A little over a year ago, we moved into a house in which the previous tenant’s son had apparently been an avid aquatic pet fan. However, for undisclosed reasons, the son was no longer around, and the mother asked if I would like to have the several large aquariums (with their contents) and terrariums that were there so she didn’t have to move them. I readily accepted her offer, of course, although I knew next to nothing about keeping fish.

To make a long story short, in the process of cramming as much information as my already overloaded brain could handle, I lost several of the fish along the way, but have managed to keep more alive than I lost (I think). There was one 120 gallon tank in the garage with a good assortment of fish, but mostly cichlids and gold fish (or koi, I’m still a little shaky on how to distinguish between the two). As winter drew near and I lacked resources to properly heat the garage or the tank sufficiently for my charges, I began moving them into separate smaller 30 gallon tanks in the house.

I think my first mistake was in using the substrate that was already in place in the 120 gallon tank I was moving them out of, for it seems to be some sort of perhaps limestone maybe, although I am not sure what it is. I do know it is so fine as to be larger than sand but smaller than gravel. Whatever it is, I think it keeps my ph on the high end of the scale, because it is the only thing different from the tank I had since before I moved here, and the ph is consistently higher, even after all this time. The fish are always picking it up and spitting out mouthfuls of it.

Of the fish I inherited, there were five goldfish, which I put in one of the 30 gallon tanks, along with a good sized pleco. Since then, I had to add a Bumble Bee that was bullying the others in his tank, and another bully that I have no idea what he is, only that he grew from about 3 inches when I inherited him into a monster of about 6 inches long and 4 inches high. I know this is really not a large enough tank but it was the best I could do for them. I added a bubble stone, hoping to increase oxygen, but after so much reading I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I have an Aqua-tech power filter for 30 to 60 gallon aquariums and have been using carbon filters, which unfortunately have not been getting changed frequently enough, due to lack of resources. I am wondering if I can use some other filter padding in place of the carbon filters? You see, I’ve been changing them as often as possible, and rinsing them out in between, not realizing the damage I was doing to the good bacteria, or the problem with the old carbon. We are on well water that is pretty hard, although I have yet to have it tested.

One of the goldfish kept getting ill, breaking out with these reddish swollen spots on his sides. I used Melafix, which seemed to make the problem go away, but a couple months later, it happened again, Again I treated it (I did remove the carbon from the filter during treatment), and again it went away. However, a few months later, the same fish fell ill a third time, and this time, I was unable to save him (or her).

A couple of days ago, I noticed one of the goldfish was missing. I have no idea how this happened or where it went, but it is definitely gone. I don’t have a cover over most of the tank but the water level is low enough it would be difficult for one to jump out, and I do have cats, but have never lost one to them before. I hope the monster didn’t eat him.I don’t know. I just can’t figure it out.

Then, yesterday, I noticed my goldfish were hanging out near the surface, mostly in one corner of the tank. Two of them are hanging especially close together, side by side, often with their backs nearly a half inch out of the water. One of them is listing rather badly to one side, at about a 45 degree angle, and one of them looks extremely constipated, perhaps, his sides swollen out a great deal. I am very concerned and I don’t know what to do. I started with the Melafix again, but after some reading decided against that. I vacuumed and did about a 50 percent water change, and added some Nitroban. I am afraid of doing the wrong thing, but I am sure I need to do something! I am going to go get some peas when I finish this, as I read in numerous places that it might help to feed a couple of those. I gave them a very light feeding of flakes tonight, not sure if a complete fast would be a good idea or not.

If you could please give me some advice, I would be very grateful. I must apologize for my ignorance, and realize I should know more than I do by now, but circumstances have prevented it that truly are beyond my control. I guess I need to give them away to someone who knows more about them, but I have become pretty attached so have been putting it off. I just have too many animals and people that I am trying to take care of, and I am spread extremely thin at present or I would know better how to care for them. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thank you and God bless you.

Sincerely,

Jetta Clinton

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