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The food stays at the surface but the filter tends to shoot it down in its jet stream. They seem to do most of their feeding middle of the tank or picking stuff off the gravel and moss balls. I'm thinking maybe I should pick up one of those bubble decorations since my filter doesn't produce a lot. edit: I should say the water is kinda cloudy, the ammonia levels are high, and there's still no nitrites/nitrates. I just did a 1/3rd water change. If the water doesn't clear up or ammonia doesn't go down in a day or two I'll do a bigger water change. Unless you guys tell me I should be doing it or something else ASAP. The filter was also acting/sounding weird and kind of spitting but I unplugged it, took it out, took it apart, gave the parts a quick cleaning, and put it back together and in and it seems to be back to normal. So I guess maybe there was just a clog? I think my water level is too high and some of the food is getting sucked in when I feed. I also think I'm probably feeding too much so I'm gonna cut back to when I wake up and when I go to bed. Maybe even just one of those. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Jul 28, 2018 |
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Jul 28, 2018 21:14
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Sounds like ammonia honestly. Frequent/large water changes until your cycled
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Jul 28, 2018 23:17
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So my sister gifted me a black moor goldfish (because I love the telescoping eyes and think they're doofy), but I've never really kept fish before. I did go out and buy it a much bigger tank than what he had. (froma 3.5 gallon to a 10 gallon, because most of my research said that was a minimum size for one) and ordered some goldfish-friendly moss to help filter besides the little filter I have now. I also ordered a heater and a bubbler, but hoooooo man I don't wanna kill this little guy. What all do I need to not have a goldfish tragedy? Also is 10 gallons enough for the little guy? He's only like two inches long but I know they can grow to be huge. Also, how do I make sure he's not bored in there? I put a little hidey hole in there and some fake aquarium plants until I could get the real deal. edit: also is it okay to get a few freshwater snails to put in there or will they murder each other FluxFaun fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 00:58
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Black moor goldfish, 2 inches long (how much of that is tail fin?), 10 gallon freshly set up, some moss. My immediate reactions: Do you have Seachem Prime, and what do your cleaning supplies look like? (there'll be more to this, but let's start with that)
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Jul 29, 2018 03:57
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w00tmonger posted:Sounds like ammonia honestly. Frequent/large water changes until your cycled Yeah, amonia's your issue here most likely. poo poo burns their gills
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Jul 29, 2018 10:41
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Whatever you're dosing for water conditioner, try doing a x4 dosage; if you're continually measuring ammonia it makes me think maybe your water is treated with chloramine not chlorine, which needs a bit more water conditioner to treat and then the neutralised -amine part detects as ammonia with API wet test kits even when there is no actual ammonia in the tank. I don't know how it looks on a dipstick though if that's what you're using, and I don't know if chloramine itself sets off an ammonia test. Anyone got any clues?
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Jul 29, 2018 10:58
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Fish Noise posted:Black moor goldfish, 2 inches long (how much of that is tail fin?), 10 gallon freshly set up, some moss. I'll order some of that. Right now my cleaning supplies are a little water pump to do half tank changes when the water looks a little murky. I'm not sure what all I need tbh. I did order an ammonia/ph testing kit, and that should get here on Tuesday. Also about an inch of that two inches is fin. He's really little. I think my sister probably got him from Wal-Mart or something.
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Jul 29, 2018 14:00
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Sociopastry posted:... a little water pump to do half tank changes when the water looks a little murky. You might find doing water changes BEFORE it gets murky will give you a longer living and happier fish. It will help to do some reading about the nitrogen cycle - the idea of a filter is not to just suck up solid chunks of fish poo, fish poo is pretty benign compared to the ammonia that fish constantly excrete (and which you can't actually see). You want to cultivate beneficial bacteria in your filter which will process the ammonia into less harmful forms, and you do partial water changes to keep those waste levels diluted to a comfortable level. Good luck with your new fish!
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Jul 29, 2018 14:15
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Thanks, friends. I've never really had fish before (except for the ill informed betta in a fish bowl when I was 3 that every kid has had) and I don't want Bloop to die.
