New Goldfish - Quick Cycle

So a neighbor who was moving just gave me a fantail goldfish in a half gallon bowl .
She said she’d had it for a year and I was surprised .
Right now I have an empty 7 gallon .
But it’s not cycled and I don’t feel comfortable keeping the goldfish in that tiny bowl.
What do I do?

 

It's better in a 7 gallon than a bowl.

Do you have any large tubs?
You can make a makeshift pond.

 

It's better in a 7 gallon than a bowl.

Do you have any large tubs?
You can make a makeshift pond.

I live in an apartment right now and don’t have a tub handy.
And I really can’t move any media from my other tank as it has some parasite in it right now and I really don’t want to cross contaminate.

 

How big of a tank can you have?
30 is the best, but a 20 long could work.

 

How big of a tank can you have?
30 is the best, but a 20 long could work.

Right now all I’ve got is a 7 gallon and I highly doubt I have enough space for another big tank .

How big of a tank can you have?
30 is the best, but a 20 long could work.

How about I put the fish in and do a 50% WC every day for a couple of weeks ?

 

That would work, but a 7 gallon won't be enough long term.

 

You can try giving the fish to a LFS.

 

That would work, but a 7 gallon won't be enough long term.

Ah yes I am aware of that . Right now the fish is about an inch long , so it’ll probably be another year or so before I’ll need to upgrade .right?
So can I go ahead and add the fish into the tank ?
BecAuse I really can’t watch the fish be in that bowl.

You can try giving the fish to a LFS.

Can’t do that , the person who gave it to was pretty attached to this fish so I don’t think I’ll be able to do that.

 

Looks like you got to put the fish in the 7g and do a fish in cycle

 

Looks like you got to put the fish in the 7g and do a fish in cycle

Okay. So what suggestions do you have before I start.

 

7 gallons for a 1 inch fish? I think that would be fine. Also it might have it’s growth stunted because it lived in such a small bowl. You should move it because what is the difference of a 7 gallon uncycled tank and a 1 gallon uncycled tank or uhh not cycled, I don’t know how to say it, but whatever!

 

7 gallons for a 1 inch fish? I think that would be fine. Also it might have it’s growth stunted because it lived in such a small bowl. You should move it because what is the difference of a 7 gallon uncycled tank and a 1 gallon uncycled tank or uhh not cycled, I don’t know how to say it, but whatever!

great thanks.
Also what substrate should I choose

And do I keep the fish alone?
Will it do fine by itself?

 

great thanks.
Also what substrate should I choose

You can use gravel, or any type of sand.

And do I keep the fish alone?
Will it do fine by itself?

Yes, you can keep it alone.

 

You can use gravel, or any type of sand.



Yes, you can keep it alone.

Great thanks a lot.
Is big gravel fine to use ? Because I read thAt goldfish like to sift through sand .
But I already have a lot of big gravel on hand

Great thanks a lot.
Is big gravel fine to use ? Because I read thAt goldfish like to sift through sand .
But I already have a lot of big gravel on hand

Big gravel as in .5 -1cms

 

And do I keep the fish alone?
Will it do fine by itself?

It will be fine when it is alone, but better with more than 1 of it’s own kind.

 

It will be fine when it is alone, but better with more than 1 of it’s own kind.

alright , but isn't a 7 gallon small for 2?
or is it okay?
Also I put her in the new tank and she's been coming up a lot and looks like shes gasping for air.
But there is an airstone and a lot of surface disturbance.

 

2 would be fine and it is gasping because of ammonia poisoning. You need to add plants and clean the tank more.

 

I would pick up some TSS+ or stability with the fish in cycle, will help your cycle along and will make the goldfish more comfortable especially if in a tank with no bacteria.

 

It makes sense that it is gasping. There is no cycle which means no beneficial bacteria. Ammonia will stay like ammonia and not change. You need the tank cycled or else no ammonia will change to nitrites and nitrates

 

2 would be fine and it is gasping because of ammonia poisoning. You need to add plants and clean the tank more.

really think so?
Cuz it just spent a whole year in a .25 gallon tank and now I move it to a 7G and all of a sudden Ammonia poisoning?

It makes sense that it is gasping. There is no cycle which means no beneficial bacteria. Ammonia will stay like ammonia and not change. You need the tank cycled or else no ammonia will change to nitrites and nitrates

But I posted it literally 5 mins after putting the fish into the new tank

It makes sense that it is gasping. There is no cycle which means no beneficial bacteria. Ammonia will stay like ammonia and not change. You need the tank cycled or else no ammonia will change to nitrites and nitrates

Although the previous owner fed her flakes so it is possible she was looking for food.
Also any tips on moving the fish from flake to pellets or I just randomly start feeding pellets one day?

