Please HELP!

Hey guys, one of my cycle fish died and I really need your help to figure out why!!!

My tank cycled in 7 weeks and I did about a 30% water change at the end of it. The water change was performed on Friday. Yesterday (Sunday) one of my comets I used for cycling was swimming a bit funny. Kinda wonky rocking from side to side. I was a bit worried but decided to leave it overnight and if it was still being funny this morning to test my water again etc...

I came in this morning and it was dead! I really am confused as to why? If there is something wrong with my water am I going to have to re-cycle my tank? I have already got my new axie but it's really little (about 9cm)so I'm keeping it in a container for now.

I've gone through a list of what could have killed the comet...

- I cleaned the filter media in tank water that I had removed at the same time as I did the water change (my filter is an Aqua One maxi internal filter and only has a sponge in it). I thought this would be best as my tank has never been cleaned in 7 weeks! Should I have not cleaned the filter media at the same time as the water change?

- My tank water is at about 24 degrees but it hasn't been at that temp for long and I don't think it was long enough to cause an infection or stress the fish to death... I am looking into getting a chiller though because i know 24 degrees is too hot for my axie

- My phosphates are still off the charts but there is no algae in my tank.... how often should I change my water to get rid of the phosphates?

- My ammonia was at 0 last week when I tested, but since the water change it seems to be sitting between 0 and 0.25... why is it spiking again?

- My nitrites are 0 and nitrates are 5 so that's all good I reckon.

- My pH is 7.2 so all good

Going through the list can anyone think of a reason the fish might have died? I tried to do absolutely everything right so I'm stumped. I don't want to have to do cycling all over again if there's something wrong with my water!!

Oh yeh - 2 more things..... The fish that died used to miss out on food a lot because the other fish would get to it first. The other fish seems absolutely fine... Also, the fish that died had no obvious sign of disease... no tail rot or white spots or change in colour or anything as far as I could tell.

SOOOO sorry for the incredibly long post! I just wanted to give all details to get the most accurate advice!

Anyone with any insight into what went wrong PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know! I'm so freaked out that I'm going to kill my axie when I put it in the tank!

Cheers!

it would have died from the stress the cycling brings ie high ammonia and nitrites, thats why some people adivse against using fish. it would have been weaker than all the other fish so it would have made more of a impact. if your tank is cycled it is fine for your axie.
sorry im not sure what. to do about your phosphates
maybe you over-did your bio load (fed more than usual etc?), that can cause your ammonia to spike a bit to try accomodate for extra waste.

Or it could have died from hole in the head or whirling disease (I don't know if this actually affects goldfish or just trout) or any number of things. Pet shop goldfish usually aren't the most healthy of things anyway.

You could be having the ammonia spike due to cleaning off the filter media. This is where most of your bacteria will grow, and it should only be rinsed in a bowl of tank water once in a while, so you don't kill the bacteria.

I suspect it was a sickly fish for whatever reason. Do goldfish tolerate temperatures like 24C, or is that stressful to them? (I don't know much about goldfish.)

I'm stumped as to why the phosphates would be so high. You can buy special filter media, or pillows, of material that absorbs phosphates. Or you could try adding some live plants, although they may bring in other problems. I would say just do the usual 25%/week and it should improve over time.

I wouldn't call .25 ppm ammonia a "spike". That's an acceptable level, although it does indicate that you are not completely through the cycling process. Does the tank contain some sand or porous decorations (silk plants, bricks, rocks, etc) that will be colonized by the good bacteria? If not, that might explain why cleaning the filter caused the ammonia to go up a bit.

Hi girls, thanks for your feedback so far!

Sharn - The phosphates have me stumped!!! My goldfish only got 1 flake each a day and usually the one that's still alive ate them both before the other one could even get to it!!! So i don't think food waste would be the cause of the phosphate problem.... Maybe my kit is just telling me lies? hahaha

Joan - the filter media was cleaned in tank water like you said. I thought it best to clean it because it hadn't been done in over 7 weeks! Should I clean the filter media and do water changes at separate times in future?

Jennifer - Goldfish prefer same sort of temps as axies... 15 to 20 degrees celcius is optimum for them.

The fish was fine for 7 1/2 weeks and then just sorta started swimming funny and died!

My tank does have a sand substrate so the bacteria should be fine?

Could it have been the shock of the water change that killed? I didn't let the water sit before putting it in the tank because I only have one bucket LOL... I just stirred the dechlorinator into the bucket each time before putting it in the tank. Is that bad?

One more question - is it ok to put a 5 month old 9 cm long axie in the fridge coz I think it's a bit warm in his containter...

swim bladder problems?

Hey Sharn that's not a bad theory coz it was swimming kinda wonky during the day like it couldn't keep its balance...

The other fish still seems totally fine so I'm starting to calm down about the water quality lol.. still worried about the temp though - I don't own an eski! LOL

I would say swim bladder for sure,I don't know what causes it,but have lost a lot of goldfish to it.Your description sounds exactly what happened to mine.My beautiful blackmoore,Sabbath,was struck down with it too,I was gutted,stupid swim bladder!He was the prettiest blackmoore I ever saw,he had extra tail bits,and they were sooo long...

its from too much air getting in it if my brain remembers right. it was on harrys practice the other night, a lady bought in her two goldfish, they had bloated to bigger than his hands! he drained fluids out of one the other died in the process.

Do they always get bloated like that when it's their swim bladder? Mine didn't look bloated at all