Sun’s Lament
Fish, the great Ryukin, conveyed the magic to the man.
The magic of goldfish in their aquatic land.
The man could not grasp what Fish had to say,
So Fish grew weary conveying day after day.
Then Mojo, the beautiful Red Cap Oranda, joined in the task.
Fish saw the man watch Mojo, and knew his mission was done at last.
Mojo swam alone and was sad,
for the great Ryukin had crossed the Rainbow Lilly Pad.
Unknown to the man, goldfish magic conjured as he toiled over his troubles,
and the wonderful and magical Dragon Eye came along named Bubbles.
The man watched Bubbles and Mojo swim and as they whirled and curled,
He decided these fish needed a larger world.
Mojo and Bubbles had so much room and were so excited,
and when Lil’ Fish came they were both so delighted.
The man felt the goldfish magic and wanted more and more,
So along came Barri and along came me,
As Sun continues to speak of his family.
Wabi-Sabi, the gray Oranda was such a great reflection,
he showed us beauty in imperfection.
The waters grew rough as the man floundered outside,
When Mojo past, the man’s eyes grew so wide.
The man used chemicals to ease the storm,
Only to loose Bubbles yet another Life Form.
Bari watched the man and would report to me,
for I grew blind and could no longer see.
Bari spoke of Little Joe, the new Red Cap Oranda who would quickly grow,
and remind the man of his Mojo.
The man moved me to another tank and soon I fell asleep,
I dreamed of Wabi-Sabi and began to weep.
My eyes were opened I could now see,
but Wabi was hurting and I felt no glee.
Bari hung by my side,
When Lil’ Joe crossed the Rainbow Lilly Pad we both cried.
Then imperfection struck and no beauty could be found,
Wabi-Sabi had to be put down.
A small gray Oranda and calico Ryukin are now swimming and diving,
maybe soon our world will once again be thriving.
Will the man ever truly grasp the goldfish magic and will he learn,
and will life within this world safely return?
Video of what was
(Jan 2011)
Video of Mojo and Friends (Jun 2010)
Goldfish and Plants
So I go and make some changes from comments I have received about this Goldfish Tank. First Madi and Sheri both said, “Get some plants in there”. Now there are plants. Sheri also suggested a veggie clamp which is now in the tank. Haven’t tried to feed them any veggies yet, but this will surely happen in the near future. Everyone has suggested for me to put the gravel back into the tank. Bacteria and algae form on gravel they say. The trouble is Sun and Wabi are both blind and can’t find food in the gravel so I’ve kept it gravel free for sometime now. Thought it through and have decided to put gravel in one half of the tank. The side clear of gravel is where the fish will eat. Other recommendations is never change the filter cartridges or clean the filter media while doing water changes. Then only change like 10 gallons a week. Another suggestion is since I have two filters to change cartridges and/or clean media material in one filter and leave the other one alone for awhile. I’ll be playing with these ideas. Nearly three years now and the water is not cycled yet. Hopefully soon the water will be cycled.
Bewildered
I’ve become so bewildered about these goldfish and this aquarium. Take a look at the far left hand corner of this tank and you will see Wabi-Sabi laying on his side on the bottom. Sometimes he lays on his side, sometimes upside down, sometimes he will lay kinda curled up. Looks as if he is dying, but I don’t think he is. He use to swim around so boldly always protecting Sun, the Oranda in the upper right hand corner of this photo. However, ever since his Wen has grown over his eyes Wabi has become so despondent. Wabi has been doing this side thing and upside down thing for several weeks. He eats and swims but still looks like he is dying. It is very dissappointing. Bubbles has grown so huge and stays near the bottom of the tank all the time, kinda’ keeping and eye on Wabi. Now Sun is doing fantastic swimming around like a champ as well as Lil Joe and Barri.
These poor fish have suffered so much and now for a couple of years. The ammonia level is as usual a deadly green when tested as well as the nitrites a deadly purple in color when tested. The PH and Nitrates are great. Somehow these fish have survived all the chemicals and water changes I have done. A viewer, Sheri, as made some recommendations to me which I am going to do. One I’m not going to mess with the filters for six weeks. I will change about 5 to 10 gallons of water once a week. I am going to put in some floating plants. Also I’m going to get a Veggie-clamp and feed these fish some broccoli.
I’ve thought about giving up working with these fish for the difficulties both they and I have suffered trying to maintain a decent environment. Sometimes the fish are like puppies and happy and other times the tank of fish look so pathetic. Then I figure what good is recording a history of raising these goldfish if I don’t explain the good as well as the bad times? What good is this blog if I don’t share how others have helped and advised me? I will not give up because the truth be known, I really want to be successful and I want to do what is best for these fish. But on top of all of that, I want to share this entire learning experience to all whom really care. I’ve searched the internet and have found forums and blogs about fish with tons of advice, but not a blog where trial and error is recorded. Where mistakes are openly admited and discoveries are discovered. I’m hoping viewers can turn to this blog and learn from my mistakes.
