🐟ALL ABOUT MY FISH BLOG STYLE 🦐
Jan. 1/18
My tank has sand in the bottom now and some decorations for the fishies to pick up and play around with. I am siphoning the sand every few days to do my best at making sure it is not harbouring bacteria.
Dec. 31/17
Huge water changes were the answer to Abbi's issue! My ammonia levels are down to none and I have started an in tank cycle. I am so happy with the progress that is being made, her red streaking is completely gone and her scales, after only just over a week, have started to grow back and the top ones are almost entirely returned. Below are some pictures of her with her missing scales and red streaking. If anyone else identifies this in their fish, do large water changes daily until the ammonia levels in your tank are steady! Look up cycling your tank if you have to do extremely large water changes and the tank nitrate and nitrite levels are thrown off.
Marvin - my black moore goldfish - with a buildup of unknown white on his scales possibly due to undetected high ammonia levels in the tank. Still determining cause and have tried many treatments. I have tried Kanaplex, Paraguard, Melafix and epsom salt dips. Will be trying aquarium salt dips, and I think he has benefited from the water changes as well. I am unsure if I am seeing progress in reduction of Whatever This Is so I am doing my best to keep picture documentation.
Finally Meme, gorgeous as ever, has been lucky to have absolutely no health issues so far. He is happily swimming with his healing buddies, and has a black moustache and eyebrows now! He is always changing!
Dec. 20/17
Trying to give the best care for any pet is difficult, and personally next to bearded dragons I have found, in my history of owning pets, caring for fish has been the hardest to figure out.
The best way to spread knowledge however is to admit your mistakes, so what I've learned in the past week is that:
1. When you are planning on getting a fish, you must cycle a tank for them first. This basically means that you have to prepare the tank to have the proper water quality for your fish. There are things like pH, nitrates, nitrites and ammonia to figure out!
2. To properly cycle a tank, you need a proper full water testing kit! This way you will be able to test for the pH, nitrates, nitrites and ammonia that you are hoping to balance. There is no way you will be able to figure out any issues with your fish without it!
3. Your starter fish kit will have to be around $300 I would say!!! It is a lot of money in combination for a tank, light, heater if needed, filters, a testing kit, some emergency medications, decorations for your tank, high quality fish from a breeder, etc. Save!!! Before you dive in (haha) to taking any fish home, do a lot of research and a lot of saving.
So what my goldfish are currently experiencing, to my absolute dismay and mistake, are high levels of ammonia. My white ryukin, Abbi, is missing some scales and has a couple of red streaks on her tail that I am extremely nervous about. My black moore I think has an overproduction of slime coat on his back from this issue as well, though I am not 100% sure of that diagnosis, and cannot find a proper source that can tell me what is going on with him. I will be doing large water changes with the help of my family every day for the next week, and will be adding bioactive material to the filter to help stop ammonia from taking over the tank.
I will be testing the tank every few days (probably every day though I know it's not necessary) to make sure that the proper changes are being made, and have made many posts in groups to get help with this issue! I am hoping that my babies will be back to full health in no time.
PSA: Everyone do a tank check right now! :D If you have fishies, test their water, make sure their tank is clean, make sure you have all the information you need on their care!
In other news, I have switched my betta Caligula pictured below to my 5gal tank and my tetras to my 10gal as my shrimp that are in with my tetras have grown very large and I feel the fishies could use some more space! Caligula also didn't really like the tallness of the tank so it was best to switch him over to the 5gal.
Nov. 16/17
Marvin - LOVELY AS EVER
meme - who is getting dark around his face and fins again
abbi
Caligula
Now Caligula has had some unresolved tail issues for around a month now. I am working with stress guard after being warned away from using Melafix, and am seeing a little bit of progress with more frequent water changes and the stress guard. This being said, his tail hasn't grown back to full size which may just be too big for his body to handle, apparently causing tail nipping.
For now he looks a little feathery, hopefully my little betta boy will be back to full flare in no time.
Bonus picture of my kitty Theo playing with Caligula on the glass :P He moves his paw and Caligula follows!
Nov. 16/2017
To my great devastation, I did lose Emily and Mikey to their bacterial infection. I did my best to turn things around with epsom salt baths and medication but unfortunately they were not able to pull through.
All my focus has been turned to improving my fish care drastically so this does not happen again. I also have reason to believe that Mikey and Emily came in with an infection, and will be adopting from breeders in the future and doing my best not to make spontaneous purchases at pet stores.
