surfaces of the tank, so water changes do not affect it that way. I would try upping the water changes.
Ahh that makes sense! Okay great thank you I’ll try upping the water changes and see what happens, thanks for the help 🙂
hello, i have a small fantail goldfish (her name is actually Pure Goldfish too!) i wanted to say your article helped A LOT! she was gasping for oxygen at the surface of her tank, and it seemed dirty so i changed the water and she’s already acting much better.
just wanted to ask what is the best way to change water without giving your goldie a shock…i feel bad moving her out of her home?…i like to make sure my water + treatment calculations are right before i put her back in her bowl. also, i can’t afford a tank right now (my parents are convinced goldfish don’t need big areas). are bowls okay if you change them every day? also, would plants that are safe for betas work for goldfish?
Happy to hear she is doing better, Chloe! Daily water changes are really the only way a goldfish can survive in a bowl, and it really should be temporary. Pure Goldfish might eat betta plants, but they will be safe so long as they are washed first in tap water 🙂 You will probably have to take her out to do the water changes, but if you use a cup to scoop her out gently and transfer her to another large container during the mean while that might help with the stress.
Hi!
I’m hoping you can help me!
I have a goldfish who is now 2.5 years old. He has a 5 gallon tank to himself and has been thriving.
I noticed yesterday that his coloring had changed and he is almost becoming translucent. I can see some of his organs from the outside of his body. His behavior seems to be the same except for a tiny bit of gulping at the surface.
I tested his water immediately and it was high in ammonia so I did a 50% water change and at the advice of the employee at the pet store I added an air stone. Now it is reading that his water is very low on the alkalinity scale. Any idea on how I can balance his tank out?
I usually buy gallons of distilled water as I heard this was a safe alternative to treating the water myself.
Also, his tank lives under a window. Recently I purchased black out curtains for the window without thinking it could affect my fish. Do you think this could have something to do with his translucent nature?
This fish has really become a part of our family and I really want him to give him the best care to keep him around for years to come. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much!
-Olivia
Yes, lack of light will cause fish to lose their pigment. But the low alkalinity and high ammonia indicates that more water volume is necessary, I would go for at least a 10 gallon tank if he is a fancy. 🙂
Thanks so much for getting back to me and for your advice, Pure Goldfish!
My fish is doing well and water levels have evened out, his coloring is still a little translucent but I think it is coming around with more sun exposure.
However, my fish has started a new habit of sleeping nose down in the gravel with his tail up. His fins don’t even move. Usually he wedges himself between the plants or inside one of his aquarium decorations to sleep this way. In the past he has always slept in low in the corner while keeping himself afloat. Never nose down in the gravel. I was thinking swim bladder but the rest of his behavior is normal.
Should I be concerned? Any advice on what this might be or how I can treat it?
Thanks so much!
Might be stressed from the water parameter unevenness, I would keep changing the water and try to keep him calm.
Hi,
I just got my black moor (puffy) a few days ago. It’s about and inch long and I’ve placed it in a 2 gallon tank, which I don’t really have a choice due to space constraints. In the tank, there is a filter, and live plants. I test the water daily to make sure that ph, GH/KH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels are appropriate and I do a 15% water change daily with anti-chlorine and bio bacteria added to keep ammonia levels down. I realised that the plant maybe stealing necessary oxygen from the fish since the plant doesn’t really get sunlight, so I got a lamp which will be arriving in a few days time. However, in the meantime, my little one is still gulping for air almost every other minute. Please help. I feel so scared that I might be the cause of it. Please do advise on what else I need to do.
Hi Jeremy, a 2 gallon tank will need daily 100% water changes and that is really only a temporary remedy. The plant isn’t the cause of the fish gulping, the fish’s waste is fouling up the water very quickly. A black moor needs to have at least a 10 gallon tank to live in, less than that and you may need to trade out the moor for a betta in all honesty. Hope that helps.
Hi, Pure Goldfish, I forgot to mention that my black moor is only about an inch long. And my tank is 10L. Wouldn’t changing 100% of the water stops the cycling of the tank?
Even little fish produce a lot of ammonia through their gills. No, the bacteria responsible for cycling don’t live in the water, they live on surfaces in the tank. 🙂
Does the bacteria come in the form of something like a thin layer of clear slime?
It lives in that, yes 🙂
Hi, I really liked your article about goldfish. Kinda funny and can be easily understood.
The problem with my goldfish is that it seems to have not a lot of energy. It is swimming slowly. I have 2 goldfish in a 20 gallon tank, and they are about a week old when they were sold. Only one of my goldfish is swimming slowly, and I’m afraid it might a little sick, or needs water changes. But the other one seems fine, and swims around really fast and observing the tank. Maybe this relates to because I hand feeded the goldfish before I saw it is getting sick? I don’t know, but hopefully you know.
Thank you, Michelle?.
Thank you Michelle! If one looks not normal, I would do a water change. A 20 gallon tank will dirty pretty quickly with 2 fish.
Hi,
I just got 6 little goldfish for my small 250 gallon pond in a nontidal freshwater wetland about a week ago. The pond is teeming with tadpoles who live on the algae – I got the goldfish to eat the mosquito larvae that ballooned and they have done a great job eating all of the mosquito larvae. There were 1000’s in there. Suddenly, this morning they are sucking air from the surface – can I add aquatic plants to improve my ecosystem – I am assuming the algae and the goldfish waste is depleting their oxygen.
Thank you,
Valerie
Sucking might mean the pond water is needing to be changed. I would test the water, paying special attention to nitrates if you are concerned about oxygen.
Ok so I just got 3 goldfish from a fair and I don’t have big tanks! I put one in a normal little bowl and the small ones in a mason jar. Idk what to do and I don’t want them to die, any tips that I can use?! Oh and two are huge but one is tiny. I was thinking of getting a tank anyway but I can’t get it right away. (I am young, I am 12 so…..)
Change all of their water daily and feed sparingly is my advice, until you can get a bigger space for them. They just might make it 😉
Question, why are my goldfish hiding in the cave? (I have a decoration that looks like a dark cave). When feeding time, sometimes it comes out and nibbles the food, they, kinda basically hide the rest of the day!!! What do I do???!!! It’s so rare…..
????p.s by the way, is hand feeding them bad for there health?
Are there bright lights on the tank, Michelle? And no, hand feeding them is fine 😀
This isn’t really a problem, do you need gelatine to make gel food for goldfish? Thanks, oh by the way, if you can, send me a link if you have a website about how to make gel food.????
Yeah you will need gelatin. A quick google search should pull up lots of good gel food recipes 🙂 Or you could buy the powder.
Hi I have a couple of questions, can you keep a mixed variety of different types of goldfish together? I have been through tropical fish since I can remember form aggressive oscars to Guppys and I fancy a change to goldfish! I have a 400 litre tank that has been running for about 3-4 weeks now and the water is great, how many goldfish can I keep in this huge tank?
Glad to hear you’re getting turned on to goldfish, Jordan! It’s totally fine to mix fancies, I wouldn’t mix fancies with slim-bodies though. I would go for no more than 8 fancies in the tank.
Hi I have a very small goldfish maybe 1″ long and it seems to be staying at the bottom of my tank mouth on the bottom tail in the air im not sure what to do and we got it today
Hey Melissa, if the tank is new and you haven’t cycled it then its time to do a ton of water changes. New Tank Syndrome is the culprit.
Hi do you know what causes water to turn cloudy white when finished changing the water? I did a 90% water change yesterday and the water turn so cloudy today and the tank glass had a white slimy coat on it. Any suggestions on how to fix it?