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Jul 29, 2018 14:38
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What do you know about your tap water (or whatever you're planning to use for your fish)? It could be treated with chlorine or chloramine or maybe neither if you have well water. Any chlorine can damage the fish's gills, which means they can't breathe and then die. So you don't want to use untreated water to do water changes. If you have just chlorinated water you can keep your change water in a bucket, agitating with a pump for a few days and the chlorine will off-gas by itself (or treat with Prime to get rid of it all quicker). Chloramine won't off-gas and needs to be chemically treated with Prime or similar. Carbon/charcoal in filters will remove some of the chlorine but it exhausts pretty quickly and isn't intended for such use. Even bottled drinking water might have chlorine in it so you can't assume bottled water is safe to use. I think you'll have a few days before water quality becomes an issue, and I'm assuming you've got Bloop safely housed and he isn't actively dying right now. Goldfish are pretty tough so you have some wiggle room. So the first thing you need to get under control is a safe clean water supply and water changing routine, and once you've got some Prime you should be all set. Maybe get a couple of buckets just for fish care usage, I have one bucket with a long spout that I always use for clean water and different buckets that are always used for old tank water. You want to keep your fish stuff well away from soaps or cleaning products. Anyway because your tank is new you will be doing more water changes to start with until your filter builds up enough bacteria to handle Bloop's wastes. Once everything settles down it will be a lot easier and less work. Another point is that goldfish tend to do better in harder water, so it's important to know if your water has been through a water softener system (but for now soft water won't hurt). You might want to feed Bloop only a small amount of food until you're in a position where you can prepare water and do waterchanges - the more you feed a goldfish the more wastes it produces. Avoiding overfeeding is really important, removing uneaten food is also really important - I find a turkey baster is a fairly useful quick clean up tool and would recommend it for anyone keeping fish. Get one of your own and keep it with your fish stuff and out of the kitchen! Don't feel overwhelmed, just start with the basic life support stuff and work your way up from there. There's tons of information online both good and bad so check a few sources to get a feel for what makes sense - there are many many right ways to keep fish and part of the fun is working out which way suits you and your fish the best.
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Jul 29, 2018 16:08
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Enos Cabell posted:Are you keeping cold water fish? 25.7c is barely on the warm side of ideal range, definitely not high enough to warrant an emergency water change. All of my tanks are at higher temps than that year round. I wouldn't worry until it's consistently staying around 28-29. Yeah, that was embarrassing. I actually know this, but I've been depriving myself of sleep lately and go figure that it means I don't think straight. The goldfish are regularly fine in the 24 range when I come home, so this was just a dumb post. Sociopastry posted:Also, how do I make sure he's not bored in there? I put a little hidey hole in there and some fake aquarium plants until I could get the real deal. The others have you covered otherwise, but I can answer this one. Firstly, as a goldfish, Bloop will want to eat everything that fits in their mouth. Most snails aren't compatible, but the larger ones are normally fine. It still won't necessarily stop Bloop from harassing them though. I've seen Goldfish try and nibble on the big ones before, too. Plants go a long way to give goldfish something interesting, and real is definitely good too (and even help reduce ammonia!). Goldfish seem to be fans of elodea and sword plants, but if you want something they won't necessarily devour (though I recommend giving them an edible plant too), then they normally don't try to eat anubias or java. They can get bored easy, so it's also worth rearranging the tank every now and then. Honestly, the best way to ensure Bloop lives happily and not bored is to give them a friend though. I realise you probably can't do that yet (for a fancy, that's another 5 gallons minimum I think?), but it's something to keep in mind in future. Goldfish are pretty social creatures and do get lonely.
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Jul 29, 2018 16:52
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I did a half talk water change last night before bed and was feeling good because it looked clean. Woke up and it was so cloudy I could barely see the fish. I did a 3/4 change and it didn't seem to make a difference so I said "gently caress it", took the fish out and put them in bowl aside, emptied everything out of the tank including gravel and changed all the water. Sadly it STILL looks dirty, although that might be from the like 1/10th of water that I was moving the fish around in (which I shouldn't have added back but wasn't thinking). I added 4x conditinior as recommended. Ammonia is testing ok (the API test kit) for now even though it looks dirty. I'm gonna see if the filter does some damage and then do another water change tonight and try and suck up more of this crap. I'm thinking I might need to invest in a better filter than the one that came with the kit but I also wonder if I'm not just poo poo at getting the crap out of the gravel and tank when I do water changes. I suck at the gravel and get stuff for sure but I guess I"m just not doing a good enough job. Also probably overfeeding as I said before. I gave them an extra feeding last night after saying I would cut down because they seemed to be snapping at each other. But gonna have to get a little willpower, I think. But I really feel like my filter isn't pulling its weight for all the changes I'm doing. My fish all seem ok, though. And they haven't been chasing the top of the tank like before since the half tank change. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 22:00 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 21:58
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What size was your tank again? I can't seem to find it in your posts in the thread, and I don't imagine it's the 5 gallon one from before. It's usually recommended that you get a the next filter size up than the one for your tank when you have goldfish. That'd probably make your life easier, though if you do swap filter, I recommend keeping the media in the tank for a while.
