Excited, excited, excited, excited, aaaaaand...
Excited.
Today, I bought my 75 gallon tank from PetSmart! I'm so excited! With PetPerks, it was $218 for the tank, lights, and cover. Tomorrow we're going to move Pebbles the cichlid back to school, where both he and the tank belong. After that, we're going to fill the tank up, start the cycle, and pray the tank will be ready for Vide and Phoebe in a short amount of time.
I simply can NOT wait 'til I see these guys in the 75! Not to mention I'll have room for 4 more goldies... :D :D :D
Did I mention that I'm excited?
I am a strange girl who fancies fancy goldfish. :D
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
How to Treat Ich - With Salt
This is kind of a more organized personal note to myself, but if others need this information, all the better! This treatment has worked for me before, and is much better than using harsh meds.
Supplies
You need:
Treatment
Very slowly, turn the temperature of the tank up to 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27 deg. Celsius). Rise the temp 1-2 degree increments per day to avoid shocking your goldfish.
Do a 50% water change. Get your salt. Add 1 TEAspoon per gallon. (for 50 gallon owners, that's 1 full cup of salt).
12 hours later, add another dose of 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Another 12 hours later, add yet another dose of 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Every 3 days or so, do a 50% water change to suck up any eggs/parasites that have fallen off. When you do this and replace the water, add in 1 teaspoon of salt for whatever amount you've taken out. (so if you do a 50% waterchange for a 10 gallon, add in 5 teaspoons for 5 gallons.)
Keep this up for a MINIMUM of 2-3 weeks. Even though the spots may disappear within the first week, the ich isn't completely treated. That just means the eggs (which are the white dots) have hatched and they are free-floating.
If your fish has stopped flashing, scraping itself, and the white spots don't return after the 3 week mark, then the ich has been treated. It's ALWAYS better to err on the side of caution and wait at least a week after proclaiming the death of the ich to stop your treatment.
Supplies
You need:
- A heater.
- Aquarium Thermometer
- Pure salt. Sea salt, kosher salt, pickling salt, or aquarium salt will work. As long as there are NO other ingredients listed than salt. I personally use Alessi Sea Salt with no problems. (May be available in your local grocery store)
- Aerator. If you have a lot of water agitation going on with your filters, you may not need one, but if you've got a bit of a "quiet" filter, it's good to have one just in case. Heat depletes the oxygen level in the water, so you need to make sure your goldie won't be gasping for air during the treatment.
Treatment
Very slowly, turn the temperature of the tank up to 82 degrees Fahrenheit (27 deg. Celsius). Rise the temp 1-2 degree increments per day to avoid shocking your goldfish.
Do a 50% water change. Get your salt. Add 1 TEAspoon per gallon. (for 50 gallon owners, that's 1 full cup of salt).
12 hours later, add another dose of 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Another 12 hours later, add yet another dose of 1 teaspoon per gallon.
Every 3 days or so, do a 50% water change to suck up any eggs/parasites that have fallen off. When you do this and replace the water, add in 1 teaspoon of salt for whatever amount you've taken out. (so if you do a 50% waterchange for a 10 gallon, add in 5 teaspoons for 5 gallons.)
Keep this up for a MINIMUM of 2-3 weeks. Even though the spots may disappear within the first week, the ich isn't completely treated. That just means the eggs (which are the white dots) have hatched and they are free-floating.
If your fish has stopped flashing, scraping itself, and the white spots don't return after the 3 week mark, then the ich has been treated. It's ALWAYS better to err on the side of caution and wait at least a week after proclaiming the death of the ich to stop your treatment.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Nano's 2-month Anniversary :B
As of this day, I have kept Nano for two months! It both feels like it was a much shorter AND longer amount of time. Now, two months is nothing to brag about--especially in keeping goldfish--but I NEVER remember days like these. So he gets another post to himself. So there!
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| Finally got a cute picture of him :D |
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| Side view time! |
Friday, October 15, 2010
Recognizing a Stunted Fish
Last night, after viewing a forum topic about how to recognize a stunted fish, I realized that my beloved PetSmart, from whom I buy all my fish that are supposed to be babies, may actually be supplying me with a few baby-sized adults.
Fish are stunted through two things: their environment, and their diet. Pet stores overcrowd their goldfish tanks, therefore, the ammonia will build up if there's not proper filtration. In addition, the physical space offered in PetSmart's (or any pet store's) tanks are only enough for maybe one goldfish to live and grow. If the goldfish live in this environment long enough, you may end up buying a stunted fish that will never grow to be the big 8-incher you've been dreaming of.
