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.
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.
How To Install Eheim Basic Canister Video
I’ve had the hardest time trying to keep my Goldfish Tank clean. So I go and write Dr Foster and Smith pet store and ask for their advice. I sent them a link to this blog and to my record of maintenance and this was their response:
Dear Preston,
Thank you for your email. This tank size should be fine for 6 fancy goldfish. The recommendation for a freshwater tank is 1″ of fish per gallon. We are concerned that you are doing too many and too large of water changes. The recommended amount is up to 30% once a month or 10% once every other week. Change water too frequently or too large a volume depletes beneficial bacteria that helps break down ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates.
Canister filters are beneficial because you place specialized media to help with a more specific problem. Such as high nitrates. We recommend the Eheim Classic Canister Series. I have provided a link to the item below.
If we can be of additional assistance, please contact our Internet Customer Service Department at 1-800-381-7179, via email or on our Live Help link. Live Help is available 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST Monday through Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CST weekends.
Sincerely,
Customer Support
Drs. Foster & Smith
Foster and Smith Aquatics
I value their opinion for they have to know much more than me and besides, less water changes works great for my tired old back.
Anyways I order this Eheim and it is delivered by Fed Ex. Fed Ex had a bad week or two because of snow covered airports so they handled my filter a bit much and when it arrived the box was a bit smashed and the intake valve on the canister was busted.
I call up Foster and Smith and they were so kind and understanding about the situation. That very day they sent me another filter plus a mailing label to mail back the busted one at no charge.
All the time I’ve been waiting on this filter I had googled it and watched a few YouTubes. Wasn’t too much out there about installing this filter. Most folks complained about the instruction booklet, and I agree for the booklet gives so little info. Also most folks complained they wished they had a longer hose than the one which came with the filter. With this in mind I ordered an extra 5 foot of hose for this one, which I never used however, I did use every inch of the hose which came with the filter.
I hope you find this video useful if you have decided to purchase the same type of filter. I must say this is the quietest filter I’ve ever seen. Although folks complained about the instruction booklet and the length of hose, they all swore this is the best filter they have ever had. Many claimed to have used this filter for 15 years or more.
After putting the filter together, as you can see in the video, it ran like a charm when I plugged it in. Before I plugged it in I sucked on the end of the output hose to siphon the water into the canister to prime it and wound up with a mouth full of fish water, nitrites and all… Yuck….
I still have one Emperor 400 filter on my tank along with this Eheim 2215 canister. Also I have the ultra-violet light pump and air pump going. The way I figure it, all 55 gallons of this tank is being completely filtered every 20 minutes or so.
Bright Wabi-Sabi
So I get this idea to remove all the pebbles/rocks from the aquarium for several reasons.
1. Because Sun, my Oranda with the overgrown Wen, is blind and can’t see his food and the food falls between the rocks.
2. Food fallen into rocks calls for a messy aquarium.
3. After they eat for a few minutes I can easily see if I’ve over fed and can recover any excess.
All in all it makes it easier for Sun to eat and for me to keep the tank clean. I’m discovering if there is anyway to make it easier to keep the tank clean it might be worth you while to do so.
Also I removed the background paper and put black construction board in it’s place. So far so good. This is a pretty inexpensive background and the black really makes the gold color of the fish stand out.
Filtration System for my 55 Gallon Goldfish Tank
In the above photo you can see the two emperor 400 water filters and the ultra-violet pump at the far end of the tank. There are four bio-filters and a total of 4 carbon cartridges at work at all times. I also treat the tank with Zyme Stress and Prime to help control the Nitrites and Ammonia. Even so it is quite daunting to keep up with this 55 gallon aquarium. These fish are growing larger. Bubbles the dragon eye is the largest, he is the one with his mouth out of the water in the photo. I have started an extra page on this blog to record all the maintenance. The page is located at the very top of the blog as Record of Aquarium Maintenance.
Two Oranda Goldfish ~ Sun and Wabi-Sabi
Two Oranda Goldfish ~ Sun and Wabi-Sabi
My two Oranda’s, Sun and Wabi-Sabi, are the best of pals. Wabi is Sun’s eyes. Here is what Sun’s eye’s looked like after he had wen, head growth, surgery: Sun’s surgery 7 months ago. However the wen has grown back over Sun’s eyes and almost over Wabi’s eyes as well. I may consider surgery for both of them this coming summer. The fish can smell their food out and Wabi leads Sun to his food, but their head growth is so huge when they go for the food their head gets in the way. They obviously eat well so I guess this isn’t too much a problem.
