KoeIC

Thank you so much!

Hello! 😃 I am super excited to join this forum. I have been searching for something like this for quite some time now and I’m not sure why I didn’t find it sooner! I’d like to just introduce myself. I’m a young, new, hobbyist from Colorado. This all started in October when my little sister won a common goldfish from her homecoming carnival and was keeping him in a Tupperware container 🫤. She asked me if I wanted the fish, I said no. She texted my boyfriend who I live with and he said yes 🤦🏼‍♀️. So we got the fish. The poor little guy lived in a very large candy jar for about 5 days until I had the funds to get him a 10 gallon tank. We had a rough start getting into the hobby for sure, and we’re still struggling with proper care and what not. Google gives so many different answers and opinions. However, since then, we’ve acquired a 60 gallon tank, 5 total goldfish, and 2 common plecos. Whereas, recently, I’ve started doing research BEFORE even touching the tank. There’s SO much to know and SO much to learn. And goldfish are hard! Before I introduce the fish, just know that YES I have read the risks of keeping different goldfish breeds and common plecos in the same tank behavior wise. After almost 2 months, I’ve been lucky enough to not have any problems. Also, I’d like to disclose that we have inappropriate names for our fish but also PG nicknames for them. I’ll keep it PG 🤣 I have not gotten my tank to become low maintenance at ALL and I struggle weekly with it and I am here in hopes of good advice and knowledge. Suddenly fighting the nitrogen cycle, ich, and fin rot 😕. Now to the fish- 1- we have Freddy, the common goldfish who has grown at least 2cm in 2 months. 2- Chonkers, our Ryukin??? Goldfish. Maybe you can help me exactly identify her type because our pet stores call them all different. 3- BJ (Bubbles), red cap??? Oranda Goldfish. He’s my lovey baby. He just does his own thing. 4- Po (like from Kung Fu Panda), the Panda moor goldfish. LOVES watching people outside the tank. 5- Ebony, our black moor (butterfly tail??) goldfish. Every water change she stays very close to my hands in the tank and was the first to snack on an algae wafer from my hand. 6&7- Gluck and Gluck, the little common plecos. They just do pleco things. I apologize for the long post, I feel like everytime I talk about the tank, it’s… a long story! ☺️ I caught the “fish bug” I think someone else called it. Thank you for having me.

Here are tonight’s readings. My carbonate reading took a plunge and looks like nitrate and nitrite are down a level than they have been but not ideal at all!

Yeah I need different filter media but before I go out splurging on some I just need to know what. The cartridges in the filter are aqua-tech filters #3. I have sponge filters in behind them. I can get pictures tonight. @jwcarlson mentioned to do a big water change. I was thinking of doing a 75% water change as soon as possible? What would you recommend the order of steps I should take to treat this? Water change and wait for the nitrates to lower to treat then? Thank you all for all of your help also!

Here are some terrible photos of the test strip that doesn’t include the ammonia test from 12/3/23 directly after a water change. I will have to get better pictures tonight after work. I have tested my tap water and the only thing I’ve concluded from that is that the chlorine is high (which I treat before adding to the tank) and that the ph is slightly acidic for freshwater straight from tap. Thank you for the welcome! I’ve been looking for something like this since forever and I finally stumbled across it 😃 This is another not-great photo of the tank! I’m starting to think the physical filters at the bottom of the pumps (where water is sucked in) are not the best I want to switch them to the sponge (can’t think of the name) filters

I don’t know anything about keeping Fry. But I just recently purchased this one on Amazon (for a cheaper choice). And it cleared a whole tank in 24hours. It is a little strong

My filters originally only had filter cartridges. At half a month I have had to rinse them in dirty tank water to unclog the back a little bit. After a month I have switched back and forth from both filters. I.e. the left side pump had only ran 15 days in the old tank so 15 days later I changed it. The right side filter was changed 15 days after that because it reached 30 days. If that makes sense 🤣. I have multiple test strips to test the water parameters. I accidentally bought 200 of them before realizing that test kit liquids would have been the better choice. I was hoping to run them out before purchasing a kit.

Hello! Hopefully this doesn’t get too much criticism, but I’m pretty much at my last resort here. to begin, I have a 60 gallon freshwater tank that was started on October 15th, 2023. We currently have it stocked with 5 goldfish, and 2 little common plecos. (This is not going to be permanent, yes I’m aware they all grow to significant sizes). However, I have kept up with weekly water changes, and monthly filter cleanings/changes. Since thanksgiving weekend we have had extremely high nitrite and nitrate levels. I have had 2 large hanging filters on the tank (I know one would be enough but one was from an old tank we were using the bacteria from that previously healthy tank) I use API quick start, stress coat, and aquarium salt with each water change. On 11/29/23 I did a 25% water change, another on 11/30/23 then a 10% water change on 12/1/23, 10% water change on 12/2/23. Then on 12/3/23 I added fluval nitrate remover pads to the filters. And 12/4/23 I did a 25% water change. My water parameters are not changing. I have 100-150ppm nitrates and 10 or more ppm nitrites. Unfortunately my readings are off test strips at the moment. My ammonia has stayed under 0.5ppm. The ph level stays between 6.8-7.2. The water temp stays between 68-70*F. I clean the gravel with water change as well. The water is clear with no algae, odor or particles. However, about 2 days ago I started noticing that 2 of the goldfish and the 2 plecos are getting Ich and then one other goldfish is getting fin rot from nitrate poisoning. I treated them last night with high concentrations of aquarium salt and they’re all lethargic of course. I have medications coming in the mail (local pet stores don’t carry any). Is there anything anyone can think of to help with my nitrate/nitrite levels??? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Google can only answer so many questions.