How can you tell legitimate babies from stunted older goldfish? In my reading, I came across two consistent answers: eyes and fins. If the area above and below your fish's eyes are equal to or less than one eye-height, then your fish is most likely stunted. Bulging eyes are also an indicator of stuntedness. In terms of fns, if a fish's tail fins seem disproportionately big to the fish's body, that is also a clue of stuntedness. Here's pretty helpful photo-manipulation of a normal vs. stunted ranchu. (From this thread in RafflesGold.com Forums)
There are other signs, depending on the breed of goldfish, of stunted growth.
As a bit of a lengthy side note, the easiest (personally) goldfish to identify stunting would be the Oranda. I remember that my Petsmart often carried "young" orandas around 1.5 inches that had impressive wen growth. Seeing this and comparing them to Nano, I would get discouraged. Now I realize that Orandas take about one to two YEARS to develop some wen. This means that these Orandas in PetSmart should have been much bigger in their size for their age. So with Orandas, in addition to the eyes and fin obervations, wen + small size = stunted.
Ryukins and fantails are more tricky though, unfortunately for me. I guess it all comes down to: if the fish just doesn't look right to you, pass.
Fish are stunted through two things: their environment, and their diet. Pet stores overcrowd their goldfish tanks, therefore, the ammonia will build up if there's not proper filtration. In addition, the physical space offered in PetSmart's (or any pet store's) tanks are only enough for maybe one goldfish to live and grow. If the goldfish live in this environment long enough, you may end up buying a stunted fish that will never grow to be the big 8-incher you've been dreaming of.
How can you tell legitimate babies from stunted older goldfish? In my reading, I came across two consistent answers: eyes and fins. If the area above and below your fish's eyes are equal to or less than one eye-height, then your fish is most likely stunted. Bulging eyes are also an indicator of stuntedness. In terms of fns, if a fish's tail fins seem disproportionately big to the fish's body, that is also a clue of stuntedness. Here's pretty helpful photo-manipulation of a normal vs. stunted ranchu. (From this thread in RafflesGold.com Forums)
There are other signs, depending on the breed of goldfish, of stunted growth.
As a bit of a lengthy side note, the easiest (personally) goldfish to identify stunting would be the Oranda. I remember that my Petsmart often carried "young" orandas around 1.5 inches that had impressive wen growth. Seeing this and comparing them to Nano, I would get discouraged. Now I realize that Orandas take about one to two YEARS to develop some wen. This means that these Orandas in PetSmart should have been much bigger in their size for their age. So with Orandas, in addition to the eyes and fin obervations, wen + small size = stunted.
Ryukins and fantails are more tricky though, unfortunately for me. I guess it all comes down to: if the fish just doesn't look right to you, pass.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Cichlids and Dead Filters
So it's pretty much accepted that I'm going to have to buy myself a 50 gallon tank and let Pebbles the Cichlid commandeer the one he is in right now. I am torn between getting less gallonage, but with more monies in my pocket, to getting many gallons, meaning more goldfish, but less monies.
There is Craigslist. But I'm scared of Craigslist. D:
And the freakin sponge filter I've been running has died. So I'm back to square one in terms of keeping the tank comfortably cycled for Phoebe. She's exhibiting signs of stress from ammonia again, even with twice daily water changes. (This is just in the past day or so, though) All I can really do is add in extra prime to let it neutralize the ammonia until its time for a water change. She's gone through this before though, she can go through it again. Got a new biofilter in the process though.
I just can't wait till these guys are in their 50 gallon. I will be all happy-face.
There is Craigslist. But I'm scared of Craigslist. D:
And the freakin sponge filter I've been running has died. So I'm back to square one in terms of keeping the tank comfortably cycled for Phoebe. She's exhibiting signs of stress from ammonia again, even with twice daily water changes. (This is just in the past day or so, though) All I can really do is add in extra prime to let it neutralize the ammonia until its time for a water change. She's gone through this before though, she can go through it again. Got a new biofilter in the process though.
I just can't wait till these guys are in their 50 gallon. I will be all happy-face.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
New Goldfish Measurements
Now I may be jumping the gun a little bit in naming and measuring my two new goldies. But I can't help it. They seem to be really improving, and it gives me motivation to do all my water changes and medicating.
Phoebe could not have picked a more perfect spot to swim in. :) Looks like she's exactly 2 inches! :D
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| Phoebe gettin' measured |
Vide was a little more difficult because he was so distracted by Phoebe. Eventually I had to put my hand between the tanks to block his view. He looks to be 2 inches as well! (Red dots are the half-inch markings)
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| Vide being semi-cooperative |
Also, Vide started eating from my hand today, finally! Phoebe's getting pretty close, I think she'll do it pretty soon. :B
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Nano is 1.5 inches!
Today I got the official length for Nano: and he's grown about half an inch since I first got him! I never measured him when I first got him in August, but I tell you, he was TINY. c: He never swam straight over the ruler, So I did a very quick and primitive cut around him in photoshop to see his length.
He's a-growing! :)
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