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Jul 29, 2018 22:35
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Its still the 5 gallon one. I'm using this guy which says its good for up to 10 gallon but its cheap and it seems like it gets clogged easy and like... it just doesn't feel like its pulling its weight.
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Jul 29, 2018 22:48
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While you're at it, remember, there is no such thing as over filtration. The big issue with running bigger stuff is the current it produces which you can always make a baffle for to diffuse the outflow. I myself run dual filters on my 30 letting one outlet vent along the back of the tank over the bubblers and the other to diffuse by venting against the side of the tank glass. Smaller tanks are also more prone to water fuckups because there's less water to dilute the disastersSTAC Goat posted:Its still the 5 gallon one. Oh yeah....I have never had luck with fish in anything 10 or below. Get a hang on back from Aqueon or Tetra or something. Those little internal filters are like stupid light duty for poo poo like Bettas.
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Jul 29, 2018 23:01
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Four goldfish right? Yeah, that's going to be a hell of a time to keep clean. For a while, before I got the new tank, I had to emergency home four in a 120 litre tank (31 us gallons) and even that's not the best thing for them. I can't imagine a filter for a small tank keeping up with them either. I know you're not going to like this, but you're probably going to have to look into re-homing some or getting a much bigger tank. Goldfish are too messy, especially in a larger number.
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Jul 29, 2018 23:21
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How big of a tank should I go for my first one? Petco or PetSmart or one of those places has 60 gallon tanks with stands for 300 and some change. I know I'd still need to get a filter and other crap but I am thinking of getting some live plants and establishing them for a bit before picking up a bunch of black mollies or something. Maybe a couple of those freshwater shrimp and an algea eater or two.
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Jul 29, 2018 23:25
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I know, I know. I know the 5 gallon thing is me still being cheap and making my life more difficult. I'll probably suck it up and get a 10 gallon tank at least now that I'm really going. But then I gotta figure out a hood and light and get more gravel or sand and... I'm being cheap and I have space issues. But I'm sure I'll get there. Right now I'm learning on Baby's First Five Gallons.
STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 23:37
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Nostalgia4Ass posted:How big of a tank should I go for my first one? Petco or PetSmart or one of those places has 60 gallon tanks with stands for 300 and some change. I know I'd still need to get a filter and other crap but I am thinking of getting some live plants and establishing them for a bit before picking up a bunch of black mollies or something. Maybe a couple of those freshwater shrimp and an algea eater or two. The general recommendation is to get the biggest tank that you can afford and have space for. Bigger tanks are less volatile and less likely to kill all your fish from a newbie mistake because there's a lot more water to buffer out small changes.
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Jul 29, 2018 23:56
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Luneshot posted:The general recommendation is to get the biggest tank that you can afford and have space for. Bigger tanks are less volatile and less likely to kill all your fish from a newbie mistake because there's a lot more water to buffer out small changes. This is the big one, also adding plants will help and make less work for you maintenance wise because they'll act as an additional filter and use up nitrates etc
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Jul 30, 2018 00:21
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Sociopastry posted:I'll order some of that. Right now my cleaning supplies are a little water pump to do half tank changes when the water looks a little murky. I'm not sure what all I need tbh. I did order an ammonia/ph testing kit, and that should get here on Tuesday. Also about an inch of that two inches is fin. He's really little. I think my sister probably got him from Wal-Mart or something. Feed lightly Check ammonia every few days One third to one half water change if the ammonia's going up to problem levels, or once a week - if your water is chlorine/chloramine treated, use Prime on the new water. You can mix it in a bucket, or add it to the tank immediately before the new water goes in. Extra Prime is fine, and can help with ammonia if you don't have an opportunity to do a water change - instructions are on the bottle. No additional fish for now Plants are fine. Goldfish will nibble, but Bloop is still small, so for now pick what's suitable for your tank conditions, don't worry about them being completely devoured. Yet. Long term: Increase feeding if you want, but make this change slowly. Regular water changes at a reduced pace once tank stabilizes. The interval will vary. A single small goldfish fed reasonably in a 10 gallon, this might be as long as a month. If there's any place near you that'll do a full range nitrogen cycle test for free, take advantage of that. Your research isn't kidding about 10 gallons being a *minimum* tank size. Goldfish are poop machines and excrete lots of ammonia, a fancy one might not hit the same kind of body length as a regular goldfish, but it's because all that mass is compacted forwards and they get a lot wider. As Bloop gets bigger, and/or if you add more fish, expect the maintenance cycle to change, and consider bigger tanks - not an incremental upgrade either, but a significant leap in tank size. If you do this, consider keeping the 10 gallon around for quarantine/isolation/smallfish/snailfarming/miscbizarreideasyouinevitablygetwhenfishkeeping. Plants. Mid to low light plants will generally be the tougher slower growing ones that can survive with a goldfish. Feeding goldfish plant matter isn't a bad thing, though - whether this is using a plant-based food or feeding the occasional boiled pea or even going through a bunch of sacrificial plants. A bunch or two of anacharis/elodea can make for a very good vacation feeder for goldfish. Snails. Snails poop too. Don't think of snails as cleaners. Snails contribute to bioload, especially in the case of the rapidly reproducing small ones, insidiously so if they're MTS which burrow all the time so it's difficult to estimate their population. Some goldfish get really good at shucking small snails too. Large snails.... ehhhh. A little black moor obviously won't be swallowing a full grown mystery snail whole, but it may or may not peck at the eyes occasionally. This is the kind of thing that can vary a lot. Up to you. Vary up the food. Alternate between two or more staples. Have frozen stuff as a treat. Feed blanched vegetables. The possibilities are vast.
