Re: [APD] (no subject)

[Donald Hellen <donhellen at horizonview_net>]

On Sat, 27 May 2006 11:23:00 -0600, "Jamie Bright"
<jamiejoybright at msn_com> wrote:

>Help!!  Can you help me determine why my goldfish are dying?

Some questions you will need to think about . . .

What water tests have you done? (KH, GH, pH, nitrates,
nitrates, ammonia, copper, phosphates--note that we
have a goldfish that was 15 years old before we learned
about some of these tests, and she is still alive)

How big is(are) the tank(s)?

How often do you do water changes?

What are you feeding them?

Did you buy and/or put all of your fish together at the
same time?

Did you quarantine any of your newer fish (if you
bought them at different times)?

Did you do the salt as a dip or as an addition to the
entire aquarium?

What temperature are you keeping them at?

Here are some suggestions to get started on getting
answers from multiple sources. The answers to the
questions above will help the sources below find
answers to your problem. It may help others here also
help you better. Put your answers into a few paragraphs
in a word processor and copy/paste them to post them to
these sources:

Find the goldfish and aquarium board, join it, and ask
you questions there.

http://thegab.org/

There is also a KoiVet.com web site, join it, and ask
your questions there.

http://www.koivet.com/

Dianne Walsted (a noted author of Ecology of the
Planted Tank, a microbiologist, etc.) is on Aquatic
Plant Central forums, in group El Natural. She can
possibly help  you with the plants and substrate issues
you might be having. I believe she did her Ph.D. thesis
on goldfish and was the first person to ever do so. 

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/el-natural/

We have fancy goldfish and use these sources for our
questions related to the fancy goldfish.

When we have problems, we almost always can treat them
with salt, elevated temperatures, and, if necessary,
medicated food. Only once did we have an ick problem
and needed to use another medication in addition to
these techniques.

We use Pro-Gold as our regular goldfish food and
Medi-Gold is our preferred choice for medicated food.
You can get it from the Goldfish Connection, which is
also a good site for information on goldfish and
problems you might experience with them.

http://www.goldfishconnection.com/

http://www.goldfishconnection.com/shop/details.php?productId=8&catId=5
http://www.goldfishconnection.com/shop/details.php?productId=2&catId=14

Hope this gets you on  your way to some answers.

A couple of other things--when you buy fancy goldfish
it is a good idea to observe them for a while to see if
they have any congenital problems. Many of the
expensive ones have swim bladder problems. If yours had
no problems before, as I would guess from your message,
they can also have problems that lead to inability to
regulate their swim bladders and they can get stuck
floating or swim at an odd angle. Using a good
medicated fish food for 2 to 4 weeks (not a medication
that taints all of the water) can clear this up
sometimes, and using a good quality fish food can
prevent it from happening again. This might not work
for you, but then again it might. If you intend to
continue with fancy goldfish, you might want to obtain
these two foods and refrigerate them if you won't be
using them up quickly. (DON'T FREEZE THESE FOODS!)

Feel free to email us offline if you want to. 

Donald Hellen
--------------------------------
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
   -Albert Einstein

_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants