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HisCovenant -> RE: Fish, fish, stupid fish (the kind in tanks) (6/24/2008 8:24:37 PM)
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I used to keep fancy gold fish, so all of this is going to be from a freshwater, not hardy gold fish perspective... it may not apply to your situation. Man, I haven't thought of all this info for 10 years! You know you're getting old when... [8D]
You can't use any straight tap water because of the chemicals added to it, like chlorine. If you use plain tap water, you have to add an additive to it to to remove the chlorine. You also have to check the ph and add chemicals if the ph isn't right for the fish. ETA: you can also let water sit for a while and the chlorine evaporates. I believe it's 24 hours.
The tank needs to be cleaned weekly by suctioning out about 25% of the water from the gravel, to remove the waste that settles there. If you remove all the waste and all of the water, you also remove the good bacteria in the water and it kills the fish. So, you never ever want to have a perfectly clean tank. (It's like when we remove too much of our own bacteria and end up with another infection because our bodies need some bacteria to function properly and to keep really harmful bacteria at bay.) About once a month, you should remove about 50% of the water and waste. Add back in treated water at room temperature. Water that's not at the same temp as the tank can cause the fish to go into shock.
Don't over feed. That just adds waste to the water that can upset the balance. Make sure you are feeding quality food. You may need to add spirulina to their diet. It's a seeweed that's high in nutrition and is sold in flake form at the pet food stores. I don't recall if places like Wal-mart sold it or not.
Your fish should "tell" you if something is wrong. If they are coming to the top a lot, that means they aren't getting enough oxygen. (You do have an aeration system? That's something important I forgot to mention.) Once you get to know each fish, you can tell when they are lethargic or if they have some spots that are caused by fungus, ick, or other things. If you have seen problems like this, go to a pet store that knows something about fish (this would not be at a Wal-mart-type store) and describe the infection or behavior to them. They can get you meds and give you instructions on what got out of balance and what not to do again.
I found that having fish was all about keeping balance in the tank, and there was a lot of trial and error. It is frustrating at times, but we found it was well worth it in the end.
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