Barri, Bubbles, and Little Joe ~ Fancy Goldfish
Barri, Bubbles, and Little Joe ~ Fancy Goldfish
I’ve done everything I can think of but still can not get my tank to cycle. I’ve been told to change 10 gallons of water every other week and about 15 to 20 gallons every three weeks. I have the finest filters working as hard as can be but the levels of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are extremely high. This is why I always changed 15 to 20 gallons of water almost twice each week, for even though this is lots of work, the levels stayed halfway decent. I put some Zyme Stress in the water hoping this will bring down the Nitrites and am restraining myself from changing anymore water. I changed about 15 gallons 2 or 3 days ago and then I had changed about 10 gallons a week or so prior to that. After 3 years you would think this tank would cycle… This is a 55 gallon tank with 5 goldfish in it. The fish probably total about 35 to 40 inches in length if all of them were lined up tail to nose. Maybe this tank isn’t big enough, but according to all I’ve read it should be sufficient. Oh well… I wish I knew the secret. I wish there was someone else out there with a 55 gallon tank with five goldfish and they could tell me the secret on how it is done.
Six Fancy Goldfish
Finally my tank is back into prime condition. Now back to enjoying the fish. Here are all six of my Goldies. The one on the bottom left is a new Ryukin. The little calico Ryukin died when my tank became unsettled. This is the fourth Ryukin I’ve had. All of them have died over the last couple of years. Now the bigger fish, the two Oranda’s and the large Dragon Eye have overcome all sorts of obstacles. My belief is Ryukin’s are a more frail goldfish. My goal is to maintain the perfect tank. It is not an easy job, but I’m learning and maybe things will smooth out as I go along.
Prime Water Conditioner
Saved by Prime Water Treatment. Geez, I’ve been battling this Ammonia thing for quite sometime now. Mojo died a while back and I tested the water and found it as green as in the test tube on the right in the photo above. I figured I let the water get too dirty somehow even though I was changing water every 3 or 4 days. Never could get a handle on the Ammonia. I used Ammonia chips in one of my filters and it brought the level down to a light green. What I do is fill 4 five gallon water containers and let them sit for a few days and use that water for my water changes. I thought by letting the water sit, the bad stuff in the water would just go away. Nope, that wasn’t the case. In the above water test, the water was taken from one of the five gallon containers which had been sitting for a few days. The test proved the water to be in the toxic green level. Never a fish has been in this water, but yet it is toxic green. This is what I’ve been putting into my tank all along.
So, I put a little Prime into the water I had tested which came out toxic green. After waiting just a few minutes I retested and you can see the results in the test tube on the left which is in the safe yellow area.
The purpose of this blog is to record what I learn about raising goldfish. My goal is to raise several goldfish for a decade or longer (the same fish). So far the longest I’ve had a goldfish is just over two years and that was my beautiful Mojo.
The thing is, I had this bottle of Prime from a long time ago when I was setting up my tank and then I’ve forgotten about it. When I’ve noticed this toxic levels in my tap water, I went to research how to remove the Ammonia and came across this Prime Treatment. I knew I had a bottle of it somewhere and my wife helped me find it. Now I will be using Prime all the time. I put a little bit into each of the five gallon containers so when I do change the water it will be with safe water from the get-go. I only learn by hard knocks. I read about how to take care of a tank, but it doesn’t register with me until I actually do it or experience it.
Red Splotches on Goldfish
I’m so frustrated. The photo above shows Barri with all these red splotches. Goldfish change colors and their wen grows so strangely that I’ve grown a bit complacent. The water was sparkling clear and I thought all was right with the world, but I tested it and found the PH, ammonia, and nitrate great but the nitrite was hovering in the light to dark purple range. The thin white parts of these fish fins, rotted off within a day as the red splotches and dark red colors coated them.
The fish in the above photo is now known as Raggedy Anna. My wife Anna named her. Look what the red splotches did to her. Her fins are nearly bare bones. She had rolled over on her side and floating on the top of the tank looking pretty much gone. I moved her to a community tank for a bit until I got the Nitrite levels back down and I moved her back. She is still hanging on but I’m not sure for how long.
My guess is my tank (55 gallon) is too small for my six goldfish. Four of the goldfish: Barri, Bubbles, Sun, and Wabi-Sabi are all over six inches long. Bubbles is actually nine inches.
I put some Melafix into the water and some Stress Zyme hoping this will help. I’ve used Stress Zyme before and when I do, Bubble’s eyes cloud over. I think Stress Zyme is not good for all fish. Bubble’s eyes will clear and the red splotches will go away. I was very lucky to save these fish.
Then there is Lil’ Joe. As Raggedy Anna was floating on top of the tank barely surviving Lil’ Joe was nipping at her. I put Lil’ Joe into my 20 gallon community tank for a while.
Right now I’m replacing 5 to 10 gallons of water every day on my larger tank. This is really quite a job. I have to figure out what I’m going to do. I need to figure out how to drain the water and bring water up the stairs. It is quite the job hauling it. To get a larger tank means more water to haul up and down stairs. I need a source of water upstairs as well as a drain to continue with this goldfish raising.
Raising goldfish has turned into a huge job, taking the fun out of it. The community tank takes care of itself. I do maintenance on it once every week or so. Goldfish require everyday maintenance. I wish I knew more. I wish there was an easier way. I have two huge filters, each requiring two carbon cartridges (a total of 4 cartridges). I replace these cartridges every two weeks and that is pretty much at a cost of 20 dollars. We are talking nearly 40 dollars a month on cartridges. Is there a cheaper way? The cost and work of raising of these fish is making me wonder if it is worth it. There must be a better and more efficient way to raise goldfish, but I’m certainly learning by hard knocks.
