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)
Sun Keeping His Eyes on Me
Since Sun had his Wen surgery he has been keeping an eye on me. He watches every move I make when I enter the room. You can click onto the titles under the photos to get a larger view.
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.
Tails of Orandas
Wabi-Sabi and Sun are inseparable. Sun has been blind for some time now since his Wen has grown back over his eyes. He would sulk and not swim around so much when he became blind again however, mighty Wabi-Sabi would swim around Sun and encourage him. Sun now swims around and acts squirrely. Sun eats well since I’ve removed the gravel from the tank and seems to have a really good time.
Now Wabi-Sabi is going blind. His Wen has nearly covered both his eyes. Sun swims around him trying to encourage him. Sun will get Wabi to swim and has taught him how to collect the food which settles on the bottom of the tank. Both my Orandas are the best of buddies. This summer I will take them both in for Wen Removal surgery for not only around their eyes but also some removed which is growing and covering their back. Their Wen is so huge they tend to be top heavy.
I certainly enjoy these goldfish and intend on taking very good care of them.
Sun Flower ~ Oranda with overgrown Wen
Sun Flower ~ click here for larger image.
Sun does appear to look like a flower in this photo. For the most part, this is a very common position for Sun to be in. Not only does his Wen cover his eyes, it is also so huge that he normally rests his head on the bottom of the aquarium. I’ve removed all the gravel and bridges and things from the aquarium for Sun’s sake. He will swim into objects placed into the aquarium and has a really hard time getting to the food when it would rest between the gravel. The aquarium is more Sun friendly now. Later this year I will have his Wen surgically trimmed again at Kansas State University. Here is Sun after his last Wen Trim.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oranda Goldfish Youtube
I had watched this YouTube before getting Sun his Wen trim surgery. Just to think Sun could live to be 30 years old and to grow as large as the fish in the video. I wonder if I will live that long. Geez…. who would take care of my fish should something happen to me? Anyways, I have five goldfish in a 55 gallon tank, but if you see the size of the Oranda in the video, just what am I going to do in the future? Right now I’m looking at a 125 to a 150 gallon tank in the next few months. A tank that size will probably serve for a few years… Maybe.
Portrait of a Goldfish ~ Wabi Sabi
To see a larger version click here: Portrait of Wabi Sabi.
Wabi keeps growing and changing. To see a progress of his morph click here: Wabi Morphing. It is actually exciting watching these goldfish progress along. I’m learning day to day about goldfish. How big will they get? How long will they live?
Portrait of a Goldfish ~ Sun
Click here to see a larger version of Portrait of a Goldfish.
OK, enough about Sun. Howbeit, I’ve decided to do his portrait before moving on. It is strange, but one tends to get attached to a pet even if it is a fish. Sun has been through quite a bit for a fish but he keeps on truckin’. He gets real excited at meal times and he always allows me to hold him and pet him when I clean the tank. I googled big goldfish yesterday and learned these guy really don’t stop growing. There is a recording of a goldfish living 49 years with a norm of 15 to 20 years if they are treated well. Can you imagine if I’m still putting up posts about Sun 20 years from now. I’m going to do a page on each of my fish and come up with some sort of birth date for them Right now I’m thinking Sun is about a year old. I’ve had him for nearly 9 months or so and he was probably several months old when I got him. They say you should allow 20 gallons for the first goldfish and 10 gallons more for each additional goldfish. I have five goldfish in a 55 gallon tank. Seemed like plenty of room at the start, but these guys are continually growing. Maybe a year from now I will have to step it up a bit on the size of the tank. I’m thinking of a 155 gallon for these five fish. Will see what happens.
Sun Is Just Fine ~ Goldfish Wen Development
As you can see, Sun is doing just fine. This Wen development of fancy goldfish is something to behold. I’m supposing Sun is a year or so old. Below is a photo of Sun just after I first got him. His Wen, head growth, has grown more than any of the other goldfish. It grew so fast the wen soon grew over his eyes and he had to have surgery to remove some of it. I’ve been worried his wen may grow over his eyes again but so far things are looking ok. It did bother me as some of his wen basically deteriorated from him as in the post below this one. They say a goldfish can live up to 30 years under ideal conditions. Sun had a rough start but I’m keeping an eye on him. My plan is to record as many years as I can about the lives of these five goldfish of mine. I will record the good and the bad. Right now everything is good and all the fish are happy.
Goldfish Wen Development
After getting ready for work, I come up to my computer room (second floor) to check my things on the computer, to feed my fish, and to eat my bowl of cereal. So I check on my fish and this is what I see:
Sun has this massive thing going on with his Wen. Sun is the fish which had Wen surgery around his eyes a while back. Heck, Sun was just fine the day before. I didn’t expect this. I was shocked.
So I check on him later in the day and this is how he appeared:
The tissue has turned a more ghastly white and is now pealing away leaving a hole. Is Sun ok? What should I do?
So I just wait the day out and observe. By the end of the day the tissue is gone with just a wee bit dangling. It has been several days now and Sun is doing great. I guess this is just the way Wen develops on a Goldfish. I really don’t know much about these fish and am just learning.
Goldies Glimmering
No doubt there is a lot of work in taking care of five goldfish. However it is probably no harder taking care of five as it would be to take care of two or three. The hardest part is cleaning the tank. I just completed cleaning their tank a little while ago. I clean the tank about every three to five days. If I let the tank go for a full week the room would be smelling and I would have some very un-happy fish.
The other day my wife, Anna, and I watched a show on television about a man with an obsession of collecting and hoarding Asian trinkets and the like. Even though he had gone overboard, he sure had some very pretty stuff. The Chinese and Asian world in general, surely have a flair I enjoy. I love the colors, the designs, music, and arts the Asian’s offer. I will explore the Asian world of colors and the like with my fancy goldfish. I will share what I learn through my photos and this blog.
Fancy Goldfish Swimming
This photo captures all my aqua buddies. Bottom left corner is Sun, above him is little Barri, above Barri is my dragon eye Bubbles, in front of Bubbles is Mojoanna, and to the far right is Wabi-Sabi. Between Sun and the bridge near the bottom of the aquarium is my little cory cat Charlie. I have a smaller 2o gallon aquarium which contains some neons, guppies, balloon mollies, a loach, and a snail.
All of these fish started out smaller than Barri. Now their bodies fill my palm with their tails extending way beyond my palm. I suspect they will grow two palms long. They are housed in this 55 gallon aquarium, but when they grow larger I will have to get a larger tank. Here is a video I took of them a little over two months ago:Five Fancy Goldfish.
I will have to make another video soon so you can see how much these guys have changed. Wabi-Sabi has changed the most. He was a totally gray little guy when I first got him. Bubbles also changed lots. Bubbles fins were totally black and lacy looking, but now he is almost total brilliant gold. My goldfish bring me lots of contentment. I will share my goldfish and their stories as time goes passes. I’m an amateur with these fish and am learning as I go along. I hope you will enjoy watching their journey.
Wabi-Sabi Swims by Bridge
My goldfish are doing so good, they really are. They all have turned so golden as in this photo of Wabi-Sabi. I had a photo of Bubbles, my dragon eye goldfish, turned into my mouse pad. You could have this photo, or any photo from my gallery, turned into a mouse pad by clicking onto the following link GOLDFISH MOUSE PAD Then you will have to click around and you will come upon the mouse pad thingie under merchandise. It will cost you $9.95 and shipping, but it makes a really cool mouse pad.