 

Put whatever media/substrate the bowl has into your 7 gallon and if the fish has indeed lived in it for a year there'll be enough beneficial bacteria in it.

If you're still concerned use seachem stability. Best I've used out of 4 different products.

 

Also would love any scaping ideas.
I was thinking to go with sand and also see if any black sand is available rn.
Should I go hardscaping , Plant?
Hear these guys love to munhv on plants

wel

Put whatever media/substrate the bowl has into your 7 gallon and if the fish has indeed lived in it for a year there'll be enough beneficial bacteria in it.

If you're still concerned use seachem stability. Best I've used out of 4 different products.

well the previous owner told me she changed all the water every 3 days

Yeah

Put whatever media/substrate the bowl has into your 7 gallon and if the fish has indeed lived in it for a year there'll be enough beneficial bacteria in it.

If you're still concerned use seachem stability. Best I've used out of 4 different products.

I justpoured all the water in the bowl intothe tank and am thinking of doin 10% WC every day for a week or 2.
Thoughts?

 

Yeah

I justpoured all the water in the bowl intothe tank and am thinking of doin 10% WC every day for a week or 2.
Thoughts?

No matter what it's better off in the 7g than 0.5g bowl.

Better to do a water test every day and do a water change based on that result. I'd just test ammonia and nitrite and wc based off that. The ammonia phase usually ends pretty quickly but the nitrite part might take a week or two. Once ammonia is always zero I'd start testing nitrate too.

If ammonia is say 0.5 and you do a 10% water change it'll be roughly 0.45. You'd want to do a 50% change in that circumstance imo.

Brazillian waterweed I think lives in coldwater too, and that'll help with the water quality. It grows really fast. Aka Egeria densa I think.

 

Water change water change water change! Good clean water. RO if you can. Get a five gallon bucket that is not used for anything but holding clean water ready fro an emergency water change. You can do fish in cycle, that is better than a bowl, but you will have to do water changes frequently until the tank has cycled. Don't add any more fish (or anything else) until cycled. Get a test kit.

 

really think so?
Cuz it just spent a whole year in a .25 gallon tank and now I move it to a 7G and all of a sudden Ammonia poisoning?

It may have already had it and the symptoms have carried over now.

 

No matter what it's better off in the 7g than 0.5g bowl.

Better to do a water test every day and do a water change based on that result. I'd just test ammonia and nitrite and wc based off that. The ammonia phase usually ends pretty quickly but the nitrite part might take a week or two. Once ammonia is always zero I'd start testing nitrate too.

If ammonia is say 0.5 and you do a 10% water change it'll be roughly 0.45. You'd want to do a 50% change in that circumstance imo.

Brazillian waterweed I think lives in coldwater too, and that'll help with the water quality. It grows really fast. Aka Egeria densa I think.

Thanks a lot will do .
Appreciate your help .
I added the fish yesterday and am planning on doing a 1 gallon change everyday. Don’t have a test kit atm, will get one positively by tmrw .
I’ll get back with an update .

It may have already had it and the symptoms have carried over now.

Possibly, so I guess clean waters the only cure ?

Water change water change water change! Good clean water. RO if you can. Get a five gallon bucket that is not used for anything but holding clean water ready fro an emergency water change. You can do fish in cycle, that is better than a bowl, but you will have to do water changes frequently until the tank has cycled. Don't add any more fish (or anything else) until cycled. Get a test kit.

Yes We drink RO over here as the tap water has high mineral content . So that’s no problem .
As the for the kit I will be getting one , but the thing is I can’t find a full test kits here anymore and
, gotta buy individual kits for each and that gets pretty expensive and the LFS is sort of far away so daily test over there won’t work either .
But I will get a test kit ASAP if there’s no other way.
Thanks for your help!

It may have already had it and the symptoms have carried over now.

Thanks guy !

UPDATE:
day 2 and she’s just sitting at the bottom of the tank. Even through the whole WC.
??

Also the built in pump is pretty strong , so there is a lot of flow .
I might be wrong but the fish seems to be bothered by it

Also the built in pump is pretty strong , so there is a lot of flow .
I might be wrong but the fish seems to be bothered by it
But now she’s justly the bottom.

 

Ah yes I am aware of that . Right now the fish is about an inch long , so it’ll probably be another year or so before I’ll need to upgrade .right?
So can I go ahead and add the fish into the tank ?
BecAuse I really can’t watch the fish be in that bowl.

Nope! I had to upgrade from a 10G to 29G in 4 months. Wait! Your's is a fantail, mine was comet. You have a little more time.

Are the tails frayed on the fish? He looks a little stressed already.

