problem with new fish

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HI I am new here, we recently bought an aquarium tank, and have 6 fish. The newest fish our son brought home, is lying on its side at the bottom corner of our tank, looking quite dead until you look close, and comes up for a few seconds and then goes back to its corner. I don't know what kind of fish it is, it is gold and black, round body, and a beautiful long flowing tail. Could anyone tell me what it is, and if this is any way normal, although I doubt it is. It is a cold water tank, and all of our other fish are fine including our bottom feeder.

 

welcome to fishlore!

what info can you give us about the tank size, types of fish (the ones you know), water chemistry levels, water temp, heater & filter type.. and any pics of them.

 

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HI I am new here, we recently bought an aquarium tank, and have 6 fish. The newest fish our son brought home, is lying on its side at the bottom corner of our tank, looking quite dead until you look close, and comes up for a few seconds and then goes back to its corner. I don't know what kind of fish it is, it is gold and black, round body, and a beautiful long flowing tail. Could anyone tell me what it is, and if this is any way normal, although I doubt it is. It is a cold water tank, and all of our other fish are fine including our bottom feeder.

Hello an welcome to fishlore l The fish you are describing, could it be a goldfish? How long have you had your six fish? You mention a cold water tank. The fish you have, are they cold water fish? That is why I thought of the black and gold one may be a long fin goldfish?

 

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HI I wrote earlier but can't find my post. So the fish we have are a blackback goldfish, a gobstopper, a shumbunkin, a sucker I think it is a pleco, it is dark brown with black spots, another gold fish black and gold with a twin rear fin, and a white and gold fish, and the one who likes to play dead. We have had the blackback, gobstopper and the sucker for about 5 months, and the others within a month. I don't know the water chemical levels, we don't use the heater, the tank is a jewel 60 and has a super compact filter. All the other fish seem to be fine. Although some seem to have white sopts on the fins.

 

Hello

It sounds like a combination of problems at first glance, plus perhaps more once we get to the bottom of it.

I don't actually read what the problem is in this post. Perhaps it was in your earlier post? Could you describe what your question is in this one too?

Some initial thoughts on your situation already:

- goldfish need cooler water than tropical fish, and vice versa, tropical fish need warmer water. So either you don't use the heater and you live in an hot coutnry and your goldfish is too hot, or you need to use the heater for your other fish. Either way, they are not suitable tank mates for that reason (temperature incompatibility).
- how many liters (or gallons if you're more comfortable with that) is your tank? Sounds like you may be overstocked. The general rule of thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon. This doesn't count for high polluters like your pleco (your sucker fish) and your goldfish, who have even higher requirements.
- the white spots on the fish' fins seem to indicate a disease called ich. The good news is that it's really common and any good pet store will have medications against it. The bad news is that it can be lethal if not caught on time, it is highly contagious to other fish, and your pleco (your sucker fish) may not tolerate its tank being medicated
- we can help you identify each of your fish if you post pictures of them, then you'll need to research their temperature, salt (if any), character compatibility (some combinations of aggressive fish should never be tank mates, for example) and pH requirements. To post a picture, you need to click on 'additional options' when you write a post, then click on browse and browse to your picture.

 

Hi, my first post about the problem with one of our fish is in the general dis., it was posted yesterday, you might get a fuller picture when you put the two together, its looking like I need all the help in the world. I will try to take some pictures and post them.

 

this our tank

 

OK, I've asked a mod to merge both threads (clicked on report to moderator). Not to worry, it easily happens that someone gets a little lost between the categories at the beginning.

In the meantime, could you try to answer all of our questions in this post (rather than in both posts), to avoid confusion.

I quicly checked the other post and I see no answers, but perhaps I was too quick. We can help am sure, but we'll need for you to give us the info we've asked for. Do you have a second to do that now? That'd be really helpful.

 

Hi, well I can only tell you what I know I'm afraid, the problem is that our new fish cannot swim up the tank and keeps sitting on the bottom on its side. I think it's an oranda, gold and black. The other fish do have ich, and I have treated the water with the medication. I haven't tested the water for ph and chemical levels yet. They are all cold water fish, and our tank would be at room temp. I think it it is a 35 ltr tank. I live in dublin ireland. The one I didn't know the name of is a spotted ryunkin. I have put a picture of our oranda in.

 

He's not looking good. He looks like he has a swim bladder problem.

 

ur dealing with some pretty big goldies there u might wanna conisder getting a bigger tank coz of there size and how much waste they produce

Peace Out Callum!

 

It does look like a swim bladder problem. has he had the problem since you first got him? how's his current appetite? any other symptoms?

 

hI again well our sick fish did have swim bladder, and died, even with treatment, we managed to clear the white spot bar on one fish which we had to get rid of. Our tank is a 13 gallon tank I think, we bought a huge oranda the other day specially bred, but know our tank is very cloudy and dirty. Would this be because of the orandas size, or because we have had to remove the carbon filter because of the white spot treatment? One question I would love an answer to is can you turn a cold water fish tank to a heated one, with the fish we have, would the pleco mind , as it is fine in the cold water?

 

HI There,
sorry to hear your fish died, swim bladder is something that is very hard to cure once it attacks the fish. Changing over to a warm water tropical tank is not hard, the question is tho, do you plan on still keeping the goldfish in the tank after you do? Cold water fish need to stay in a cold water tank. the pleco does need a warmer tank with heater and if you keep him in there, and have no cold water fish, then the best thing to do IMO is to increase your temperature slowly over time to the desired temp*. You can raise it to 75* slowly and read up on the temp requirements of any fish you want to put in there and take action then.
If you put the ac back into the tank it should help clear up the water. Pleco's are big waste producers tho and you will need to vacumn out the gravel often to keep the water clear. A pleco in a 13 gal tank IMO is not a good idea as they need more room over time.
good luck with your tank
~ kate

 

Yeah, true about the plecos. I have a 39G and I had to get rid of my pleco because my tank just wasn't big enough.