Hi John,
I am so sorry to read about your struggles! It is great you put so much effort in everything and tried your best to let them have a suitable environment and good care. It is sad that it still does not seem to work out... As you said it just seems goldfish are apparently not good candidates for home aquariums. I learned a lot from your messages and experiences and I am sure others too. So in any case you gave your goldfish a good chance and I hope you might find somebody with a pond or similar who can take them soon...
I also had to realize how much work fish can be and seldom experienced it as a relaxing hobby to be honest. In my case everything is much simpler (having only smaller tropical fish) but my fish just grew and so I always seem a water change behind to be able to relax and I constantly worry if everything is all right.
I had the impression that often the people who are most relaxed about fish keeping either do not care a lot or just lack a lot of knowledge and do not realize they are heading to major problems. Exception of course for those who really know/knew what they are doing and did everything right ;)
It does not seem a simple hobby to me and it can go easily wrong.
Thanks for the update and please keep us posted!
Nora
--- In AquaticLife@yahoogroups.com, SIMMONDS JOHN <simmonds.john@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Me & my fish are struggling just now, it would seem like I am having a
> complete tank meltdown & my poor fish are going through hell. I have 4
> large Goldfish all between 6 & 8 inches long, their approximate ages range
> from 8-10 years, I lost one around this time last year. They were all
> rescues from various bad starts in life & I have had them since 2005.
> During this time I have upgraded from a 15 gallon to a 100 [UK] gallon
> system & even this is nowhere near big enough to cope with their bio load.
> For the last 3 years I have been struggling with high NO3, it has hardly
> been below 40 despite my efforts in doing sometimes 50% daily water
> changes. They have all been chronically ill with various things & I seem to
> have been constantly dosing my tank with salt, Epsom Salts, Medi Gold,
> Kanamycin or medicating various fish for goodness knows what else.
>
> A few years ago they were happy & reasonably healthy individuals who would
> greet me & be constantly playing & larking around as Goldfish do. In
> desperation I took some great advice from Dawn early this year with regard
> to my general housing & management of the tank & this all went well but as
> she told me the underlying trend was always going to be downhill for a
> number of reasons, not least because the system I have is way too small to
> cope with dirty Goldfish so this is not entirely unexpected but
> nevertheless it is so heartbreaking to see my friends suffering so. Until
> just a couple of weeks ago they would still rouse themselves to greet me as
> I walked into the room & when I drew the curtains in the morning they would
> all be begging for their breakfast.
>
> The welcoming stopped some time ago but this morning was the first time
> they didn't beg for breakfast-they just sat in the tunnel & have shown no
> interest in anything. It all adds up to them simply waiting to die & they
> know it-I know it & it is killing me because I have neither the means or
> the knowledge to do any more. Since I have had these fish I have spent
> many thousands of ponds & probably the same amount of hours fruitlessly
> searching for a solution but there really is none left except for
> euthanising my beloved pets so they don't have to suffer degenerating any
> farther. Polyfilters, Purapds & carbon are all in use but are really
> useless in stemming the relentless NO3 that I think is the underlying cause
> of all my troubles & it's like trying to sink a battleship with a pea
> shooter.
>
> They are all suffering from variously bacterial infections, lumps, badly
> congested blood vessels in their tails, fin rot together with prolonged &
> increasing bouts of flicking, flashing & fitting. They sometimes do
> themselves damage by this fitting. My latest efforts to stem this awful
> situation has been to use increasing amounts of RO water when I do a
> partial change but this seems to be having almost no effect on the NO3
> although the test is taking noticeably longer to turn dark red then it used
> to but I am very concerned that the amount of RO water I'm now using is
> adversely affecting what little defences they still have & the pH appears
> to be lowering from a constant 8 to around 7.5.
>
> I thought fish keeping was all about fun & relaxation. All it has been for
> me is a stressful, expensive & time consuming journey just to watch 5
> innocent & trusting little creatures die. I am going to post some pictures
> once they have been moderated so you can see what I am up against. If
> anyone can suggest anything I would be more than happy to give it a try but
> please let this show you once & for all that streamlined Goldfish do not
> belong in tanks unless you have unlimited space & are a very patient
> millionaire.
>
> John*<o)))<*
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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