 

What is the water temp? You can get a test kit delivered to your door from amazon or any other online retailer. I don't know the source of your RO water, but you need to test it..., or just treat with stress coat like you would any other tap water. Then do the biggest water change you can manage. No need to remove the fish, just be careful of it. Leave it a couple inches of water. Make sure the temperature of the new water is pretty close to the tank temp. After the water change turn the filter on and keep the filter running. Put something in front of the intake to keep the fish from getting pulled in (plant, or piece of never used sponge). I would get some kind of substrate and something for the fish to hide in. If you are on a budget never used pieces of PVC pipe or Terra Cotta pots are really cheap. Goldfish are tough, you can still work this out.

Final thought, your fish looks stressed, be mindful of what is on your hands when you stick them in the tank. Perfumes or lotions, soap etc. are very bad for them. I wish you luck.

 

Nope! I had to upgrade from a 10G to 29G in 4 months. Wait! Your's is a fantail, mine was comet. You have a little more time.

Could help me out , she looks like she’s week ,like when I turn the pump on , she just gets sucked closer and does nothing , so I turn it off.

Yes a bit , it is . What do I do ?

Are the tails frayed on the fish? He looks a little stressed already.

Yes it is and also she hasn’t eaten anything since she was transferred to from the bowl , in the bowl , she ate.

Are the tails frayed on the fish? He looks a little stressed already.

It is possible that she’s stressed out because I’d left the filtration on all night and today and when I came back she was just swimming at one spot , not on the bottom and as soon as I turned the filter off , she just went to the bottom and now, she would go back up .
Is it possible that she’s just tired from all the current after being in a tiny bowl for a year??

Could it be the light ? I mean this tank does have a pretty intense light .

 

Oh, a little aquarium salt may also be in order.

 

Oh, a little aquarium salt may also be in order.

what proportion?
and what for?

 

About a tablespoon per 5 gallons. It has to be aquarium salt, not table salt. Read the instructions. It is like electrolytes for fish. Especially Goldies.

So, don't over do it. Salt does not leave your aquarium except for with water changes. Evaporation leaves it behind.

 

su

So, don't over do it. Salt does not leave your aquarium except for with water changes. Evaporation leaves it behind.

sure , thanks!
So there's nothing else I can do?
Also I'm leaving the filtration off tonight, the thing is the water pump is used for getting air so the air is cut too, so do I need to add another airstone for surface agitation or will it be fine just one night?

 

Goldfish produce a lot of waste just by breathing. I would not turn it off.

 

Goldfish produce a lot of waste just by breathing. I would not turn it off.

But I thought the flow would stress the fish out more , ill do a 50%WC tmrw tho

 

Not more than poor water quality and lack of oxygen. If that fish can;t handle the flow it won;t make it, unless you have a crazy over sized pump on that little tank. I am sorry if I did not read the entire thread in detail, what kind of pump is it?

 

Not more than poor water quality and lack of oxygen. If that fish can;t handle the flow it won;t make it, unless you have a crazy over sized pump on that little tank. I am sorry if I did not read the entire thread in detail, what kind of pump is it?

it's the built in pump but it's rather strong.
it cae from a living in a .25 gallon bowl all it's life so I assumed it just couldn't handle the flow.

 

Can you remove it? Look at it? It might be adjustable. You can modify it to reduce flow.

 

Can you remove it? Look at it? It might be adjustable. You can modify it to reduce flow.

will do tomorrow anyways tonight I'm gonna let it be , here it's 3 in the morning so ill just maybe turn the pump on for a second to getsome more air dissolved and check on the problem tmrw.
THank a lot for the help.

 

Just an FYI on water changes. large water changes are way more affective than many small ones. one 80% water change would remove 80% of harmful chemicals but four 20% changes will only remove about 60% of the total and that is if they are done back to back if you allow 24 hours between the changes your harmful chemicals will increase.

I would probably leave the tank bare. This is for two reasons goldfish are messy and it will be much easier to clean and anything you add to that tank will reduce the water volume and increase the problem. If you are set on adding substrate do it as thin as you can.

I would also be adding seachem stability and prime to the tank daily for a while. Prime will help detoxify the ammonia and nitrites but will only help for low levels. the stability is a beneficial bacteria that is held in spore state. The filter is what holds 95% of your tanks beneficial bacteria by turning it off you are prolonging the time till it is cycled and your tank is safe for fish.

I know it is a lot of work to take on but I would do 5 gallon water changes dosed with prime every other day until you get a test kit and can determine the chemical levels. poor water quality will stress a fish much more than water changes.

luckily goldfish are hardy and can live in poor situations! he/she is a cute fish I hope everything works out.

one last thing I would lightly feed the fish because the goal is to reduce harmful chemicals and what goes in must come out. The more that comes out the worse it is for the fish. keeping it in a darker and quiet area of your house will help with the stress also.