Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] a little OT

Hi Larry,
I'm glad to hear your last fish is looking like he is happy. Has this 29 held other fish that you know of that didn't have problems? I wonder if it had been used to house snakes or rodents?

Donna

>________________________________
> From: Larry Blanchard <labl02@aol.com>
>Subject: Re: [tropical fish club] a little OT - goldfish death
>
>
>
>On 03/31/2013 09:09 PM, Dawn Moneyhan wrote:
>> Larry, sorry to hear of your losses. I'm with Ray about checking pH with your liquid test kits at the store as well as in your tank.
>
>I think I've eliminated that as a problem. The last fish I got was
>looking a bit sluggish in the problem tank, so I filled a 20 gallon with
>water from the same source and moved him/her to it. Happiest fish you
>ever saw - swims up to greet me when I open the lid - eats like a pig :-).
>
>So it would seem to be something in the 29 that's poisoning the water.
>Something that the test kits doen't test and the AquaSafe doesn't
>neutralize. I normally don't use carbon in the filter but I'm going to
>do so in that tank along with removing everything except the gravel and
>the water. Then I'll try it with a couple of feeders.
>
>> Can you tell us what procedure you used for acclimation of the fish and for how long? Were there any symptoms at all before the fish died?
>
>Put'em in a bucket with the store water - gradually add water from my
>tank for 30-60 minutes - submerse the bucket in the tank. Yes I know
>that common knowledge says store water is bad but I think it's
>preferable to netting the fish or skipping the acclimation. Works for me.
>
>No symptoms I could see except they weren't very interested in food -
>they eventually ate it but the enthusiasm was lacking.
>
>As far as your comments on tank size, I get into trouble every time this
>comes up. Sure, that's the ideal, but we keep a lot of fish in a much
>smaller environment than ideal. Back in the 1940's, 20 square inches of
>water surface per inch of goldfish was the rule. That would have meant
>that a 10" fish only needed a 10"x20" tank which of course is
>ridiculous. But they didn't reach 10" because the small tanks inhibited
>their growth
>

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