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Jul 30, 2018 01:12
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Not trying to discourage you, but worth noting- getting good plant growth requires more than you might think. Typical aquarium lighting is not sufficient to grow plants with- you'll need much higher intensity. Additionally, unless you're going all-natural with a Walstad tank, your plants are probably going to require the injection of CO2, and possibly fertilizers. Most aquarium plants also don't grow super well in gravel- they do much better with sand. This is not to say that they can't grow and be useful outside of these conditions; but if you want a lush green aquascape it'll take some effort. When done right plants provide a much more natural habitat for your fish, in addition to providing oxygenation of the water and helping to reduce nitrate levels and other toxins. Thriving plants are also really effective at preventing algae growth. That said, if you need plants immediately, surface plants like duckweed don't have most of those drawbacks. Just be ready to prune/trim on a regular basis, because duckweed spreads like wildfire.
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Jul 30, 2018 01:21
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Fish Noise posted:Short term, around about the first month: Very useful, thank you!
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Jul 30, 2018 01:42
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Some plants can get lush in basic conditions, it just takes a while. I have no CO2 and only remember to dose the plant fertilizer (seachem flourish) a couple times a month, but my tank is now completely overgrown.  That's mostly javamoss, which I don't even know what is going on there. 2 kinds of Java fern. Brazilian Pennywort which could use a trim. A few anubias, but only one is still visible under the encroaching java moss, I should probably do something about that. A couple marimo moss balls. And I don't actually remember what the dark purplish one in the midground on the left is. But they've all been in there at least 6 months and seem fine despite the neglect and the snails. Not shown: the dozen or so plants I've bought over the last 2 years that I managed to kill.  There was some trial and error involved.
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Jul 30, 2018 01:55
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STAC Goat posted:I know, I know. I know the 5 gallon thing is me still being cheap and making my life more difficult. I'll probably suck it up and get a 10 gallon tank at least now that I'm really going. But then I gotta figure out a hood and light and get more gravel or sand and... I'm being cheap and I have space issues. But I'm sure I'll get there. Right now I'm learning on Baby's First Five Gallons. *chuckles* Right tank wrong fish, huh. Nah, he's still small, so get a good filter and you should be fine till you can get a better setup. That filter you have now is garbage for what you need Facebook Aunt posted:
Murderer.....I think we've all been here too. I failed at jungle vals for gently caress's sake SocketWrench fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Jul 30, 2018 |
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Jul 30, 2018 02:27
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Sociopastry posted:Also is 10 gallons enough for the little guy? He's only like two inches long but I know they can grow to be huge. I found this guy in a 6 foot tank at the store today and thought of you! He wouldn't be able to turn in a ten gallon I don't reckon.
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Jul 30, 2018 07:38
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Gotta love it. Fed the tank zucchini for the first time in a week or so today and all of my cherry shrimp that have been awol turned up for the party. They've put on a decent amount of size and there appears to be a decent ratio of male to female shrimp. I think it helped that one of the big algae shrimp is currently occupied by the two males who are riding on her back cause they'll get rid of anyone they don't like when it comes to zucchini time.
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Jul 30, 2018 10:52
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Stoca Zola posted:I found this guy in a 6 foot tank at the store today and thought of you! He wouldn't be able to turn in a ten gallon I don't reckon.  Bloop's gonna be such a big boy when he grows up.