Probably the water change is stirring up debris. It probably means you aren’t cleaning the tank often enough or are overfeeding…
Hi, I’m a new fish owner and I’m a bit nervous if i’m doing things to keep my fan-tailed goldfish healthy. The pet store I got him from told me I do not require a filter so long as i change the water once a week by boiling the water and waiting for it to cool. Is this right? I have a oxygen produce that I was told that I should change about once a week (Or when It is the size of my thumb) Is this okay?! Also I have my fish in a bowl (Which I now know I should be but I can’t get anything else) But I don’t have any other fish with him. The tank is filled maybe a couple of Cm’s from the middle of the bowl. I think he is okay he doesn’t get starled as much as when I got him, he still swims around but not for long, usually find a spot to just stay to float, commonly around the glass looking at his reflection. He is a handsome fish XD IF YOU COULD REPLEY THAT WOULD BE GREAT!
I would highly recommend moving him to something – anything really – larger than a bowl if at all possible. It won’t be long before problems arise in that small of a space, the water dirties too fast. Boiling might work depending on your water source, if you have chloromines it won’t work because it binds the chlorine in.
i have 2 gold fish… in fish tak 20 litres
i bought them from same store same tank
at night i notice that when i turn off lights .. one fish attcks second one and she is running and hiding
i also notice small injury near her gills
so separate them for 3 days
today i again put them in same tank for 5 min only and they come close to each other, as i have to leave for office so i separated them
what should i do // keep them together , or separated?
should i feed them well.. i give them enough food to eat for a min. twice daily
i also add a small fish gold from another store but she died in 2 days, i think that attcaking fish kill her at night
what should i do? pls advice
You will need to separate them if one is attacking the other, unless you can get a larger tank. Likely they are feeling claustrophobic.
Hello
I have a small goldfish that I won from a fair. My friends say it won’t live long. Do you have any advice for looking after this fish?
I don’t know when to change the water and one just using tap water and leaving it for 24 hours before cleaning the tank! I’m wondering if I should buy some water treatment stuff.
The tank is quite small and I have put some pond weed in the tank and some gravel as well.
https://postimg.org/image/th09zkmb3/
This is the tank and fish.
Hi Cheesecake! I would highly recommend checking out our book, The Truth About Goldfish, as it offers a complete care solution so your fish can live out its full lifespan (which can be 40+ years!). It will walk you through step by step every concern you have brought up and way more. Plus, it gives you access to our one-on-one support 🙂
I had two goldfish which I inherited from a family friend who passed away, along with tank, filter etc. I’m not sure how old they are – I think about seven years, i’ve had them for over three.
Recently one fish died, I think from swim bladder disease (my fault I know). For the next few weeks, the second one seemed stressed and wasn’t swimming as much (they used to chase each other all the time). So a fortnight ago I bought a new goldfish. At first they swam around together all the time but for the last two days the original fish has been obsessed with hiding itself in the gravel behind a pillar of a bridge ornament. This morning I was sure there was only the new fish in the tank so I lifted the bridge up and to my relief he swam out. But now he is sleeping behind it again and I can barely see him except for when he wiggles his tail! The new one is swimming around quite normally do I don’t think it’s a water problem, although I will change it tomorrow and the following day to see if that helps.
Could my fish be hiding from the new one?
Hi,
I have had gold fish for a while.
I have had Shubunkins and Comets.
every time i mix the comets with the shubunkins the shubunkin dies after a week or two.
can u help coz i really like both!!!! and i can’t afford another tank!
Hi Joanne! Sorry to hear you’re having trouble. There are so many variables that could be at play here, I think my best advice would be to point you to our book, which you can compare with what you’re doing to find what’s not working. 🙂
I have four tetras and I have a new tank but I had no idea about cycling before I got them. How much water would I need to replace each day?
Hey Fredrick! I’m not an authority on tropical fish, but for a proven method for goldfish (tetras might be different) I recommend following the fish-in cycling system found in our book, The Truth About Goldfish. Hope this helps 🙂
Hi ,
I have recently setup an aquarium which is 145cm x 45 cm .
I have all gold fish but different varieties .
Recently i noticed three black moores have been latching / following the tropical gold fish one at a time , I feel its nipping at its fin at time .
Why is that . I have 10 black moores and 2 big tropical golden gold fish besides other gold fish .
Is it courtship ritual ? please explain .
Sounds like courtship to me 😉 They do that during breeding season, check for eggs and breeding stars.
Hi my grandsons pump has packed up and I want to put the fish in the pond next door, good or bad idea?
If the pond is privately owned and neighbors are fine with it, go right ahead. If it’s not, you’d be breaking the law :/ Releasing goldfish into the wild causes them to compete with the native species and can lead to problems as they reproduce like crazy. Hope this helps 🙂
I have a 5 gallon tank for 3 of my goldfish. I know its small but they will be moved to my 10 gallon soon. I change their water 100% usually twice a week and scrub the tank too so there is no chance of my fish getting sick. Today I noticed 1 of my fish started hiding inside one of the decorations I have. He came out now but all of them seem to be acting weird. There are TONS of bubbles near the filter which I dont believe have ever been there. I would like to know whats wrong and see if there is any chance I can save them. Should I change the water again? I am only 12 so Im not very much of an expert on goldfish yet :/
Im sorry, I think I sent that twice by accident;)
No problem Lexi! Yeah, for a 5 gallon, even twice weekly water changes aren’t enough. Especially with 3 fish. To save them they would need to have proper space and a correct tank maintenance plan. It may also be necessary to perform an urgent care treatment as the fish are displaying behavioral issues, all which you can find in our book, which I would encourage you to check out. Goldfish are definitely more of a challenge than even most adults expect, so you’re not alone 😉 Hope this helps 🙂
Ok and how many times a week should I change water? And should I take out all water whenever cleaning?
Practically speaking I don’t think you can do it enough for your setup-to-be. The ammonia would accumulate too fast and eventually kill your fish.
One other thing I just had a question about is basically one of my goldfish is constantly hiding inside a hollow decoration. Sometimes he will come out but this morning he didnt even want to come out for food. Do you have any clue what this could mean? He has never done this before so I really have no idea what is going on
Sometimes fish do that when they aren’t feeling well. Especially if it isn’t his normal behavior.
hi my name is isabelle and i hope you can help me with this problem. so my goldfish is drinking in the surface to much all the time sometimes bang on the tank then he goes down then i feel bad i shouldn’t never did that but i do every time. And sometimes she swims so slow and boring.she’s the only one in the tank . when i look at her she turns around and she freaks out and swim everywhere i don’t know what wrong with her but i feel like she i going TO DIE and i don’t want that !:(.seriously don’t want that .i had her for 1 year now i guess .I hope u can help me plzz.
By The way the article was great gives me sum ideas with my fish
Hi Isabelle! Yes, please don’t bang on the tank… it will only frighten the fish not make it stop. It is like smacking a child for coughing when it is sick, which will only cause stress and fear making things worse. Air sucking points to a problem with the tank itself, not a problem with the fish. I’d encourage you to check out our book, where we cover air sucking in detail 🙂
sorry i waited to long to answer never knew you were going to. Anyways he still does drink up the water and he turned whitish gray. Plus what do u mean by he is smacking for a child. HE IS SICK O NOO!!! . what do i do he is sick am really worried and i don’t want her/she to die i really love him .PLz i really don’t know if she or he a girl help thanks for responding back really do appreciate it thanks u so much bye!>
By smacking a child for coughing, I mean it is like punishing him for something he can’t help but do. He does it because he is sick. Probably not the best analogy 🙂 But yes, I would recommend picking up a copy of our book for instructions on treatment.
you said he he or shes a girl ! / its punishing him who? i cant buy the book my parents wonnt let me. thanks u for replying 🙂
Oh my mistake, sorry! Just don’t bang on the tank please. 🙂
ok thanks i wont . If i need help again i will sure ask u thanks for helping me i hope u have a nice day 🙂
Did you figure out any reasons he could be doing that? I would really like to know whats going on so i could help them.
