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.
Nitrite, Nitrate, Nightmare Survivors
Back in March of this year I put my fish through an awful ordeal. It was a nightmare and my fish suffered. Provided are the THEN and NOW photos of my Aqua-babies.
In the photo of carnage you see Lil Fish in the far left ~ he died. In the middle is Mojoanna with a deep scarred red varicose fantail. Below, almost dying on the bottom is Wabi-Sabi my once gray Oranda. In the upper right is Bubbles my Dragon Eye. To the far right near the bottom is Sun my golden Oranda. Not pictured is Barri, the baby lionhead. My wife had put Barri in her community tank until I made my tank safe. All of this was brought about by my ignorance on not cycling my tank.
However…
In the photo of beautiful life are the same fish minus Lil Fish. In the far left eating food off the gravel is Sun my goldie Oranda. Since the first photo Sun had surgery removing Wen from around his eyes so he could see. Beside Sun, is Bubbles my Dragon Eye. Bubbles is now 9 inches from tail to nose. Above Bubbles is my angel Mojoanna with a flowing beautiful flawless tail. To the far right completely opposite of Sun is Wabi-Sabi my little gray Oranda now turned richly gold with a highly developing Wen. Swimming off in the upper right coroner is Barri, the lion head my wife had a really hard time letting go of, but relented knowing he needed to be with the other goldfish.
Click here to see a larger version of Fish Family of Five.
Portrait of a Telescope Eye Goldfish ~ Bubbles
To see larger image click here Bubbles
Every few months I will try to make a new portrait of each of my fish to help record their growth and development. I believe Bubbles is nearly 9 inches from nose to tail. He is the largest of my goldfish.
None of my goldfish are aggressive nor are they nippers. They are very pleasant and get along well with each other. Each of them have special traits and personalities. All of them make me smile and I sure enjoy having them.
Portrait of Mojoanna a Red Cap Oranda Goldfish
Click here for larger viewing of Mojoanna
So I find taking care of goldfish can be quite a task. The major job is cleaning the tank. This has to be done every 3 to 4 days with my growing goldfish in this 55 gallon tank. I remove 15 gallons of water, break down and completely clean the filter, break down and clean ultra-violet light filter, scrub sides of tank and remove debris when I suction the water out. Put filters back together and place onto the tank and then refill the 15 gallons of water from 3 five gallon jugs. Then I have to re-fill the five gallon jugs so this water can be used at the next cleaning.
My five goldfish are growing fast and this 55 gallon aquarium is becoming quite small for them. I saw a 125 gallon aquarium today which I think will do quite nice. It will be a while before I can get it. I need to study and find what is the best filtration system I can get. Presently I have an emperor 400 pump which does a good job, but I am having to clean the tank often. Is there a system out there which will keep a 125 gallon tank clean for a longer period of time? I mean having to change 25 to 30 gallons of water every 3 or 4 days will really become quite a job.
I really enjoy my five goldfish and I plan on having them for a long time. As I learn about them I will record my findings on this blog. A 125 gallon aquarium will provide 25 gallons of water per fish. Maybe in a few months I’ll get this new aquarium. So much to learn before I do…
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.
Barri the Lion Head Goldfish
I have five goldfish in a 55 gallon tank. They range in age from a few months to a couple of years old. Barri, short for Barracuda, is the baby. I purchased Barri at Petsmart. They had him listed as a Lion Head however, his head hasn’t grown any. His body has the egg shape. Wabi-Sabi and Sun both have enough head growth to make up for ol’ Barri. Sun had Wen Trim surgery a few months back and I will not be surprised if he will need it again. I’m going to have to wait until he is fully grown before I do the surgery thing again. There is so much to learn about these fish.
I am surprised on how big these fish are growing. Barri’s total size from nose to end of his tail will fit into the palm of my hand. My other goldfish are nearly two palms in length from nose to end of their tail. Watching these fish grow is fascinating. You never know from day to day what will happen. Wen grows and develops like exploding lava. Horns appear on gills and on their head from time to time, the little devils.
