Help! Goldfish are sick!

[PhoenixRaven89]

Hey everyone, hoping I can get some help. I have two Goldfish which have been perfect ever since we put them in the new 10 gallon tank. Yesterday we bought a Plecostomus from Petsmart and everything was fine. Tonight when I got home I took a look at the tank to see both of my fish, Monster and Rockstar, sitting at the bottom of the tank with clamped fins, barely moving. I have so far cleaned all props seperated the new fish and am cleaning out the tank. Any guesses on what's happening and how I can fix the problem? Thanks.

[Irish2539]

erm well iv never kept goldfish,,, i think tank may be bit small? Fist of all did u cycle the tank..? do u know Ph level n amonia ect...? sounds like a water problem.. u just need to test it.. also what type of pleco is it? some species get huge n may not be suitable for the tank.

[gm72]

Way too small of a tank for even a single goldfish. Cleaning out the tank was the worst thing you could do unfortunately.

Take all of the fish back if you are able and let's talk about stocking that small tank appropriately. While we're doing that, please read the free Ebook located in the menu to your left.

Truly starting over is your best bet at this point.

[Irish2539]

yup! i agree start over n get step by step advice from the guys here,,, and there are also articles ect.. :) Every1 makes the same mistakes when they start off.

I have a 10gal tank, here some suggestions on what would be happy in ur 10gal tank once u have it up and running properly ;)

African dwarf frog
Endler guppies
Micro rasbora
Ottos
Dwarf puffers
Shrimp
Kuhli loaches
Cory's
some tetras
ect....

most of these fish are on the site... have a look n see what ya like! bare on mind some of these cant be mixed.

[xasuma]

Well, yea, like the others say , its small to have goldfish and a pleco in there.
But i do too:hmm3grin2orange:
And i actually had the same problem with one of my fish.
I actually have 5 fish in a 10 g. (goldfish)(small)(will be rehome shortly)
and my tank isnt or wasnt quite cycle, so i figured thats why.
You have to check the ammonia,nitrites and nitrates, and even if they are in the "safe" zones, if you keep that up for more than a week or the water parameters spikes and go down with water changes the fish will "feel it" after a while.

I think that was the reason why mine goldfish(red bubble eye) was in the bottom of the tank , and now that my 10 g is finally better in water parameters he is starting to get better more and more.

And dont add more fish until everything is better!:goldfish:
And feed your pleco, the algae its not enough.

Keep the parameters controlled and try and feed them veggies, try to mix food, not always the same, and hopefully they will get better.
Good luck:22:

[annageckos]

Are these common or fancy goldfish? Either way the tank is way too small for them. I would aslo assume the pleco is a common? They get over a foot long and are very messy fish. Common goldies also get about a foot and do best in a pond. Min. tank for common goldies would be a 75 gallon. For two fancy goldies I would go with a 30 as the bear min. with a 55 being better.

Your tank is uncycled and too small. Take back the pleco and the goldfish or get a bigger tank for the goldfish. You need to cycle your tank becuse the fish produce ammonia and ammonia is toxic to fish. If you are going to cycle with fish you need to do water changes very often, most likely it will be everyday for 6-8 weeks or untill the tank is cycled. It is cycled when there is 0 ammonia and nitrites and some nitrates.