Thank you so much, It really helped:) They seem to be acting normal now and I have cleaned there tank more often. I moved them to the 10 gallon and they look great. Thank you
Hello, I have 2 small goldfish in a 5.5 gallon tank. They have dug the stones away to the very bottom of the tank and sit in that “hole”. I have a feeling that the filter that came with the tank is producing too much of a current. Is that possible?
Possibly, but that sounds like more of a health related symptom to me, Susan…
Hello
I’m getting the feeling my two fresh water gold fish aren’t happy. Well..I say two. I mean one is swimming around happy and find all up as it should be but the other gold fish doesn’t look too healthy. I change its water everyday or every two days for it is a small tank but will soon get a bigger one but I don’t know if my gold fish that doesn’t look healthy will last till the day I get it. It sits at the bottom of the tank and swims around slowly sometimes. It does go to the top of the tank and gasps for air but I don’t know how else I can help the guy. The fish however were in a car in a tank for over half an hour to an hour one or two days ago and j don’t know if that has affected them in any way. My fish that is okay is smaller than the other. Almost half the size. I got the fish from a fair ground (as you do) I have seemed to notice there is a black line in it too fin and is 30 degree Angel that it should be. Please help if you know how I can help my little fish. For I fear time is running out
Hey Leila! It sounds like your fish is having trouble with caustic substances in the water, as is shown by the black (a sign of healing from burning). If the tank size is too small, that could contribute to the buildup of ammonia (which is highly toxic to goldfish). There are so many variables as to what could be wrong, I highly would recommend checking out our book and following the emergency care plan outlined there. Hope this helps 🙂
Two days ago I got two fish from the fair. I really had no idea what I was doing and one of my fish ended up dying yesterday. I’ve had to do daily tank changes for my remaining fish and have divorced parents, so I won’t be able to clean my fishes tank daily and I know my dad won’t commit to daily cleanings. I have a small fish bowl (I’m guessing 1 gallon? Maybe 1.5?) and also have a 10 gallon tank (not sure if I did the calculations right but it’s 20×10.5x12in). Is there such thing as too big of a tank? I also have a few more questions/concers.
1) Is a 10 gallon tank too big for 1 goldfish?
2) How many tank cleanings will a 10 gallon tank need for 1 goldfish?
I have until this friday to get everything situated as that’s when I have to go to my mom’s house.
Thanks,
Emma
Hey Emma! No such thing as too big of a tank 🙂 10 gallons is the bare min. for 1 goldie. I think you would need to do every 3-4 days on it for cleaning.
Hi
I have taken over looking after my granddaughter’s goldfish which she won at the fair about 10 years ago. I have it in 125 litre aquarium with filter, lights, airstone and plants. I cannot keep the water clean. It is brownish. Could this be from feeding her dried bloodworm?
It probably has to do more with your water change schedule. I’d recommend following the setup & maintenance program in our book, which I’d encourage you to check out. 🙂
Hi,
I got my tank a week ago it’s a 5 gallon tank and got it set up with water filter etc and left it running for a week.
I have now purchased two goldfish only small ones. I’m not sure which type exactly but one is yellow and one is gold with a long tail. I think there called fantails?
Anyway I have noticed that the gold one seems to be following the yellow one round everywhere, it kind of swims underneath and keeps nudging it.
I’m not sure what it is or why it’s doing it though. I really hope it’s not bullying it.
I was just wondering if anyone has seen this behaviour before.
I would appreciate some advice
Thanks
Either spawning, bullying or claustrophobia. Leaning towards the last one, as 5 gallons is a bit too cramped for 2 goldies. I would definitely recommend following the instructions in our book for tank size and fish-in cycling, which you will need to do since the beneficial bacteria is not established in 1 week. Hope this helps 🙂
I have a 25 gallon Fluvial Accent with 2 air stone and live plants. I bought 3 small goldfish after the tank ran for 2 months. 1 died in 2 days the other two are doing great. yesterday o bought a 3rd small goldfish, for the first 8 hours he zoomed around. now he is laying on the bottom and will not move. i do weekly water changes and feed small amounts. Confused !!!
Hey Jim, it could be a number of things; the zooming and lethargy usually points to something disturbing in the fish’s environment. I would recommend checking out our book for a care system that will help you in setup and maintenance… it contains tons of important information on water quality too 🙂
Hello Pure Goldfish, Thank you for all the great fish advice on this website it’s very helpful. I’ve had my comet goldfish Christy for 2 years now and I want to get him a bigger tank and a buddy. He was in a bowl at first for maybe 6 months and then I got him a filtered tank after he was having problems with gulping. Since I transferred him to a tank he’s seemed to be fine and dandy. However since reading stuff online I feel terrible that he might be unhappy and stunted in growth after living in a small tank (about 19 litres so 5ish gallons). If I get a 150 litre tank will that be enough for him and a shubunkin friend? Are two fish enough company? Will he be ok with a new fish after 2 years alone? Also will he grow if I upgrade or is he stunted forever now? Thank you for your help, I love this fish and feel terrible thinking I have hurt him!
Ah, sorry Sophie, but 150 liters is only enough for one comet. It is impossible to know how much stunting has already occurred, but the best thing to do at this point would be to give him more space. 🙂
Please help! I own a goldfish who is about 2-3 months old. It lives in a pretty big tank I think around 20-30 gallons. It has a filter and some nice little stuff in there too. Recently I’ve been thinking about putting another goldfish in there. Will this be okay or will it disturb the one I have now? Could you please let me know any reasons why I shouldn’t get another one and put it in the same tank or any reasons why I should.
Thankyou ?
It depends on what kind of goldfish you have. If it is a fancy, that is enough space for one more.
I have a black moor goldfish in a 10 gallon tank he is about 1″ big and I do 25% water changes but there is still this brown stuff growing. How can I get rid of it I tried cleaning it off witch worked but it grew back should I get a sucker fish? I really love him I have only had him for 3 months I feed him 4 pellets in the morning and 4 at night there is not much food going to the bottom and when there is he eats it I don’t know what could be causing this plz help!
Sounds like brown algae. Just keep cleaning 🙂
I have a five year old fancy goldfish named Spike who lives alone in a 40 gallon tank. Spike’s body is about 5 inches long and he has a fancy flowing tail that is at least the length of his body. Spike has the head of an Oranda but the tail of a fancy.
Spike’s wife, Dot, another Oranda, passed away last year (she had chronic swimbladder and nothing we did would help her for very long – we think it was a genetic issue). I would like to know if I can add another fancy goldfish to my 40 gallon tank. I run two filters, a 50 gallon FluVal Aquaclear and an AquaTop UV Filter. I do 50% weekly water changes and use the testing kit to make sure the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate remain within safe levels. Thanks so much!
