help! goldfish dying

rabialiones

usually fed goldfish with fish food from wilkinsons (own brand), no problems except water seemed to be not as clear as it should be.
my OH thought it was coz i got cheap food , so he decided to buy more expensive fish flakes again same brand.
result fish are dying one by one on a daily basis, only 3 left now out of 6.
i am sure its because of the change from food to flakes that is causing this.
any advice/ideas?

Dave_liverpool

Seperate them if at all possible, they may have a disease but be passing it on as the stronger stay well but then be swimming in dirty water.

Clean all the added extras in the bowl/tank and then ring an aquarium and get them checked
To be honest if 3 have already died they may also go.
sorry

bargainaddict

If you have a local fish/pond shop near you, take a sample of the water with you and they should test it and tell you what the prob is. They usually have something to put in the water to correct it. Good luck

wobbley

As a 'first aid' measure I would be tempted to change some of the water, a significant amount, say about half. Tapwater has chlorine gas in it so any water you use , give it a good 'thrashing and stirring' with a stick, then leave it to stand for a few hours next to your tank so that it's the same temperature when you change it.
If it is down to the food change, could it be that they are not eating it? You should ensure you only give them what they eat and avoid waste food in the tank, it's very bad for the water condition. Better to feed them too little that too much.
Fish poo is usually made safe by bacteria living in gravel or a filter. It does get complicated when you start talking about ammonia and nitrate levels and Ph values so it may be best to follow earlier advice and take a sample to your local pet/fish/aquarium/pond shop. You may be offered a 'kit' to buy but these can work out expensive so just ask them if they can test it - most will for a quid or two.
With the weather so hot it could well be down to the amount of oxygen in the water. The hotter the water the less oxygen it holds. A tank that is overstocked is quite likely to suffer this way when the temperature rises. Do you have a pump and an airstone in the tank? It may be worth getting one they are only cheap.
Whatever is wrong is must be quite bad as goldfish are usually very hardy and can withstand harsh conditions.

rabialiones

i have a pump , airstone and gravel.
dont think it was overstocked, had 4 big goldfish and 2 small ones, quite a largish tank.
I, personally think it may be the change of food as the same happened a few years ago, only they were tropical fish, and OH blamed me for buying 'cheap tack' food, which was not meant for tropical fish.
only thing is that he bought same food (which he called 'cheap tack' when i bought it). the one that had just finished which i had bought had been even cheaper than this,so he in his wisdom decided to buy expensive one.
which ultimately led to dying fish.
hope this makes sense!

chika

I'm by no means a fish expert but I'll stick my 2p in anyway! The wilkinsons food is rubbish. I foolishly decided to buy it a few months ago it makes the water filthy and my poor fish were swimming at the top of the tank gasping for air.

Stick to the good brands. I use Aquarian flakes in the blue tub. The fish seem to look forward to dinnertime and the water is always really clear!

Jay-Jay_4

I won't offer any advice. The longest I have managed to keep a goldfish alive is one week. My last one died on Thursday after being with us for only 5 days.

I'm currently watching the surviving fish swim around his/her tank and hoping that it survives a bit longer.

I know all about amminia, nitrites, nitrate... the biological filter etc.... it doesn't help!

rabialiones

chika wrote:

I'm by no means a fish expert but I'll stick my 2p in anyway! The wilkinsons food is rubbish. I foolishly decided to buy it a few months ago it makes the water filthy and my poor fish were swimming at the top of the tank gasping for air.

Stick to the good brands. I use Aquarian flakes in the blue tub. The fish seem to look forward to dinnertime and the water is always really clear!

thanks chika (did select 'thanks icon but didnt work)
email complaint to wilkinsons on its way!

Jay-Jay_4

Jay-Jay wrote:

I'm currently watching the surviving fish swim around his/her tank and hoping that it survives a bit longer.

Me and my big mouth :rolleyes:

I came down this morning to a bent fish bobbing around the tank. I had another that did this too before dying . I've done a water change, added some aquariam salt and fed it a shelled pea ...... It's alive but wonky !


I just can't keep a bloody fish alive! :cool:

Agutka

I can't kill mine.
I have a small pond in the garden. When we noticed a few million mosquito larva a few years ago I rushed to the pet shop to get some goldfish - five I think, and they took care of the problem. They perished when the local giant heron got hungry - we caught him red-handed. But then I got four more fish and now there are large, medium and tiny ones, all living happily without any help from me - they get iced over in winter, duck weeded in summer. I have no idea what they live on or how they survive such neglect, but there you go.
So my advice - dig a hole in the garden....