The goldfish certainly enjoy getting attention. Barri is a little showoff when I’m taking photos. He is not camera shy in the least. They love to eat. I feed them three times a day. They get a bit at 5:00 AM, 12 noon, and around 6:00 PM. I feed them just enough to where they eat it up in a couple of minutes. I have a variety of food I give them. I like feeding them little pellets which float to the bottom and rest between the large pebbles. The fish will move rocks for a long time in search of the pellets giving them something to do.
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.
Oranda Goldfish Named Wabi-Sabi
This morning it came to me about how lonely my five goldfish are. Anna, my wife, indicated to me maybe they aren’t lonely and I just think they are, which may be true. I wonder what I can put into their tank to give them something to do. I do not want to clutter the tank with things just blocking their passage for they need their room. What type of toy, or is there a toy fish would enjoy? What would entice their attention?
Oranda Goldfish named Wabi-Sabi at Surface and Surface Photography Gallery.
Goodmorning Mojoanna
It is 4:45 in the morning and my five goldfish are swimming around looking as if they are mighty hungry. I’m up every morning at this time getting ready to go to work. I come into this room, turn on the table lamp, hit a key on the keyboard for the computer to wake up, turn on the lights in both my aquariums, and then sit down to eat my bowl of cereal and to check out messages and so forth on the computer. Featured in this photo is Mojoanna. She is my oldest fish. Her body fills the palm of my hand and her tail extends out past my palm. Barri is the smallest and the other three are larger than Mojoanna. When I hold Bubbles, Wabi, and Sun their body extents past the palm of my hand. I will not be surprise if the three of them grow to two palm lengths. When I clean the goldfish tank I always hold and pet the fish. They allow me to do this. Not at first, they were scared when I first held them. Now they are quite use to it. I really do enjoy watching these fish and the antics they pull.
I have a smaller fish aquarium sitting on my computer desk which houses several neons, guppies, mollies, and a loach. I will feature them from time to time.
Wabi-Sabi Continues to Change
This is not two different fish, both photos are of Wabi-Sabi. Actually when we acquired Wabi-Sabi we thought him to be a rather large goldfish. We thought it pretty cool he was gray. As he continued to grow an orange tint evolved, as can be seen in this link. As the gray started spreading out and the orange started to appear it was as if lava was rising breaking up the crust of his older self. Wabi is rather large now and his head growth (wen) is developing even further. It is fascinating watching these fish turn into the engineered fish the Chinese created.
Fancy Goldfish and a Cory
Here are all five of my goldfish. From left to right they are Mojoanna, Wabi-Sabi, Bubbles, Sun, and Barri. The catfish, I just call him Charlie. I had almost ran out of their favorite food which is Saki-Hikari Fancy Goldfish Food. My first supply of this food came from Doctors Foster and Smith on-line store so I ordered from them again. However they were out and put a back-order in for me. So I thought in a week or two longer I would get it, but it never came. This was like over a month ago. So I email them and they say it will be another month before they get any more from their supplier. Since I already paid for the shipping, I’ve let the order remain and maybe in a few weeks I’ll get the two packages I ordered. Well my fish don’t really understand why I’ve rationed them on the good stuff and were getting impatient with me. They kept giving me this worried look. So I go ahead and order a package from Amazon while waiting on the order from Foster and Smith. The food came in yesterday so I give the fish the rest of the food I had been rationing out. They went crazy. They really love this food. I feed them crisps and flakes, but this stuff they go nuts over. So my fish will have to work with me here because the food is rather expensive along with the shipping. I will not feed it to them at every feeding, but every other day or so I will. I sure do enjoy these fish. They are a pleasure to watch.