You should be fine 🙂
Can/should I gradually raise temp of water Will it benefit it’s recovery as I have brought a sick fish in from the outside elements (has large belly and swimming on side (very intermittently swims okay)
Depends on what the problem is, and how cold it was beforehand…
I recently got a black moor and two small normal gold fish. I do not have a filter so I have been putting new water in it daily (about 20%) I then had to go away for 2 weeks and left the responsibility to a friend. When I got back today I say the water really dirty (green algie and poo) What I did was go into emergency mode and took the fish out put them in a bucket of water and drained and cleaned the pond (just with a high pressure washer and normal water) I then filled the tank up with normal water and little food and put them back in. I now see them all at the surface blowing bubbles or sucking cant really tell. I think I have done something bad need urgent help
Did you treat the water first?
I have a 15gallon hexagon aquarium with three comets, one common goldfish and one double-tailed goldfish.
I feed the fish once a day with enough for them to consume everything in about a minute and I perform 50% water changes weekly.
The aquarium uses a large air pump and an aqua one external filter for its life support.
Unfortunately, one of the goldfish, Moby, a large comet, has been quite listless for the past few months. I always did an additional 50% water change on the aquarium/fed the fish frozen peas (defrosted of course) when he looked particularly bad and it always worked.
However, this time it didn’t work and Moby’s condition worsened after the water change and the peas. Now he has dropsy and will probably be dead within the next week. Moby is an old fish and didn’t get the same care as what I’ve been giving him before I found him. I’m also concerned that the younger comets are outcompeting him for food but this is unlikely as Nemo, a double-tailed goldfish, gets much less food than Moby and is still reasonably active(although she too has been showing signs of lethargy that aren’t normal as well).
So what’s the problem, is the tank too small, am I not giving the goldfish enough food, or is it the smaller goldfish outcompeting the older goldfish for food?
P.S. oxygen gas is a small molecule which diffuses into the water column easily and as a result always maintains constant equilibrium within the water. Gasping and suffocation is actually due to the build up of the waste gas CO2 which is much heavier and does not diffuse out of the water easily. A large surface area and air pumps are actually allowing CO2 to escape from the aquarium at the water’s surface rather than allowing oxygen into the aquarium.
Yeah your tank is waaaay too small…
Hello. I have a ranchu and an oranda in a 55 gallon tank. I’ve heard that they can grow very large so I only keep 2 of them in a 55galon tank. However after 3 months of having them, they don’t seem to increase much in size. I feed them twice a day with the agaru sinking fishfood. I conduct 25-50% water changes weekly. What seems to cause such a slow growth, and what can I do to alleviate the problem?
Growth also depends on temperature & frequency of feedings. You may try making sure their water isn’t cold 🙂
i have six baby guppies and i love them but i can’t afford a new tank so i keep them in a big vase can this damage their health help me i’m only ten and i dom’t want them to die i’m gonna try to get a new tank
Hmm, a vase probably isn’t suitable for guppies as it doesn’t hold more than a few gallons in most cases. I’d try to get a tank 🙂
Hi
I have had two types of goldfish, shubunskins and comets.
Whenever I mix the two varieties together the shubunskin always dies!
But when I have only shubunskins or only comets they live!
can you help me! I have a 240 litre tank and I am pretty sure that is big enough! and I like both the shubunskin and the comet varieties!
Thanks
Noodles
Oh and I also change the water on a weekly basis with about a 90% water change every week
Hey Noodles! It depends on how many fish you have, as well as other variables. Shubunkins are a bit more fragile because they are more hybridized.
Pure Goldfish i have three goldfish sharky, delta and nemo i have a fish bowl and i put them in there and i researched that a fish bowl is bad for goldfish and i don’t have any bigger fish tanks and i wondering can i use a clear bucket its big enough for them.
Yep 🙂 So long as it doesn’t have chemical residue or toxins.
I’ve been planning to buy my first aquarium since I absolutely love fancy goldfishes. I was thinking of a 30 gallon tank and start up with smaller veiltail/ryukin just so I can have the pleasure of seeing them grow bigger (hopefully)
I was wondering how many fancies I could fit in this aquarium with this in mind. 2-4?
I wouldn’t do more than 3 🙂
My little goldfish died because I put it in a bowl
Sorry you had to learn the hard way 🙁
Hi,
I have a 20 gallon tank with a fantail goldfish (about an inch and a half), a black moor (about an inch) and a very small pleco (half an inch). The fantail and the black moor have lived together since early spring of this year. The pleco joined the family about a month or two ago. My question is: Why is my black moor hanging out at the top of the tank all of a sudden? He was fine for the first month with the pleco and recently he’s been swimming like mad to stay toward the top of the tank and he’s not gulping for air. He has never been a great eater but it seems that lately he’s not really eating anything, just swimming toward the top of the tank all the time. My fantail still travels all over and in fact, seems to eat everything I put in the tank. Is it possible for nitrate levels or water temperature to be off for one fish and not for the other? Or is one of them feeling overcrowded and the other not? Thank you for your guidance!
Might be afraid of the Pleco. With bad eyesight, he’s more likely to get picked on.
Help! Goldfish at the top of the tank “gulping.” Has to work to swim down. Hasn’t eaten in 5 days. We tried cooked peas but he ignores all food. About 4 or 5 inch long not incl tail, 40 gal tank, yes we did water changes.
Could be constipated. I wouldn’t feed…
Thank you . Anything else I can try? His tank mate died very suddenly about a week ago. We don’t want to lost him too. He has a fuzzy white something on his tail and something white on one side of his snout, so we medicated for ich about a week ago, but that’s finished and water has since been changed. Should we do another course of medication? I am hesitant to do that, but maybe he’s got an infection. Until Snowflake died, and Buddy began looking sick, we have not had a single health problem with them for 5 years.
hi i just got my daughter a fancy fin i think its called and its in a 1 gallon bowl it been in there for about 3 days. i will be getting a 10 gallon today i see it gulping for air and im very worried how can i make transitioning rosey into the 10 gallon easy on her ?? my daughter absolutely loves her so i want to do what i can to save her but i am working on a budget
Hey cheyanna! Keeping the temp steady and not stressing her out by chasing with a net, etc. is a good place to start. Since your tank is new you will need to follow the fish-in cycle method (full instructions are found in our book). Hope it goes well!
HI we recently got a 10 gallon tank and 4 small slim, bodied gold fish. while 3 of them seem to act normally the largest one seems to prefer to spend 90 percent of its time inside a sunken ship shelter hiding so we can hardly see it. It will come out for food but then disappear quickly. It hides like this regardless of the time of day or light level.
is this normal?
No, that isn’t normal goldfish behavior. It sounds like the fish is having a problem with the tank being so overstocked.
Hi! I have a three gallon tank with two whisper 3i filters and one whisper 10i filter, as well as an under gravel filter. I use things like ph balancers and ammonia neutralizer for in between water changes. I’ve had fish before, but I had a huge tank. I want to put a black moor in this tank. Will a black moor be able to thrive in a heavily filtered 3 gallon tank? And how many water changes should I do?
Not for very long. You would need to do water changes every day.
I just got a fish from the fair that seems to want to kick up his rocks all the time. I’m not sure where that is but it’s sort of worries me. I’ve never had a fish before. I think part of it might be because his little crate they gave me might be too small. But I don’t really have the means to get him a bigger crate at the moment at least not until next week. My worry is that I fight change his water he will go into shock Maybe? I’m new to the whole fish thing and I really like this fish and I would like to keep him. But I’m worried about him picking up the Rocks is he okay?
Normal foraging behavior 🙂 Goldfish are diggers by nature. Changing the water when done correctly will not shock the fish.
