New fish added suddenly! How often should I do WC's now?

HI everyone, 2nd post today because of a recent event that occurred in my household. I performed a 75% water change to drop some of those incredibly high levels I had earlier today and it seems to be working as 160ppm of Nitrate is down to 40ppm, Nitrite is 0.25 now and Ammonia is well, at 0.25ppm.

Anyway, now to the meat of this post. I left to go work on some things at the library and hours later when I come back, THIS is swimming in the 55 gallon.


That, my dear Fishlore people is the most adorable White Ryukin (According to my family and Petsmart and as far as I can tell as well)

So, my family added a fifth fish to the tank without my consent and they seem to have forgotten what I told them about the Nitrate levels and such...I didn't get mad or anything though, this is just another obstacle to get over in the difficult world of fish keeping. So now that there's FIVE Fancy Goldfish (Dear god that's really overstocked) how often should I do WC's and how much. The fish has been in the tank since 5ishPM and it's now 8:18pm and I performed the test which yielded the results above just a few minutes ago and they matched the ones from earlier today after the WC. So nothing's gone up or down since then, no spikes so that's good.

I'd re-home him but I'm afraid we've gotten attached to him already...

Y'know, I really hate Goldfish and their cute nature sometimes....*Sigh* If you can think of any names post them down below.

P.S. I'm going to be getting another 55 gallon in the near future to house this Ryukin and some other Telescopes as well....wish me luck..

 

Let your nitrates be your guide on water changes. I ideally you want nitrates under 20ppm, but for sure under 40ppm. So just do large enough, frequent enough water changes to keep your nitrates down. This assumes though that your ammonia and nitrites zero out. You may need more filtration due to not having enough surface area to grow a bacteria colony large enough to handle all the ammonia output.

In my 25 gallon goldfish tank, I have one fantail and an Aqueon 20 and an AquaClear 50.

 

Aaaawwww.
He is so cute! I can see how you got attached so quickly.
That little puppy look peering out at you.

I agree with Jdhef, watch your nitrates. Do as many water changes as necessary to keep your nitrates under 20. Adding filtration is a good idea. It is always good to have more than necessary, especially for goldies. Also, it is good for an emergency set up. If you ever have to quickly set up a QT, you'll have a cycled filter ready.

 

Aaaawwww.
He is so cute! I can see how you got attached so quickly.
That little puppy look peering out at you.

I agree with Jdhef, watch your nitrates. Do as many water changes as necessary to keep your nitrates under 20. Adding filtration is a good idea. It is always good to have more than necessary, especially for goldies. Also, it is good for an emergency set up. If you ever have to quickly set up a QT, you'll have a cycled filter ready.

He's adorable. He wasn't even quarantined, god forbid he have something! He seems to check out externally though and his poop's not white/stringy...

Let your nitrates be your guide on water changes. I ideally you want nitrates under 20ppm, but for sure under 40ppm. So just do large enough, frequent enough water changes to keep your nitrates down. This assumes though that your ammonia and nitrites zero out. You may need more filtration due to not having enough surface area to grow a bacteria colony large enough to handle all the ammonia output.

In my 25 gallon goldfish tank, I have one fantail and an Aqueon 20 and an AquaClear 50.

I'll add more Filtration, I think I'm going to add another Top Fin Power Filter 75, luckily they sell them separately at Petsmart. I'll also do as many changes as I would need to in order to keep Nitrates down to 5-20..

 

He's so cute! I get why you guys love goldfish so much! Good luck!

 

He's so cute! I get why you guys love goldfish so much! Good luck!

Thank you!

 

So I probably shouldn't beat myself up at letting him stay but I just hate animals suffering in bad environments. The plus side is that its not a bowl, it's filtered, he has friends and he looks healthy...I'll do whatever maintenance needed for the fishies and our family

ill get another filter and eventually another tank

 

Your new fish is a little cutie. Does this make 5 goldfish in a 55? If they are all on the small side you should be fine for awhile. They are huge poopers and you will need that other filter. It's best to meet 10x the filtration. So, on your 55 you'll want 550gph. You already have some advice on what to do with your water changes now but when they get bigger you'll want to do them 2xweek with 50% plus w/c.

I have three big goldfish in a 60 gallonand I do at least a 85% w/c every 5 days to keep my fish healthy and the tank param. in check. I couldn't imagine 3 years ago that my first fish would become as big as he is. He's a crowned pearlscale that my daughter brought home from Petco almost 3 years ago. He's at 7 inches total now. Maybe a bit more.

 

He is adorable! Dont rehome him. Jsut do frequent WC


"Loving a pet is not enough, you have to discipline it, feed it and treat them when they are sick."
-Cacret

 

IME, the healthier the food they eat is, the less poop they'll do.
I used to feed my goldies flakes and they were crazy poop machines, but since I started making my own for them, they don't poop half as much. You may want to give it a try.

 

IME, the healthier the food they eat is, the less poop they'll do.
I used to feed my goldies flakes and they were crazy poop machines, but since I started making my own for them, they don't poop half as much. You may want to give it a try.

Ooh, I should try this out...

I currently feed them TetraColor Sinking Granules because I despise flakes and while these don't stay floating I'm sure they're made of the same stuff the flakes are but I can't verify due to not having any flakes to compare. Anyway, I'll try this out and use this to train them to hand feed as well because it should be like a gel food right? Unless it like breaks up in the water...

He is adorable! Dont rehome him. Jsut do frequent WC


"Loving a pet is not enough, you have to discipline it, feed it and treat them when they are sick."
-Cacret

I don't have the heart to re-home him, I admit though the thought had gone through my head for a second and then I realized "IT'S SO CUTE, I CAN'T"

 

It is like a gel food. You can cut it into bite sized pieces or mush it with your fingers and spread it into the water. I have two large goldies and two small ones in the same tank. The large ones can eat the pieces I cut the cube into, but for the smaller fish, I press those small pieces against the plate to mush them and dip the plate into the water, wiping the mush off. The gel stays together enough for the fish to eat it. I would attach a video of how I feed my fish, but I'm not willing to give my phone number to google to set up a Youtube account that will allow me to post videos.

 

Sorry for getting off your topic but wanted to add about your food conversation:
Goldfish shouldn't be eating flakes anyway. There isn't much nutritious value anyway. A couple of great sinking pellets are New Life Spectrum Thera-A. This food has garlic in the ingredients. Another sinking pellet is HikarI Lionhead. This is suppose to be good for wen growth. Both foods I love and my fish do good on these.

 

HikarI goldfish pellets are good, but don't feed too much of pellets, also DO NOT let the pellets float, the goldfish(with a super modified body) will gather up air, and can lead to swim bladder disease.
Thumbs up on the bubbles in the tank!
Always let the food sink.
I did this when I had goldies(I gave them to my uncle)
I take the pellet and throw it really fast into the water. It sinks right away.
However,if the Goldie feels a bit bubbly, feed it peas (boiled, and skin peeled off). It usually helps it's immune system and the Goldie won't be full of air.
For the tank size and bioload, I think you can pass for now, as long as you keep up filtration(I recommend 2 filters)
As they mature, think of a 75 gallon

 

HikarI goldfish pellets are good, but don't feed too much of pellets, also DO NOT let the pellets float, the goldfish(with a super modified body) will gather up air, and can lead to swim bladder disease.
Thumbs up on the bubbles in the tank!
Always let the food sink.
I did this when I had goldies(I gave them to my uncle)
I take the pellet and throw it really fast into the water. It sinks right away.
However,if the Goldie feels a bit bubbly, feed it peas (boiled, and skin peeled off). It usually helps it's immune system and the Goldie won't be full of air.
For the tank size and bioload, I think you can pass for now, as long as you keep up filtration(I recommend 2 filters)
As they mature, think of a 75 gallon

....or a 100 gallon.

Anyway, thank you for the tips! The bubble bar is going to be disappearing and going to reappear in the form of a Bubblecano, the thing floats away without all the rocks on top and when I add in the decor I'm planning, they're going to look out of place...