The tanks have undergone a few partial water changes, and my three goldies still swimming seem to be doing very well. My water was tested the other day, and it was recommended that I do a couple larger water changes to get rid of nitrites. My water quality was not fantastic from when I was in the hospital and unable to do water changes, from hereon in I have a "fish sitter" to come help me out in case of emergencies that knows how to do all water changes so this won't happen again! My water testing kit is also on it's way in the mail and should be here in a few days.
SIP (swim in peace) Mikey and Emily. It is always terrible to learn from our mistakes, but often this is how it happens in the pet world.
Nov. 7/17
GUYS THE AMOUNT OF BACTERIA AND RANDOM STUFF HARBOURED IN THE ROCKS OF MY FISH TANK WAS HORRIFYING.
So recently I've been struggling with an eye issue here for a bit now on my goldies Mikey and Emily. It appears that they have developed a bacterial infection causing "popeye".
It was suggested that, because of the nature of the eye, likely irritated by a bacterial infection, that I remove all the pebbles from their tank. I had the entire tank bottom covered in white rocks.
I use a syphon to clean my rocks once a week with my water change, and upon taking the rocks out I realize that the syphon was not doing NEARLY enough work, and every time my goldies put a rock in their mouths (silly things XD) they took in bacteria.
Since taking the rocks out of my tank, I feel so much better with the knowledge that there isn't any grossness hiding for them to eat up where I can't see it. Phew. I officially swear off aquarium pebbles forever.
If you are currently using pebbles in your goldfish tank, for the safety of your goldfish as well as your own personal knowledge that all is ok, I would recommend removing them and having a bare bottom tank for sure! Easy cleaning, happy and healthier fishies, much happier Sydney!
Oct. 25/17
I took home this beauty of a fish tank the other day! A giant 75 gal for my goldies. I was so excited to set it up, and to set up my betta fish in his new 10 gal (bottom left) and the tetras and ghost shrimp in their 5 gal (bottom right) and it is now a centrepiece of my room.
Introducing my fishies from Tank #1!
This is Marvin, my black moore goldfish. He was my first goldfish who made me fall in love with goldfish in general. When I first brought him home he was alone in my 10 gallon fluval chi tank, and now he is happily living with 4 adoptive brothers in the 75 gallon above! Marvin is a little bit slower and hesitant when making his way around because of the shape of his eyes. Due to this all my goldfish are hand fed daily to make sure that Marvin gets enough food every time!
This is Meme, my orange ranchu goldfish. He was originally named Mime because of his colouring, but like many goldfish his colours have been changing over time. If you scroll through the pics you will see that at one point he had a black tail and white face, now he has a black moustache and eyebrows! Meme was adopted as a friend for Marvin, and the two were moved into a 30 gallon tank together when Meme came home with me. Meme is ALWAYS HUNGRY. He comes and nibbles at my fingers if they are in the tank, and loves to "fight" blocks of bloodworms.
This is Abbi, my white ryukin goldfish! She (actually a "he" but I'm calling her a she) is absolutely brilliant in both colour and personality. She was the third goldfish I brought home after being blown away by how fun and gorgeous she was at the store. She will spend forever following your finger back and forth across the tank and is just so interactive. I think if I ever start to train them to do small tricks, I would start with Abbi. The only part of her with colour are her orange, blue and black eyes that stand out against her all white body!
Mikey is my red tri-colour oranda goldfish. I adopted him with Emily, both of them were in the same section at the store and they were so gorgeous I couldn't stop myself from going back to them. Mikey is named after my friend from Spain, who pointed him out for me at the pet store while visiting Canada 😂. I promised I wouldn't change his name.
Emily is my white tri-colour oranda goldfish! She (also actually a he but I'm calling her a she) is named after my good friend Emily who helped me pick her out. In the store she was looking rather inactive in the corner and I was worried that she wouldn't be a good choice, but when I put my hand up to the glass she perked up and went straight for it. I ran to the front and told them to take her out for me!
Introducing my fishy from Tank #2!
This is Caligula, my one and only betta fish boy. He is named after his absolutely ruthless personality. Anything that comes close to the front of his tank is inspected and "viciously attacked" by him swimming violently around 😂. He is hand fed and always rips at his bloodworms like a crazy fish.
Introducing my fishies and shrimps from Tank #3!
I'm so happy to say that this tank is flourishing and my ghost shrimp are actually breeding! One of the girls is carrying around a ton of eggs under her legs, and the shrimp and tetras seem to get along well! My lil neon tetra is doing great with the others as they were introduced more recently. Very excited to see tiny shrimplets in this tank soon!
