feeder test fish dying?

E

Emily

New member
I have a 29 and I let my tank run fishless for a week. Then I bought some feeder goldfish to test the water. 4 out of 8 died. The water quality is not perfect but it's not alarming. But the water 86 because its designed for community fish. I'm doing the ice in a baggie trick for now but is temperature what killed them or were they just weak?
is that why they died though? just based on temp? because I will lower the temp when my ice in a baggie freezes. But if thats the only reason not water quality that I'm good to go once I get the temp down. ( I live in So Cal so my heaters not the reason why the tanks sooo hot)
Cheery the tank wasn't design for the feeders they were test fish.
It's pretty hard to lower the tank temp when its 90 degrees in our house.
No, isatrope, you actually made sense. I tested the water quality a few minutes ago and everything is good, amonia, nitrite and nitrate. It's prolly the temp, but I'll let the tank run another week before adding some. Frankly I was thinking of Danios, but my dad (who gets pissed easily) said no because they're more expensive. I was planning to get rid of the goldfish...one way or another.
 
so the tank is for tropicals... why did you get goldfish in the first place? what were you planning on doing with them?

now, for whatever reason when you decided to add goldfish, why would you add 8? these are high waste producers.

for future reference... letting your tank run for a week does NOTHING.

in an established aquarium there is bacteria that breaks down the poop and stuff from ammonia to nitrite, then from nitrite to nitrates. then the nitrates sit in your tank until you remove them with weekly 25% water changes. this need to be done because while nitrate is less toxic than ammonia and nitrite it's still toxic and will not be broken down any farther.

when you set up a new aquarium there is no bacteria. so the tank needs to be cycled, this can be done one of 2 ways....

1. the OLD way... you add either a few small fish or one goldfish for a larger tank and do small water changes pretty much every day for a month or two while testing the water until the nitrate spikes which is when the cycle has completed. keep the ammonia and nitrite under 1ppm.

2. fishless cycling... you add pure ammonia, fish food, some source of non-living ammonia. pure ammonia is the easiest route. you add enough drops to make the test read 5ppm. you keep adding that amount every day until the nitrite spikes, once the nitrite spikes you cut the number of drops in half and add that everyday until the nitrate spikes. once the nitrate spikes your tank is cyled. you then do a 50% water change and add your fish. a few fish at a time or one at a time in the case of goldfish.
 
Heyy, I know the problem you are going though. A lot of people think that it's wrong to use test fish first. But in my opinion, i'd rather use 13 cent goldfish than the fish that I want to live in the tank. The temp thing is also a problem in my house. I live in St. Louis and it gets pretty warm during the summer and we don't use our air conditioner much because it's a waste of money when the temp is bearable. I put crushed ice cubes in the tank, it cools the water off and i've found that the fish love to play with them. I also have a regular floor fan that I have pointed on my tank also. I put ice in about a drinking cup full every hour, sometimes sooner and more often depending upon the water.
About the feeder fish, I used to buy feeder fish to feed to my frog. I stopped doing so because i've noticed that a lot of the feeders are so stressed out because of their living conditions that when I get them home, temp acclimated and in the tank they aren't doing so well. The tanks that they have the feeders in are way overcroweded it's no wonder the fish are stressed. You could have gotten a few fish that have been in the tank for a while and have been stressed and on their last leg (fin) for a while. I would just keep going the way you are. Keep doing the water changes and keeping tabs on your water chemistry. More than likely you just got a few bad fish which isn't uncommon for feeders. I wouldn't add any expensive fish until you can get the temp at a steady 78 80ish that way you don't stress them out too too much. When you get the new fish make sure you temperature acclimate them first, do this by letting the bag float in the water for about 15 minutes before adding them to the tank that way there isn't a temperature shock.When I first started out my brother who is like the tank geru told me to get goldfish.. I didn't think about feeders, I went out and bought the expensive fancy fantails. I have found through friends getting into the hobby that zebra danios are great starter fish because of their hardyness. Good Luck,I hope I helped you.

My email inbox is open at all times. If you have any other questions please feel free to email me and I will respond as soon as I get it.
 
I hate to pile on, but it was probably the temperature that did it. And goldfish are a poor "test fish" for a tropical tank. I've had good look using danios--tough, cheap, and not unattractive--to cycle tanks. Unless you put in more than two or three, they should have no trouble surviving the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spikes.

If the water is going to be that warm regularly, you are likely to have problems with many common tropical fish. Bagged ice might help, but you should do some research on tolerant species before committing.
 
The fish were not weak- poor water quality is enough to kill even hardy fish. Eight goldfish added to an aquarium that was in no way primed for fish? What other outcome did you see but death for those fish? Using live fish to "test" the water is inhumane, and needless. That is what an aquarium test kit is for.

Run an actual fishless cycle for 4-6 weeks to prepare your tank for fish. You should add a source of ammonia in the form or either pure ammonia or fish food to mimic fish waste.

The temperature is too high for tropical community fish and certainly too high for goldfish.
 
goldfish are cold water fish, water temp should be in the range of 65-75 degrees
you can also help cool down the tank, you can open the lid of the tank and run a fan facing the opening of the tank to help push out the heat

maybe try a different cheap tropical test fish, goldfish wont be good testers if the tank is way to hot
 
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