# New goldfish owner, have some issues



## enesta (Sep 12, 2010)

I received a poorly kept care of comet goldfish and put him in a 10 gallon tank, and then the same day bought a small black moor and put him in with it. I soon learned that they don't do well together, but am going to try to make it work somehow.

For some reason both fish just sit at the bottom of the tank all day. The black moor barely moves and I haven't seen him eat yet in these two days. The comet will eat food when he sees it fly around from the filter pushing it down, but neither fish will go to the surface to eat.

Any idea what could be wrong? I put the black moor all alone in a calm bowl and put a couple of flakes in to see if he'd eat, but he never left the bottom of the bowl.

I purchased a 30 gallon today and set it up - it's running now, but the undergravel filter pushes out so much air at the top, it'll throw around any food I put in. Should I turn the filter off and hope they come up eventually to get food? I haven't introduced them to that tank yet.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

it could be from the tank being not cycled. have you dechlorinated the water? just throwing them into new water and not acclimating them can really stress them out.


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## enesta (Sep 12, 2010)

It's not cycled, but I did put in solution to get rid of chlorine. What do you recommend to ensure that they CAN eat? They don't come to the surface and even if they did the filter pushes food all over the place. Sinking pellets?


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

get some seachem stability or some safe start it will help the tank cycle faster. do some frequint water changes and treat the tank with prime this will help keep the ammonia and nitrites at safer levels for the fish. you can try some sinking pellets they will eat off the bottom but there is really no reason for them not to eat of the surface!


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## enesta (Sep 12, 2010)

Do I need to treat for chlorine each time I put new water in when doing 10-25% water changes?


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## sq33qs (Jul 12, 2010)

It would be best if you do, the new water will most probably have chlorine and chloramine in it, so it's best to condition the water for your fishes sake.


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

yes dechlorinate it everytime it will be way to hard on your fish if you dont. and after so much prolonged exposure to the chlorine it will kill them if not stress them ou to the point where they get sick.


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## pinetree (Nov 29, 2009)

Dechlorinate ALL the water you add to the tank. I would try feeding them sinking pellet food, such as Hikari Lionhead goldfish food. It isn't recommended for goldfish to eat flakes at the surface. They suck in too much air and can develop buoyancy problems.


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## Peeps (May 24, 2010)

^^ Agree, get some goldfish pellets and soak them in tank water for about 5 minuted then put it in the tank. To be honest UGF suck. They get all caked up with food and it's hard to clean. If they don't get along how do you plan to make them get along?

You are going to have to do daily water changes. A trick that will help is get a stocking, put some gravel in the stocking from a cycled tank and drop it in the tank.


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## someonefishy (Oct 14, 2010)

A couple of points:

First, even if the filter tosses the food around at the surface, it will eventually sink. And healthy fish really don't mind. They can pick the food pieces right out of the surface water. The trick is to get them to the surface to do it.

Secondly, with UGFs, you have to siphon (vacuum) the gravel whenever you do your water changes. This keeps the biological filtration bed from becoming overwhelmed with debris. A UGF will work well, but the beneficial (aerobic) bacteria can only handle so much. By vacuuming the gravel, you will remove a lot of that workload. Siphon until you see the water rising up clear in the large siphoning cylindar. Once it begins rising up clear, most of the debri in that spot has been removed. Then you move on to the next spot and siphon there, until all the gravel has been vacuumed.

Yes, it's more work, but with an UGF, it's a MUST.

A third point:

Did you acclimate your fish before putting them into the tank? You need to float the transfer bags on the water's surface for about 10 minutes so the temperature inside the bag equalizes with the temperature of the tank water. This gives the fish a chance to adjust before entering the tank.

Goldfish are hardier than tropicals, but they also need more maintenance, because they excrete more waste.

Until your tank cycles, I would do daily water changes, and condition the water each time.

It could also be, since these fish were poorly cared for when you got them, they are still suffering the effects of that poor care. It might take awhile for them to come around.

A 30 gallon tank is much better for goldies than a 10. They need lots of room.

Best of luck -- someonefishy


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