# dead goldfish



## miniloo (Feb 7, 2011)

my daughter spotted that her fish had black on its tail and main fin and also a few of its scales on near its tail, 
we did a partial water change and put some tea tree natural fish repair liquid in the tank to help it but this morning 3 days after it developed these marks its dead, was wondering if anyone could tell me what it was and what we did wrong so that it wont happen again, 
other than the marks it seemed happy and healthy and was eating and swimming normaly.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Sorry to hear about your fishie 

Could you let us know the following, to help us figure out what went wrong?

~What size is the tank?
~How long has it been set up for?
~What type of goldfish was it?
~Are there any other fish in the tank? If so, how many & what type?
~Could you test the water and post the results, please?

Thanks


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## Fishyfins (Feb 28, 2009)

black marks such as these sound very much like ammonia burns, which is quite common in goldfish.

if you post the details Magpie has aready requested, we should be able to say whether this is a likely cause or not.


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## miniloo (Feb 7, 2011)

tank size :- 12 by 20 by 14,

was set up for 9 weeks before fish was put in, wanted to make sure she knew how to do water changes, 

he was a lemon goldfish,

he was a lone fish, as i don't think the tank is big enough for more then him, we were planning on getting a bigger tank when my daughter had saved enough giving her time to check that she could look after the one that she had got.

amonia 0.25
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 20ppm

did a high ph but it wasn't the same colour as the chart,

are these wrong, i know the amonia is a little high we were treating the water and doing water changes, but i didn't think that was really high. am i wrong.

nitrite is a little high what causes this and how would i rectify it. 

any help greatfully reseaved sorry i didn't give this info this morning i was on my way to work and didn't think the readings would be right due to the fish being dead in the water.


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Ok, by my calculations your tank holds about 55 litres or so, which unfortunately makes it far too small for any type of goldfish 

Lemon goldfish are a type of common goldfish. They can grow up to 12 inches long and like all goldfish they are very messy creatures that produce an awful lot of waste. They need huge tanks with very heavy-duty filtration in order to keep them healthy and their water quality good.

A tank of that size would not be able to support a fish as messy as a goldfish, and the filter would not be able to cope with the amount of waste produced. It looks like both ammonia and nitrite levels in the tank were high, which is the most likely cause for fishies death. 0.25 doesn't sound like much, but even in small amounts both ammonia and nitrite are extremely toxic to fish. The black marks, as Fishyfins has said, would have been ammonia burns.

Please don't feel bad about it though, practically everyone who has ever owned goldfish has made exactly the same mistakes. The goldfish I now have started out in a 20 litre tank so you're not alone


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## miniloo (Feb 7, 2011)

ty for your information magpie like i said we were planning on getting a bigger tank i though that by the time it was bigger then 3inches we would have had it in a bigger tank, but it didn't last that long.  my daughter is really upset with herself, i'll be saving for a bigger tank so that she can try sgsin, 

what would you say can live in a tank this size safely. it has good air and a reasonable filtration system but sounds like its not good enough, 

i though i had read that it was 25lts per goldfish, what size should it be?


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

Common goldfish (like yours was), comets and shubunkins are all pond fish really and personally I think they shouldn't generally be kept in tanks (unless it's for a short period of time and the tank is huge perhaps).

Fancy goldfish like fantails, blackmoors, etc need to be kept in a tank of at least 100 litres, with a minimum 60 litres allowed for each fish. So 100 litres for one fish, 120 litres for two fish, 180 litres for three, 240 litres for four etc. That's a rough guideline anyway. And the filter should be external and rated for at least twice the volume of the tank you have (because of the mess they make!). Whoever told you 25 litres per goldfish needs a good telling off! 

As for your tank, your best option would be to get a small heater and go tropical. I don't know masses about tropical fish, so hopefully someone else will appear with some good advice for you. However I'd probably say you could have either a shoal of one of the smaller species of tetra, or some microrasboras, or perhaps a betta and a shoal of pygmy cories? It really depends on what you'd like to have in there  Maybe go to your local aquatics store, write down the names of any fish you like the look of, then come back here and ask more questions? 

Also, I don't know if you added anything to the water before your fishie went in the tank, but in case you're not aware you'll need to make sure the tank is fully cycled before getting anymore fish. You do this by adding a source of ammonia to the tank. If you google 'fishless cycling' you'll get step by step instructions on how to do it


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## miniloo (Feb 7, 2011)

thank you for all your help.
i did do a fishless cycle and added the bactiral liquied that i used for my tropical fish, which i had help to set up.


i wont be getting any fish for the time being but i will be thinking what i will be able to put in it, and i oviously still have a lot more to learn,


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## Guest (May 27, 2011)

It warms the heart to see other fishkeepers posting in here, takes the weight off my shoulders...


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## miniloo (Feb 7, 2011)

Chillinator said:


> It warms the heart to see other fishkeepers posting in here, takes the weight off my shoulders...


and they have given some exserlent advice )


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## magpie (Jan 3, 2009)

miniloo said:


> and they have given some exserlent advice )


Lol! Too kind 

Please don't be put off by your unfortunate goldfish experience though, miniloo. Your tank will make a great home to some little tropical fish one day


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