Meet my goldies

[Misty]

Thanks Cherry.
Like you, I like watching them too (while my fiancé is not at home and can’t comment on my obsession lol)
In their tiny fish brain “Me=food” so they get overexcited every time I get near the tank

[TropicalFishForums]

[Misty]

After pondering over developing fin/tail rot, I have eventually quarantined all of my three goldies, leaving unaffected BN pleco in the main tank (couldn't treat in the main tank, so had to be a QT). Poor things were stressing out, not understanding why they had to be placed elsewhere :-( I think now they are more or less settled and seem to be doing fine.

On a positive note, I am excited about re-scaping my tank: replacing most of my fake plants with the real ones (though it might not pan out as I want or plants being eaten by my lovely fish). I also got three pieces of mopani wood last weekend, which is currently still soaking.

Have been going over my plant selection list and will be ordering in the next few day :-)   

[Feliss]

I find it can be a bit demoralising when you get excited, buy plants, and then they get destroyed by fish (my rainbows love plants!). I try to think of it more like an experiment, and like how I treat my normal gardening, not everything will work and it's sad to see things die but some will do really well and you can always buy more :D

[Misty]

Yep, that’s the plan :-) I should expect some plants either being eaten or not settling in my tank/conditions. Guess it’s playing around and experimenting and hopefully discovering what works

[Misty]

Was planning to keep them in QT for at least a week. They seemed to be healing nicely. Got home tonight, they were looking stressed, so tested the water - ammonia 0, but Nitrite was in the purple range (I do daily small WC). So I panicked and transferred them back to the main tank. Don’t know how stressful it was for them, but one wasn’t readjusting well and tilting on it’s side in the beginning. Within prob half an hour, splits in their tail reappeared (at least on two of them)... is that simply and solely due to stress or is there something toxic/unsuitable in my main tank? I wouldn’t imagine change in environment would be that drastic (I tested pH is within 0.1 range, i.e. barely noticeable difference in colour).
So I panicked again, have done a 50% WC in my QT with extra doze of Prime, and transferred them back there...
Not great with my decisions...

[plankton]

Are you feeding the filter in the tank with more than just the bristlenose?
You'll need to use something like Safestart when you keep moving them about.
However........
I suggest you change ALL (well as much as possible) the water in the tank if they are showing problems immediately, and dose the bacterial aid when you put them back in.

[Misty]

Thanks. Yep it’s only BN who is feeding the filter, I was hoping he will be enough...
So is it  safestart by Tetra? And I don’t need to wait til I put my fish back to the main tank to add safestart? I mean just use it (with BN being the only tank inhabitant?

So yeah, moving them back into the main tank wasn’t a good idea :-( two of them seem to be doing ok( all back in QT), but one of them still seems disoriented. She appeared quite shocked when moved to main tank last night, and couldn’t regain balance for a while.
Now I’m at work and keep worrying:( what a mess :-(

[Misty]

Not doing great...
Lilly (my gorgeous red and black butterfly) has a problem maintaining her balance; occasionally swims, but quite often is on her side. I had two fish die in the past exhibiting these swim-bladder like symptoms (out of nowhere), but have never recovered from it. Don't know if it is some internal virus issue, can't be a simple swim bladder... I doubt Lilly will make it either...
Why do they keep dying on me? Seriosly!? For no apparent reason for them to get ill!

I tested the water in my main tank, all good - ammonia and nitrite both 0, nitrate 40. So why did my fish react so badly when I transferred them? Goldies do have more health issues than non-selectively bred species; but surely can't be that bad!

Sorry, I'm just having a moan!

And to add to that, my plants got delivered quicker than I anticipated, so nobody was home. So I have to rush to pick them up tomorrow. And if I ordered one day later, I could have ordered another plant I really wanted which was out of stock; and would possibly be home to receive my delivery :-S

[Gingerlove05]

Sorry to hear
Really hope everything settles down soon, i dont know a great deal about goldies :/ thats also a shame about the plants, hope you get them sorted soon

[Misty]

Thanks GL. Yep, got my plants
It is a mystery what is going on in my tank. I spoke to a really helpful man at a goldfish helpline, but he could not identify the problem. He gave me contacts of two vets who are local to me. One is on holiday, and I'm waiting for the other one to call me back.  I can't save the fish, but I want to get to the root of the problem. Basic post mortem is £46, and if they have to send samples to lab it's £196 O_o

[Misty]

Tank - work in progress. I'm cheating by planting the plants into the coconut shells, so had to get some more coconuts as used another big piece for attaching anubias :-S (and ignore the cord at the back, it keeps falling, gonna get a background later on).

Had to release Sharky and my unnamed bubble eye into the main tank, as Lilly was really bad and I was worried they'll catch something else from her. Fin rot is back... *Don't even go there* :-('

Lilly died earlier on today (as expected). Gorgeous little fish, she always loved swimming into my hand, like she wanted to be patted. I kept trying to find a vet who would be willing to perform a postmortem, most places are shut on the weekend anyway. Spoken to one of the vets I tried to get hold of yesterday (she is actually going away next week), so she advised to freeze the fish, and if I don't find anywhere to do it, she'll do it when she is back. The basic examination, not the lab one (£40-50 is more or less reasonable, I wasn't willing to pay for the lab tests). Though I doubt a lot could be revealed from a frozen specimen... 

Involving vets is probably unnecessary, but I'm a victim of my stubbornness :-S Ha what an expensive hobby; and I thought it would only involve splurging on a fish tank and a few bits and pieces   

[Gingerlove05]

Sorry for your loss Misty
I wouldn’t say thats cheating thats just utilising what you have

[Misty]

Thank you :-(

I wouldn’t say thats cheating thats just utilising what you have

Or it's rather me being lazy - I really did not want to lay plant growth substrate at the bottom of my tank. Plus I would prob had to drain my tank to do that, and would still make too much mess :-S

[plankton]

Sorry you lost Lily.
The tank is looking good, with a nice mix of real and plastic.


......hold on - plastic ! I wonder if they're catching their fins on it?

[Misty]

Thanks Ian. The plastic is the only plant in the middle, and the light coloured log to the left of anubias, the rest I’ve managed to replace with the real stuff   Will be adding more plants.
I’ve been watching them and they don’t seem to be injuring themselves on anything. And their social skills have improved so much (I’m mainly referring to Sharky lol he was the vicious one), so now they don’t nip each other anymore either