Goldfish, Is this right?

BigBoi83

Hi people, have my fish bout a year and a half and 2days ago 1of them died over night.. So i have no idea why, as they showed no signs of problems or anythin.

So 2my point the older and larger fish seems 2have what appears 2be burn marks on his back (can tank heaters do that?) Also he is changing from Gold to White does this happen alot?

Please help, iv tried looking for these symptoms on-line and nothing like this is coming up

Silverfish

What size is the tank?

And have you tested the water for pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates?

DonnchaMc

10 gallon tank, ya tested for PH, Amonnia, Nitrate n (Nitrote?) all were in the right colour chart

BigBoi83

Ya did all those things. tank is 10gallons with now 4fish.

All the tests were perfect, nothing i could tell was out of the normal

Silverfish

Okay well, it's good that the water was healthy.

However, goldfish need a lot of water, and the tank you have is too small.
It's actually suggested that you start with 30 gallons for the first fish, and 10 gallons for each additional fish. Goldfish (depending on the type) grow large, and need that space to grow.

Goldfish can survive for a long time in small tanks, but it does seriously decrease their lifespan, kept correctly they can survive up to 20 odd years.

BigBoi83

Ya im going to get a new 2nd tank after xmas and go much bigger 2make more room for them..

but would the tank size be the reason for colour change and what looks like burn marks? Surely not

Silverfish

BigBoi83 wrote: »

Ya im going to get a new 2nd tank after xmas and go much bigger 2make more room for them..

but would the tank size be the reason for colour change and what looks like burn marks? Surely not

Burn marks could be from the heater, or it could be ammonia burns, or could be a parasite... Its hard to tell, goldfish can be sick a lot.

Can you upload a pic?

Goldfish can also change colour if they aren't getting daylight or the right diet as well. And sometimes they just change colour - mine are fading as they're getting older.

BigBoi83

Im hoping its the heater as its an easy fix, only put it there for the winter as the room gets cold at night and the fish really seem to get slow and dull in colour...
Dont think its the light the room is well lit up by day
Ill see what the local fish shop says bout the diet

Silverfish

Oh right, it's a temporary thing, thought it might have been one that was part of the tank.

What's the temp of the water / whats the heater set to?

Food wise some bloodworm or brine shrimp can help with colour / health.

Might be no harm to treat with Melafix either, covers a lot of things. Is the water aerated?

DonnchaMc

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Silverfish

Pellets should be alright.

26 degrees seems a bit warm - fancy goldfish such as orandas and fantails are happiest between 18 - 22 degrees, other goldfish can mostly cope with lower temps and are cold water fish.

If it's a heater designed for a large tank, these are usually cordoned off from the fish so they don't make contact with it, so those could be heater burn marks .... What type of heater is it?

breadandjam

I would take the heater out. Goldfish don't need it at all. How low does the temp in the tank drop?

The only thing to be careful of when the tank is cold is overfeeding.

colm1234

goldfish change colour when not getting enough light they go pale grey, also sounds asif your tank is over crowded, you need to clean the tank once a week, feed them every second day and only 5 to 8 hours of fake light per day, also just a thought if you have them in a room where the temp drops on a night then with the cold snap there could have been a sudden drop in temp in the water fish are easily stressed by the smallest of things they harder to keep than you think, am not an expert or anything just studied a good bit on the subject before i got mine so im open to correction :-)