I bought a used 29 gallon aquarium two weeks ago as of this upcoming Saturday. 4 goldfish came with it….one fancy, one black moor and 2 comets. The lady I bought it from said she has had them all for about a year and a half. I gave away the fancy, Cheeto, and sadly he didn’t survive. I was initially going to get rid of one of the comets too, but now they have all grown on me. I have done an algae scrub and a 25% water change and cut down on feeding because I think the lady was over feeding…a shrimp cube on the a.m. And flakes in the p.m. The last feeding was half a shrimp cube (emerald) yesterday morning and nothing since. Do you think I can keep these 3 together in this tank size? I have done water tests and from what I can see everything looks ok….I noticed some gasping from the moor yesterday and I am omw home now with an air pump and bubble stones and ammonia test kit. (I did the water change as soon as I noticed gasping yesterday and cut back food) the moor seems a lot more active as of this morning….I do not have any live plants as I am new to this. Any tips or info would be greatly appreciated. I plan to do another water change tomorrow morning and I will do a water test and post the results asap. Thanks!
NO3: 40, NO2: 0 or maybe a .5…I couldn’t tell. Water is very hard. 0 chlorine, alkalinity is a 0…ph is 6.8….ammonia looked like .25
I have a marine land penguin power filter….takes 2 filter cartridges, I only have 1 in…should I put in 2?
Thanks!
Hi Amanda! Your water is definitely not where it should be, hence the gasping on the part of the moor. Part of that is due to the tank being overstocked. I’d really recommend a bigger tank (or fewer fish) as well as following the water correction & tank setup plan found in our book. Hope this helps 🙂
Hi i have a 75 gallon filter for a 60 gallon tank i have 4 baby goldfish in there, one adult black morr, and one adult comet and my adults aren’t looking well. They both lay on the bottom of the tank when my babies swim non-stop. They are eating fine but my moor has white spots and my comet has white spots and red streaks going through his back tail. I put ick tablets in there and have put fin rot diseases cure in there too and they still don’t look well. I don’t think i’m over feeding within a minute or too all food is gone. And i left the tank to cycle for a week then put them in i don’t know what to do. ( Also when i put the ick tablets in there a chemical reaction happened and green oooze came from my rocks.) I don’t know what to do please help!
Hiya!
I just got a 10 gallon tank and cycled it only for one day because the package said to do so, I added 5 goldfish, 2 silver mollies and 2 black mollies, as well as an albino pleco. Everyone looks happy as they all get along, i’m just worried because i’m not sure how much to feed them. Normally the mollies eat all of the food at the top and the goldfish don’t really get so much, and then I add more, and etc. Also, one of my goldfish had a long poo around an inch long, is this bad? THANKS!
Hey there! 🙂 Yeah goldfish and mollies are not considered compatible species for that reason, among others. I don’t think you can follow our normal feeding recommendations because of your setup being so crowded as well, and it sounds like overfeeding is probably going on.
Thanks for the reply!
Actually now when I feed them, they all come to the top, I guess the goldfish didn’t see the food or know it was at the top? 😛
I just have another question, how much should I feed them all together/how many times per day? I don’t want to overfeed them and you’re obviously in better knowledge than me, haha.
Thanks again!!
Hi love your YouTube channel! I have a question, I have two fancy goldfish that are about the size of my hand. For some reason they have been just sitting on the bottom for the past week. I don’t understand!!! They have a thirty gallon tank and I’ve been doing regular water changes once a week since I’ve gotten them, I plan on getting a 92 gallon tank in two months so they have more space. I started feeding them brine shrimp two weeks ago and I was wondering if maybe that could be it?
Thank you!!!!!
Hmm, bottom sitting isn’t usually caused by brine shrimp as live foods are very easily digested. It sounds like there may be a deeper issue at the root. I’d recommend following the tank optimization and setup plan detailed in our book to make sure everything is on track. 🙂
Thank you I will try that. I decided to also remove some of their lighting and see if maybe that was it ? I really want them to be happy and flourish! Also when I up grade my tank I was wanting to get a tri colored denekin and was wondering if you breed them or where you got yours?!
Hmm I don’t have a tri-colored demekin… were you looking at a Facebook post? But you could try Dandy Orandas 🙂
My son received two fair fish. We bought them a 40 gallon tank from petco and did everything by the book. One of the fish is sitting at the bottom and only comes up when we feed them once a day. The other is supper active. What should we do about the fish we call LAZY?? We have changed the water and also had it checked?? We will try to filter out and change the water again. We put a stress coat in the water should we add something else?
Adding things to the tank usually do more harm then good. There is probably more going on than meets the eye.
Red patch on my gold fish..what disease it us?treatment for it? How to avid this? Should I separate my fish from other.I do 70% water change daily
Could be the beginnings of an ulcer. Your situation may be a bit complex so I would recommend reviewing the tank setup and correction guide found in our book, followed by perhaps the emergency care plan depending on your results.
Hello,
I just recently got two common goldfish 4 days ago from my biology professor at the end of a minor lab experiment ;D this inspired me to start an aquarium again. One fish is almost 2 inches and the other is about one and a half inch. The problem is I didn’t really have anything set up when I come home ( it was kind of a last-minute decision). Over the course of the night I moved them into a 2-gallon vase with one AirStone. After body or two both of them started to have areas of raised scales and white spots on their fins. After reading your book I definitely knew that I needed a bigger space for them so I put them in my 10 gallon tank with two air stones and doing 30% water changes every day so far. Who has a 29 gallon waiting for them but I’m just barely starting the nitrogen cycle now ( I still have to get my water test kit). I’ve also learned that they could be suffering from new tank syndrome due to the new 10 gallon tank. Sorry for so much information but I want to make sure I have everything done right:
1.) Should I increase my amount of water changes for the 10 gallon tank since I do not have a filter setup for it yet?
2.) Based on their size would I be able to keep them in the 10 gallon tank until the nitrogen cycle in the 29 gallon is complete?
3.) Is aquarium salt effective in reducing stress or should I get rid of it all together and stick with plain conditioned water?
Thank you so so much for your time 🙂 I’m really excited to get back into the aquarium world
Also forgot to ask, should I set up the filter in the 10 gallon and start a fish in cycle or continue to do major water changes?
Thanks again
Replied via email 🙂
I bought 4 goldfish. 2 big one and 2 small ones. I had put them in a tank together. I noticed that the big fishes irritated the small ones.After 1 month a small gold fish lost its one eye. And after a week it lost the other one also. Now how can it eat food?? I sifted the fish to another tank . But can it survive ???
Goldfish can survive without sight. They can smell out food.
One time I owned a few fancy goldfish and I put them in 50 gal. I had like 5 but they constantly got ick or just got extremely sick! We would do 25% water changed and such and followed all the rules and they still got sick. I have 5 standard goldfish now and I have to upgrade the tank but I’m scared because of what’s happened before… What was I doing wrong?
Hey Anna! As you have experienced firsthand, there is definitely a lot of “rules” floating around online that aren’t exactly good ones to follow. In fact it is very difficult to find accurate information even in many goldfish books. That’s why we wrote The Truth About Goldfish. It’s written to clear away all the myths and give you a clear, proven plan (the plan I use with my own fish, in fact). You may want to check it out 🙂
I have a older goldfish from the fair and my sister just got 3 small goldfish from the pet store. I want to put one small goldfish in with my fish so that the tank will be less crowded for my sister. Is this safe? Will my fish or her fish eat each other? Please help!! Also one of my sisters fish has a really big tummy from above, I think he is eating all of the food. Can you help me? Thank you!
Depends on how big your fish is in comparison to the small fish. You can try hand-feeding to make sure everyone gets the same amount 🙂
Hi, I have a 12 gallon tank 1 black moor, 2 other fish and the black moor was constantly lying down, now he added in some salt and he started to perk up but now he just dozes off and looks like he is drunk
I meant I added in salt, he didn’t add it lol
He probably isn’t feeling well. :/ Your tank is overcrowded, that might have something to do with it.
I have a 10 gallon tank with 5 goldfish one of my goldfish has a weird tail that curls upwards he/she mean to the other fish shes always rubbing herself on them an then all run from her/him how do you tell the difference between boys and girls
That’s a bit overcrowded… depends on how old they are for being able to tell the difference between genders.
Hi ,I’ve just bought a new tank 3 weeks ago and set up the tank left for 3 days then bought 2 orandas, just after 1 week both fishes had ich ,so I treated it with ich medicine for 7 days. The ich went,but my 2 fish looked very sick. Tail started rot. I then bought aquarium salt and a first aid biorb filter and treated them. After a day. 1 of the fish died. I now have 1 left. What can I do to save him. I have a 30 litre Biorb. I tested the water it’s high in ammonia and nitrate. Can I do a 100% water change??
I’d recommend following the tank correction plan found in our book, as that is the safest way to go about remedying the situation and ensuring your fish lives out its full lifespan. 🙂
Further to my comments,I had been doing about 40-50% water change almost everyday. Fish still very sick. He’s not eating,swimming like he does sprinting sometimes ,swimming on top of tanks more often he is a white oranda goldfish and he somehow looks more pinkish now.I don’t know is it b.Coz of the medication to treat ich made it like that.my water is very blue still due to the medication. Please help.
Thanks
Sam
Sam.
Hi, I have adopted a 15cm Fan Tail Goldfish, He would be about 8 year old. He is living in a 30lt Or roughly 7.9 Gallon tank. He is on his own. Over the past few weeks he does nothing but sit on the bottom of the tank… His breathing is different to like he is panting. I feed him cooked shelled peas x 2 or gold fish flakes a small amount once a day. But as he is at work he has 2 days of no feed. I have changed the water & I have the PH level test which seems to be ok. I have also taken my water to the pet store & they have tested the water. Only PH was high.(that’s how I got the test) I don’t know what to do or how to save him.
I’d recommend checking out our book for a plan 🙂
Hi!
I’m a brand new goldfish owner and I was wondering more about what’s up when a fish seems to stay more towards the bottom? I currently have a 2.5 gallon tank for my 2-3 inch goldfish. I feeling that this tank is too small and I’ll probably upgrade some time in the future but for now I’ll stick to daily/every other day water changes. He currently seems to swim very low to the rocks but still keeps moving. Do goldfish need time to get used to tanks? For a fish that big, do you think being fed once a day is fair? Does size really matter when it comes to feeding?
Probably the fish isn’t feeling well. Smaller fish need smaller, more frequent feedings, but only if the tank setup is perfect.
Hey, so I got two goldfish from a carnival I was working at. All of the fish were kept in pretty awful condition. 100 of them all inside of the same small gallon bucket. So far one has died. The person who bought them for the carnival only bought them for 14 cents so I’m guessing they weren’t meant for pets at all and were supposed to be feeding food. I have a 5 gallon tank that I’m keeping the one that survived in. I’ve been doing 20% water changes daily and I already started it up with bacteria using Tetra Safe start. It’s been about two weeks now and yesterday my fish was exhibiting things sorta like spasms, along with clamped fins and not moving much. I did a bit of research and discovered it could be parasites so I bought some aquarium salt and it seems to be doing better. However, now it’s gasping at the surface of the water, even though I’m changeing the water and treating it with conditioner. Even stranger, it doesn’t seem to be clamping it’s fins at all anymore. I have no ways of testing the water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, or Ph. I was planning on sending the water to petco as they test it there for free, but until then do you have any idea as to what might be wrong? It’s grown a lot on me and I want to try and save it if at all possible. Thank you.
Update: It seems it just had a spasm. And it’a fins are clamped again. I’m really not sure what to do but any help is extremely appreciated. Also, sorry for my grammar mistakes in the previous comment. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight.
Probably because the tank isn’t finished cycling.
i have two really cute small fantail goldfish, i feed them pellets everyday, but sometimes i do give them cooked peas, but they totally DONT EAT IT,. even if they take it in by mistake, they throw it out. what else can i give them as an alternative? because of course even im bored of those pellets.
also, should i feed them shrimp or bloodworm at such young age. they seem way too small. one goldfish did gulp a dead mosquito by mistake , and hence got a swim bladder for 3 days. that;s why it puzzles me about the shrimp.
Brine shrimp is good for young fish.
HELP!
Hello,
Ive had a goldfish for about 2 and half years now. Today I set him up in a bigger tank, treated the water with ammonia safe and also aqua safe, let it run for a few hours and then placed him in the tank but I dont have test strips to test it. I will get some soon. He seemed great at first loving all of the room but now he seems to just be swimming a little bit but then sits at the bottom of the tank on the rocks for awhile. Im worried and do not know what to do or if he is dying! HELP!
Thank you in advance
Hey Alexandria! 🙂 A few hours isn’t enough to establish a tank. That is a process that takes several weeks. I’d recommend following the fish-in cycle plan detailed in our book. 🙂
Hello My name is Sarah and I recently bought two small regular goldfish ?I put them in a plastic container which is very light purple, do you think this will harm them in any way?
Hi Sarah! The plastic is probably not so much a problem as the size of the container. Hopefully it follows the recommended tank stocking guidelines 🙂
I have one goldfish. And it’s been by itself for almost two years now. If I go another goldfish would it kill the one I have now??
It might if it is too big for the other…
I have 2 goldfish one of my My goldfish is continuously sitting at one corner of the tanks and another one is roaming freely but it again and again comes to surface….. My tank dimensions are 30*25*30
Sitting in the corner means the fish isn’t feeling well.
I have 2 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank it is not a new tank I have it for almost 2 years but one of my goldfish just sits at the top of the tank while the other is swimming just fine. I really don’t know what’s wrong
10 gallons is barely enough room for one fish, so likely that is part of the problem.
I have two 10 gallon tanks set up with one goldfish & a pleco algae eater in each. (One is a comet goldfish and one is a fantail) I purchased a 29 gallon tank over a month ago, did a quick start on it and all is balanced. However, both the 10 gallon tanks are high in Nitrate and water hardness on the test strips chart. I tried to transfer the fantail into the new tank, but it eventually started to act as though it was floating with it’s mouth up and barely swimming, so I quickly put it back into it’s original tank. It quickly recovered, but I’m now having a hard time getting the old tanks to a good level so that I can try to transfer them together. I’ve had the new tank up and running for over a month and it’s all balanced. Just having trouble with the old ones. Any suggestions to get them ready for transfer? I’ve done partial water changes for each tank a week ago, but the levels are still high. I’m new to this…the goldfish came home and I put them into freshly setup tanks two years ago, and they were fine. Don’t want to lose them now. Also, would it help to put some of the water from the two 10 gallon tanks into the balanced new tank? That way the Nitrate levels would increase in the new tank, and may make the transfer easier on the fish? And try to level it out after?
I appreciate any help you can offer.
10 gallons with a goldfish and a pleco in each is too little space, you will find it nearly impossible to keep the water levels normal.
When ever I change the water in my fishes tank, I always use clean, cold tap water, should I use fresh tap water? Also as soon as I let my fish into the new tank, it just stays at the bottom of the tank for a while but in a few minutes it starts swimming and acting natural again. What does this mean?