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Jul 30, 2018 13:40
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So I definitely think I was overfeeding my guys. I was only giving them a "pinch" but it was a big pinch and I'm doing much smaller ones now. I also went from 3-4 feedings to 1-2. The result is that my guys get way more excited and crazed for the food when I give it to them and I don't see any old food collecting on the gravel or in the moss like it was before. I might give them a 3rd "small pinch" feeding tonight since they seem hungry, but I definitely need to be more selective about that. I think my filter was also clogged or something. Its noisier now, which sucks since i sleep in the same room, but its producing a ton more bubbles. Tank and ammonia seem fine today. I'm still definitely going to get a better filter this week and think about a 10 gallon tank but I think some of the problems were my own mistakes that I'm correcting. Which is basically why I'm doing this. I'm a very trial and error learner. STAC Goat fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Jul 31, 2018 |
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Jul 31, 2018 02:12
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What kind of filter is it?
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Jul 31, 2018 07:14
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The one that came with the tank, this which seems cheap. I'm looking at filters on Amazon and trying to do some research shopping, and I'll stop by my pet store this week and talk and see what they have in stock.
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Jul 31, 2018 07:38
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I quite like aquaclear hang on back filters for their large media chamber that you can add extra stuff to, I think in a 5 gallon tank any internal type filter is going to take up too much room or be woefully undersized for what you need. I don’t think the aquaclears are very pricey either. I have a 20 on my 15g and I think it would be fine on a smaller tank, here’s a random YouTube guy setting one up on a 5.5g https://youtu.be/vOjD_Sfhzo0. You can see there’s room for more media or you could use a smaller sponge and more ceramic media etc, and you’re not locked into throwing away cartridges every month.
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Jul 31, 2018 07:55
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Oh, looks like that one might have some mechanical reliability issues. What are your desired qualities in a filter? Internal or external? Quiet? Media customizability? Overfiltration? Self-priming? edit: and yes like Stoca Zola says Aquaclears are very good and versatile and practically THE default HOB filter for a lot of people for a reason. I feel like they have a slight reputation for getting a bit noisy easily though. Fish Noise fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Jul 31, 2018 |
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Jul 31, 2018 08:01
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I went with a fluval c3. It's pretty decent and easy to maintain.
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Jul 31, 2018 08:11
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Quiet would be ideal since its in the room I sleep in. Its not a killer since I can fall asleep with the noisy one I have, but obviously less is better. Outside probably would be best since its such a small tank and I probably already have it overcrowded with decorations and plants. Its a 5 gallon tank but everyone's saying "there's no such thing as too much filtration" and my 4 goldfish are too much and need extra filtration so I've been looking at 10-30 gallon filters. I also might take the 10 gallon jump soon if I keep having problems so I'm making my purchase with that in mind. You guys don't have to do the work. I'm just a careful, deliberate shopper. I appreciate all the advice you've given me. You guys saw how long it took me to get fish. I researched computers and tvs for weeks before I bought my current. I'll spend a few days reading up on things and trying to educate myself, talking to my pet shop guy, seeing what they have in stock, comparing that to what I can get online, and make my decision and then buy. The little one seems like it can handle things for awhile, I'm monitoring the ammonia levels, and worst case I have to do another major water change in a day or so, at which point I'll probably get off my rear end and buy something so I don't have to do another one a couple of days later.
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Jul 31, 2018 08:26
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Get a 15g (24 inch footprint) or 20g (if you get a tall they're also 24 inch long footprint) they're not THAT much bigger than a 10g (20inch long footprint) and will last you and your fish a lot longer!
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Jul 31, 2018 08:44
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STAC Goat posted:Its a 5 gallon tank but everyone's saying "there's no such thing as too much filtration" and my 4 goldfish are too much and need extra filtration so I've been looking at 10-30 gallon filters. I also might take the 10 gallon jump soon if I keep having problems so I'm making my purchase with that in mind. Check Kijiji. Used tanks are cheap as poo poo and you could easily grab a 20 gallon for less than $20
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Jul 31, 2018 15:10
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Our local Petco is doing a $1/gallon sale. Doesn't help with the fittings, but it lowers the cost of getting the tank itself.
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Jul 31, 2018 18:29
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After getting my co2 working again things are back on track. Its a HUGE improvement. The only change has been the addition of co2. Nothing did well except moss before, now everything is doing great again. The first two pics are a week apart after adding new plants. The last pic is the same tank a year ago, before my co2 crapped out.  
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Jul 31, 2018 18:39
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For the first time since I started this process in January my tank is testing positive for nitrites and nitrates! This is weirdly exciting for me since I could never make this happen with the fishless cycle. The ammonia's testing a little high so I'm going to do a quick and easy 1/4 water change. The water doesn't look cloudy and they aren't gasping for air but better safe than sorry. But I'm excited something's finally happening.
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Jul 31, 2018 23:55
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