Colorful Bubbles
Bubbles had just finished eating and started swimming to get in a little exercise. All my goldfish have turned into brilliant colors of gold. Howbeit this photo is a bit enhanced, but still all the fish are looking real good. It is amazing to watch them grow and develop. Wabi-Sabi is totally gold now. He was solid gray, then a black gold, and now vibrant gold. Wabi’s wen (head growth) is still growing as well as Sun’s. Barri, the little Lionhead, has yet any wen. I wonder if he will ever grow any.
A Brand New Day with Sun
Each morning I meet my pets, dogs and cats, with a hug and I tell them we get to start a brand new day together and isn’t that so wonderful? I simply really do love my pets. I’ve lost pets in the past I’ve loved just as much. Their passing hurt me terribly. Many times I’ve held them right after they were gone, and would think of all the wonderful times we had together, how lucky I was they shared their short life with me and how I wished I had another brand new morning to share with them. With any luck I should still have a few years left with all my pets, but when they really warm up to me, cuddle with me, I enjoy this affection so much and I realize how short lived it will be and it hurts. So I try to just enjoy the day I’m in. I do not want the day, the week, the month or the year to hurry by. I know in a few years I will be able to retire which is a good thing and something to look forward to, but in pushing those years to go by I quicken the time I will not have my wonderful pets. So I’m in no hurry for time to go by. Today is great because it is a brand new day with my fancy goldfish “Sun”.
Work and Worry
Mojoanna is in her own little world swimming by the Bonsai Tree. As I grow older I find myself wrapped into my own world. This is not necessarily a bad thing. I wish I could have been this way many years ago. Work, life, people, and stuff was always on my mind. Many times I’ve been worried about this or that. I bet if I could ad up all the hours and minutes I’ve worried over something it would equate up to months or even years. Was all that worrying a waste? Probably most of it was misspent time, but some of the time worrying I probably put two and two together and figured out things which help alleviate the situation.
Keeping busy and working hard is what works best for me. There is a time coming when I can retire if I choose to do so. This worries the hell out of me. Should it? Many folks, most folks, count on and get real excited about retiring. I guess if you retire you can go to restaurants with all the other old folks and collect on your senior citizen discounts. You can go fishing…. Yikes… no fishing for me…. What a terrible thing to even cross my mind. Maybe I could buy a Harley and hit the streets. Only problem is I couldn’t hold the bike up and would most likely have an accident before even leaving the driveway. Maybe I’ll just work until I can’t work any more. Tis’ all I know…
Fancy Goldfish and the Pet.com Buddha
Wanting to give my goldfish aquarium more of an Asian flair, I acquired a Buddha from Petco.com. I will be taking a lot of photos of these fish and to make it interesting I need interesting Decor. I make sure my fish have plenty of swimming room first and foremost. The fish are the main subjects, but props are nice.
I had ordered this Buddha and a couple more items from Petco and they shipped them right away however, Fedex miss-delivered my package. The tracking had the item out for delivery and later had it delivered, only not to me. Petco was real good about it and sent me another order. While waiting on the new order the old order appeared by way of a staff member of the local high school. The high school was the recipient of my miss-delivered package. I called and emailed Petco to let them know I had received the items. Petco was able to stop the second order. The second order was shipped from Canada, to Tennessee, and made it’s way to Kansas before it was turned around and headed back to Canada.
Tigger and the Sun
My pets bring so much satisfaction into my life. I enjoy the comfort and laughter they bring. I feel so sorry for folks relinquishing ownership of their pets due to hardships such as the Gulf oil spill and general hard times. I am so fortunate not to have to make such a decision. My home would be so lonely without my pets. Once again I’m fortunate to have a wife which shares my same passion. Our life is based around our pets and that is ok.
Wabi Sabi Glows
To capture this image, I was laying on the floor with my head propped against my chair. As I was snapping away my little dog, Moppet, came up crying and whimpering. He was concerned I was hurt or something for I am not normally lying on the floor. Moppet is a true pal. I will do many entries about this little dog over time.