Now Wabi-Sabi was a little gray Oranda at the start: Wabi-Sabi Then and Now. It is interesting watching theses fish develop.
Stress Zyme kicks Nitrite in the Butt
BEFORE
Stress Zyme kicks Nitrite in the Butt
AFTER
If you click onto the captions under the photos you will see it in a larger size. Anyways, I finally cleared the Ammonia in my tank by using the water conditioner “Prime”. Then the nitrites took off. Never have I ever had zero ammonia and zero nitrite at the same time. Now Prime brought down the ammonia level and quick so I googled for something which would bring down the Nitrite and came up with Stress Zyme. I had some Stress Zyme from when I first set up my tank. Once cycled I thought I didn’t need the stuff anymore. Boy was I wrong. I put five cap fulls into this 55 gallon tank and I could have sworn the Nitrite went up in just a hour or so and I went to bed worried. When I woke up in the morning and retested I had zero nitrites. So the bottom photo shows zero amonia and zero nitrites at the same time. A first for me. Yeah!!!
So I’m going to the store to buy another 16 ounce bottle of both Stress Zyme and Prime to use weekly along with my water changes. Can I have perfect water at all times? We will see.
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.
Aquarium of Goldfish
Today I put two glass hoods on my goldfish tank. I was so glad to get rid of the plastic ones which were all scarred up and restricted light. I also put in a new heater for the thermostat on the other heater was stuck keeping the water too warm. I’m still struggling trying to keep the water well cycled. It is tough. I’ve got the ammonia to light green, almost yellow according to the chart. The best of course is yellow. When Mojo died the ammonia registered very dark green. The PH is just a wee bit high, but all in all the nitrates and nitrites are looking real good. I’m still trying to master this water situation. Since Mojo’s death I change five gallons of water every day to every other day. Every two weeks I give an extreme clean where I completely break down both empire 400 filters, clean them, put them back together and replace all four carbon filters. I clean the ultra-violet light pump, and change 15 gallons of water.
If anyone is planning on raising goldfish, be ready to do a lot of work. It is not easy at all. I have a 20 gallon aquarium which I have community fish in, now this aquarium is easy. A community tank is pleasing and relaxing however, goldfish are more like pets and have terrific personalities. They swim to the front of the tank to meet me like puppies every time I enter the room. Goldfish are great fun, but boy are they a challenge to raise. I will continue to report my successes and failures on this blog. Hoping of course to have less failures as I go along.
And Now There Are Six
The little Red Cap Oranda will most likely be called Lil’ Jo filling in the fins of the Late Mojo. Not sure yet for the name of the calico Ryukin. I still miss Mojo and realize I’m responsible for his death. I grew complacent after putting in some new filter systems and didn’t change the water as often as I should and the Ammonia Levels quickly grew to the toxic level. Even Sun was becoming listless. Lucky for the fish and me I didn’t lose them all.
I scanned the internet trying to figure out how to bring the ammonia levels down. All I learned was maybe I have too many fish. Accordingly I should have 20 gallons per fish. That is good and fine, but I’m unwilling to give up any of my fish and am unable to get a larger tank at this time. So I changed about 30 percent of the water, but the levels were still much too high. I replace the four carbon filters and still the levels were too high. The next day I replaced 5 gallons of water in the Am and again in the PM. Now the ammonia levels are finally dropping. My plan now is to change out 5 gallons of water per day with a major clean once a week. Will see how that works.
This blog is mainly a recording of what I’m learning about raising goldfish and of course about the goldfish I’m raising, as time goes on. I’ve never claimed to be an expert; far from it.
Later I’ll get a larger tank, probably 125 to 150 gallons. However I have to figure out a system of handling the water supply and how to drain the water. Right now I’m hauling the water up and down stairs and this is wearing me out. The larger tank will have to be downstairs near the television. However it works out I’ll be sure to record the experience.
Tails of Fancy Goldfish
Today my fish are doing extremely well. Sun is swimming around a lot more and is definitely on the road of recovery. Even though the five goldfish are in a 55 gallon tank, I can see they will be needing a larger home when they fully develop. Right now what they have is sufficient however, I am constantly having to clean the tank. I do about a half tank change once a week and change about five gallons of water every other day. Every morning I clean the carbon filters leaving the bio-wheel filters alone. I have an ultra-violet light/pump going 24/7 to help keep the water pure and as free as possible from bad bacteria. I have an emperor 400 pump going to clear the debris and and waste from the water.
