So about two weeks ago, I bought my very first fishies Starman and Ziggy (being a huge David Bowie fan). They’re both just little two inch comet goldfish, very pretty ones at that. At the pet store, they were very healthy and active. (The pet store is a very good one, too. Their fish are very well looked after, and their employees very knowledgeable.) Now, I own a 1.5 gallon tank. I was a little concerned that it was a tad small, but I was assured that goldfish could live in it just fine. (There’s a filter in it, with absolutely 0 issues, and a built in lamp above the tank.)
Setting up the tank, I did everything I was supposed to do. I rinsed out the tank, and thoroughly rinsed the pebbles and tank decorations. Most of the tank WAS tap water, but we made sure to ask for the bag the fish came in to have lots of water in it already to mix the fishie’s bacteria with the tap water. I was, again, assured that goldfish could live in this no problem. For the first two days, they seemed fine. I feed them about a half/a quarter of a pinch of flakes every morning at 6:30 am when I turn their light back on (I turn it off at around 10:00pm so they have around 8 hours of darkness) and always check on the condition of their water. I filled a big (clean) lidded tupperware with tap water next to the tank, and added water conditioner to it so it can condition for a day or so. I use this when I want to refresh their tank, so they have good disease-killing health-promoting water.
Every day/every other day, I replace about two cups of water with this clean water, because their tank develops a rather unpleasant smell, and the fish seem to be lingering around the bottom of the tank sleepily… I wasn’t sure if this was because of the amount of ammonia in the water or not, so changing the water frequently was the only thought in mind. Just yesterday, I even changed their filter. (Yes, I rinsed the cartridge before putting it back in.) In the filter, I DID find an abundance of uneaten flakes. I used the turkey baster to fish those out, but it does concern me a tad. Does this mean the fish aren’t eating as much as I thought they were, or is this normal? I do watch them eat every morning, but I don’t stay to see how much they eat.
I figured that maybe the flakes were too dry at first, but they don’t swim to the surface to eat them anyways. They just wait for the flakes to get good and heavy with water and eat them when they start to sink.
So on to the symptoms… About two days after I put them in my tank, they started swimming less and less… Now they seem to have picked a specific spot on the bottom of the tank where they just kind of hover together. Starman doesn’t even hover, really, he seems to just rest his belly on the pebbles. Their dorsal fins are limp and they just seem lifeless. The only way I can tell they’re alive is that they swim away when I stare at them long enough. It almost seems like they’re in sleep mode 24/7. They ARE very active around feeding time, and when I switch the lights on/off.
The other day, I didn’t change their water for three-ish days, thinking maybe I was changing it too much. No improvement at all… What should I do guys? Should I get a bigger tank? Is the ammonia from their pee too strong for the filter/anything to keep up in the little 1.5 gallon tank? Are there vitamins I can buy? D: This is my very first time owning fish, and I’m quite attached to them already.