problems with my biorb PLEASE HELP fish dieing.

:cry: please help i have a biorb about 1 year old with 8 white cloud minnows in it they are all ok but as soon as i put any other fish in they die(usualy within a week) i normaly put in orandas so this time i tried commets they have lasted for 10 days and are now very poorly.they started by clamping ther fins and now one of them is struggaling to swim?.
tests show that amonia is at 0, nitrite is also at 0, nitrate is at 80 - 100 so doing water changes of arround 7L every other day but the fish dont seem to be responding, also are snails bad, ther are 4 very small ones in my tank do i need to remove, any help would be greatfull.

 

Is it 8 gallons (30 liters)? How often where you doing water changes before the fish started dying?

From the sounds of it, it was already way overstocked to begin with and you shouldn't have been adding more fish anyway and especially not goldfish.

I would increase the water changes to about 30% - 50% every day (10 - 15 liters) until you get the nitrAtes down below 20.

And no, snails aren't really harmful, but most will multiply like crazy and you'll end up with hundreds of them. And if you have live plants, they'll get munched on by the snails.

-Chelle

 

yes it is a 30l tank, i was doing a 20-30 % water change every 2 weeks or so but acording to the biorb instructions it should be ok with about 20 minnows and 2-3 small gold fish??, one died this morning and other looks like it doesent have long left, should i move it to a hospital tank or will this be no good, i know they are only gold fish but i still dont like seeing them suffer.any further help would be great.

 

If you have a cycled hospital tank, then yes, I would move the sick fish to that.

The instructions are completely wrong. It's only big enough for 4 minnows at the most. And it's not suitable for any goldish. Even the smallest variety of goldfish gets 6" - 8" and needs to be in at least 20 gallons (78 liters). Commons and comets get at least 12" and need more like 50 gallons (200 liters) each. With that many fish in such a small volume of water, you should have been doing 20% - 30% water changes at least twice a week.

-Chelle

 

i have got the nitrate down to about 20 but fish are no better.he is floting on his side but can swim normaly when he wants to ,what should i do next.

 

Other than having swimming problems, how does he look physically? Any white or red patches? Any bloating?

-Chelle

 

hi ther are no other odvious signs but his fins are still clamped to his body,no swelling or spots, i cant tell if his gills look a little red??as the fish has red colouring,thanks very much for your help so far.

 

What's the water temperature?

I'm really running out of ideas.

-Chelle