The temperatures need to match, or it can stress the fish.
Please help! I had 3 black moor in the fish tank. All happily eating and swimming around normally, picking at the gravel…all of a sudden i only see 2 fish swimming around! I don’t see any water splash, i don’t see any fish corpse around the tank..could my fish be hiding? And why? I want to change the water and the tank is looking a bit sad. What to do??????
Take everything out of the tank and see if you can find him in there. If not, he may have flipped out farther than you thought…
thank you my goldfish is now in a good place because of you
Happy to hear that, Derek 🙂
HI, I have a 3 gallon fish tank with a filter and two goldfish. Although just two days ago i noticed one of them had symptoms of swim bladder so i stopped feeding for 2 or 3 days which it looked like it stopped. But he is still acting weird by hanging out on the top of the tank. And yes i have a filter and a mini filter that both provide oxygen bubbles. The other goldfish appears to be fine and active. Do you have any ideas of what can be going on or any suggestions ?
3 gallons isn’t enough space even for one goldfish :/ That can lead to many problems.
My daughter got two goldfish at the fair two and a half weeks ago. I put them in our 10-gallon tank after I cleaned it and cycled it. Yes, I do know that is too small for one let alone two. But my 6-year-old does not understand that. The past three days the brown one was not swimming as much. I had been doing weekly water changes. I changed the water several times over the past couple of days. All the other levels tested good. I did not have an ammonia tester though. The other one seemed fine. The brown one would perk up and by the next day be acting the same way. I would change the water again. The brown one died yesterday. I started researching and thought there may be bacteria issue and another site suggested removing the other fish until I could clean the tank. After removing the other fish it started behaving poorly. I placed it back in the tank once cleaned. It is swimming slowly and had poo hanging from it for a while until I removed it. I have changed the water yet again and filter. Is this just too small tank and ammonia issue or could it be bacteria?
The tank may not have been fully cycled.
Hi, I have one goldfish in a 20 litre tank (not sure what that is in gallons) lately she has started sticking her head/face into the gravel and just sort of floating there completely vertically and almost completely still. Is this normal fish behaviour? We’ve only had it a few weeks and we did have two but this fish bullied the other one to death.
No that’s not normal. It means the fish isn’t feeling well.
Fish found. He liked hiding around the pump got stuck. Died round there
Aww sorry 🙁
Hi today i just got 2 fishs and put them in the new tank with fushy the goldfish hes small so he cant eat them but later i came to see my fishs there just at the bottem swimming around is it bad?
I dont know if its the filter or anything but i hope hes okay
Yes that is bad. If you haven’t cycled the tank you will need to go through the fish-in cycle regimen to protect them from swinging water parameters. It is described in detail in our book.
Well there better and me and my dad already cycle the tank but maybe its just that we put them in the tank quickly
Hi, I just got 2 new goldfish from my friend and they are in a big jar because there tank is being cleaned out.They keep going to the very top of the surface and little bubbles out on the side.Will they die?
Bubbles on the side of the jar or the fish? Their symptoms don’t sound like they are dying, but could point to a problem.
I noticed my black moor are very still they look almost dead plus one have a closed fin* is that. Normal?
No, none of that sounds normal.
I have an 11 ltr tank with two fish (1 shibumpkin and 1 fantail) they’ve recently (over the past two days) started hiding behind their plant and are almost motionless most of the time, which is completely out of character. They’re normally very lively and swimming around. We did lose a little goldfish today but we separated him from the other two about a week ago just in case of any diseases and to give him some space from the two normally more lively ones. What do you think this means? and what can I do to make them happier? We do 50% minimum water changes at least once a week.
The kh balance is 40 and we read it should be 120? But everything else tested is perfect.
Thanks!
Rebecca.
I would definitely recommend a larger tank for starters, Rebecca. 🙂 11l isn’t enough even for one goldfish.
Hi I’m a beginner and I was just wondering how do you cycle a tank and I have a ten gallon tank what goldfish do you recommend?
The method you choose depends on whether or not you have fish. For a 10 gallon tank one small fancy like a ranchu or fantail is good 😉
Hey there.
I have recently got two little fantailed goldfish and have put them in a 54 litre tank. I have fed the fish 3 time a day as the fish food states but i have one who is doing very long poos, which take forever to finish. Is this normal and should i hold back food and introduce peas. Or not feed them for a day or two ??? Please help me out.
Thanks
James 🙂
Long poo is normal for young growing fish, it can sometimes be 7x longer than their body. Just keep the water clean.
Hello i have a goldfish who looks like hes not feeling well did i over feed him? because hes just floating around.
is he dying?:(
It’s possible, but it could also be from other causes. I wouldn’t say he is dying just yet, but definitely he is not right. Goldfish should be perky and excited for life.
Hi I have a problem with my tank . How can I remove cloudy water out of my 55 gallon tank.?
My goldfish so far are ok but would the cloudy water get my goldfish sick?
If it is green, that’s just extra algae, but if it is whitish that is not good and points to a dirty tank.
I just bought 2 goldfish and put them in a tank without cycling it first. the staff at the aquarium said that if I used a stability chemical the water would be fine and they will be safe and healthy. Have they told me the wrong thing just so they could sell a product or are my fish really going to be okay?
Yes, they absolutely told you the wrong thing. 🙁
Hi we have 3 small fish a gold fish and an allege eater, we live in a dorm so the tank is small and it doesn’t have a filter, we clean the water every other day almost and I was wondering if that is okay.. And if keeping the fish in a window seal is safe for them, we also have a beta and were courious on when to feed/ clean it’s tank.
Thank you
It would depend on the size of the tank. Not sure what you mean by window seal.
Hi i have a question i have 5 gold fish in my 29 gallon tank the Biggers fish is like 4 inches its overstock or its ok and do i need to changes the water every week thanks hope you help me out
Yeah that’s overstocked :/
I have a 10gallon tank with 3 goldfish- black Moore, Fancy, and comet. I got the black Moore and fancy yesterday at the petstore and ever since the black Moore hasn’t left the bottom of the tank? All it does is mess with the rocks at the bottom and it seems like it’s searching for food. Even when I feed them it doesn’t go after the food like the other two fish do. Is this normal? I’m worried it’s not eating or that there’s something wrong with it
Yeah that’s not normal. 10 gallons just isn’t enough room for 3 goldies :/
Hi I have a 3 year old goldfish its head is on the bottom like he’s feeding and fin is flipped over, but is lifeless until I feed at night? Is it going to die or is there something I can do….
Thanks stuart
I wouldn’t feed it in that condition.
Hi I was recently given a 95litre tank with a water filter I’ve been an bought 6 small gold fish but recently they are gulping for oxygen at the top of the tank I put fresh water in 2 days ago when I got the fish is this a sign of over crowding an not enough oxygen in the water
That’s definitely a bit too much.
Hi there I have two fantail goldfish in a 10 gallon tank. They have been living it for about two years. They seem to be in good health the one thing I do notice though is that they swim to the top gulp air and then they swim around is it normal to gulp air even if they only do it for a second or two out of every minute?
No that’s not normal. The tank is overcrowded.
I got a goldfish or a feeder fish? From a party three days ago. He seemed fine for the first two days then I came home one day and the “tank” was really dirty and my fish wasn’t moving around as much. By tank I mean tall glass jar or cylinder with some pebbles at the bottom. I’m young and can’t get a tank with a filter or the drops you are supposed to put in the water. I used regular tap water to fill the new jar because that is all I had and I knew he needed clean water. He has a white bump on one of his tail fins in the middle, what is it? Overall I’m pretty concerned about him.
