Tiber Barbs?

Question
I recently have purchased 3 tiger barbs for my daughter, who happened to be 6 years old, because her goldfish keep dying and now one the the 3 tiger barbs have already died and I purchased them 4 days ago.  I have a green tiger barb and he/she has something fuzzy growing all over him and his face is red.  Do you what could be happening? We have went through 4 gold fish and now 1 tiger barb since the beginning of March.  I need help on how to take care of fish.  

Answer
Hello Angie,
I would recommend taking the two remaining Tiger Barbs back to the shop for now while you sort everything out.
Tiger barbs need about 140 litres anyway.

Fishkeeping is a major responsibility, and you may not believe me, but it is true.
You need to have a good filter, and go through the nitrogen cycle with it before buying any fish.
If you are buying tropical fish, you need a heater.

Goldfish need 45 litres, so are not suitable for small tanks or bowls.

When you have taken the fish back to the shop, buy pure bottled ammonia, and test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
Read these websites explaining how to cycle your tank:
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm

Cycling the tank is absolutely vital, and your fish will just die, as they have been doing, without it being done.
The ammonia will shoot up, then drop, then the nitrite, then the nitrate. Ammonia and nitrite are poisonous, so they need to be 0.0 at the end of the cycle. The nitrate needs to be under 20ppm. The red face is probably caused by ammonia poisoning, and cannot be curd unless the ammonia is 0.0.

It surely cannot be a good thing for your daughter is fish are always dying, as she will begin thinking it is perfectly normal for fish to die all the time.
I can recommend a site that is very helpful and informative. Ask anything you want:
http://www.tropicalfish.site5.com/tfc/

Please don't buy any more fish unless you have the time and patience to look after them properly.

Best of luck,
Kathryn