White bumps can be from dirty conditions. Jars don’t make good homes for goldfish; even a Tupperware bin would be better.
thanks i knew almost all of it but i did learn from my mistakes… we had a calico goldfish ( or shubunkin ) and a black moor in a betta bowl and fed them so much food and the calico died then we got a better take and started feeding him real food so thanks!
Good job, glad to hear you are taking better care of your fish now! 🙂
I have a black goldfish unsure if it I I black moor
But recently hes stopped eating he goes for the good but I ndver see him open his mouth what could be problem and how can I solve I did full water change
Maybe the food is too big for him?
Hi. My Goldie tank dosent have a filter… but I do a 100% water
Change every week. Also my Goldie has a brown-black color gunk stuff on top of his lip and it’s devolopong on his fin. Also, my fish go to the edge of the tank and open and close their mouths. It looks like they’re drinking water from the edge of the tank. Sometimes they will do this for hours. So is that normal behavior, is my Goldie sick, and is it ok that I don’t have a filter but do 100% water change weekly?
I have a black moor goldfish and he got stuck behind my bubble wall. I’m not sure for how long and now he looks like he may have been “burned” or like he’s got white spots. It doesn’t look like ich. It almost looks like his skin is gone ? I’m not sure how more to explain it or what I can do
It could be injury where the skin was scraped off.
Hi I have a 5 gallon tank and am wondering if I could put goldfish in it or should I get something else
Something else 😉
Hi! i’ve had my goldfish for a few months now and i’ve recently noticed that 2 of my fancy goldfish are chasing each other. i was watching them and saw that one of them was actually a female starting releasing eggs. what do i do with my other 2 goldfish? can i leave them all in the same tank? I don’t know anything about breeding and i’m trying to learn as much as i can.
The other two are probably fine left where they are at, but the eggs will need to be relocated 🙂
Hi! I recently got two gold fish, a telescope one, and a… orange and white one lol. I had them in a bowl, for about 3 weeks. I changed the water completely 3 days, cleaned the rocks etc. I noticed recently that my orange and white goldfish (Mrs. Goldberg) is filling out in her “tummy” region. Im not sure if shes pregnant or something is wrong and how to find out. Also I have just moved them into an 2.5 gallon tank with a filter as of today.
It could be due to overfeeding or a bacterial infection. But it depends on the age and sex of the fish.
i bought 2 lionheads , both of them were healthy..my tank was 26 gallon and had a filter VS1200f venusaqua. . it doesn’t eat any pellets,and that night i switched off the filter and the next day morning one lionhead died!! how did this happen?
Did you cycle the tank first?
no, i don’t know have a clear idea about it!! 😛
Hi i won a goldfish at a fair and it is in a bag what should i do with it i dont have a tank or food
It will definitely need a tank, or at least a Tupperware bin, and you will have to go through the fish-in cycle 🙂
I have a 5 gallon tank and I have 2 gold fish and I left for 9 days and took them to my friends for the time that I was gone and when I got back 1 was dead and the live plant was floating at the top was it my friend who killed him or something else
It is possible. 5 gallons is an unstable environment due to such low water volume and increase chance of overfeeding.
This site is sound providing the basics, but I recommend looking elsewhere for advanced information, such as cures or treatments. The new tank syndrome actually takes about 2 -3 months if fish are not present in the system, or 3 – 5 weeks with a light load. A good rule of thumb for stocking tanks is 1″ per gallon; remember that most goldfish will reach adult size at 3″, but can grow up to 6″ in the right conditions. Most goldfish are sold at 1″ – 2″, and will grow significantly. A 10 gallon tank should comfortably house 3 -4 adults, and double that if it is a heavily planted (live plants) tank. This process can be expedited by adding cycled water or bacteria packs, but it will still take time for the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels to reach what they should be.
Periodic gulping of air is normal for goldfish, and certain other fish, they will dash up, gulp some air, and come back down. If they hang around the surface, aeration is needed or less fish.
10% water changes are recommended weekly, 90% is for emergencies such as really poor water conditions. Large water changes (50% or more) stress the fish, which could lead to its demise. Water changes are necessary unless you keep the load at less than 10%, like a single goldfish in a 50 gallon tank.
I completely agree that overfeeding is the #1 killer of fish; either the uneaten portions decompose and rot in the tank, or the extra waste produced contaminates the water at an accelerated rate.
Thanks for sharing your opinion, Christopher. I do have to say I disagree with you on several points based on my years of experience keeping goldfish, but glad we agree on overfeeding being as dangerous as it is 🙂
how to cycle the tank?
It is a complex process and the approach you take depends on whether or not you have fish. In summary you add a source of ammonia to the tank to begin a colony of bacteria.
I recently got given my cousins 3 goldfish, 2 telescopes and one goldie, in the same tank and same everything from what they was in from when they was at my cousins house, she helped me change the water couple of hours ago, and she’s had them for just over a year, but I’ve noticed they are going to the top frequently for the past hour to gulp for air, what can I do? As she’s not sure herself, they was always fine at hers
Did you keep the filter?
I have a fancy goldfish in a 10 gallon and 2 small albino cat fish and they live fine together. My snails died bought 3 of them.
My big question is I got a new home for Goldie and its a 60 gallon tank with a giant out of tank filtration system/pump. I would like to get 1 if not 2 more fancys would that be too many? Oh and the water has been in the tank for 2 days now but circulating with new pump system just 1 day. When and how should I move her to her new home?
That should be fine 🙂 Moving can be done with a large bowl or ice cream container.
hello!
i got a fish from the fair a couple months ago, he was doing great at first, but he never had dark poop like my other precious fish did, he is the only fish in the tank and i clean it often, i am going to start replacing it’s water every day for a while, is there anything else i can do? also lately there has been poop wrapped around his tail and it keeps building up.. will it eventually fall off? i don’t want it to harm my fish! please help.
It will fall off 🙂
I got 2 gold fishes and 1 died the next day learnt that there was no oxygen.I got a pump then it was swimming happily but after a while, it started going to the surface and gulping air again. Is there something wrong? I don’t want to lose it!
Gulping air can be from oxygen deficiency but usually has more to do with the tank’s environment.
I have two shibunkans in a 10 gallon fish tank. Umi and Nami are their names. I got Umi first and Uni didn’t have a dorsal fin. He wasnt swimming funny until i got Nami. He hangs out in the corner all the time and his back looks like its sloping down. He gulps for air a lot too. Nami doesnt do this. Is Umi dieing?
Maybe not dying yet, but if things don’t get fixed soon he could. 🙁
Hi there,
I have two small goldfish (one black telescope and one fantail) in a 20 gallon tank. I run the filter continuously and do 80% water changes once a week. I’ve had these two fish for about six months, and feed them once per day. In the past I’ve overfed and accidentally killed goldfish, so now I’m very deliberate about not feeding them too much (despite the begging and desperate puppy eyes).
Over the last couple days, I’ve noticed the black telescope (Charlee Jr.) seems to be having a hard time finding food. Normally when I drop in floating pellets in the morning, both Buddy and Charlee Jr. swim up to the top and quickly gulp up the food. But now when Charlee Jr. swims up, he’ll gulp around vigorously but be a couple inches away from where any of the pellets actually are. Buddy has no problems finding the food.
Is it possible that Charlee Jr. can’t see the food? If so, what could have caused this and how can I help him?
Thanks,
Lexi
Telescopes don’t see very well at all. They are visually impaired and sometimes need special attention to learn who is the food provider.