Amonia Levels and Cloudiness

Question
Dear Chris,

I set up a thirty gallon fish tank in the beginning of December for my 5 telescoped-eyed gold fish.  Within the past two months my water is constantly cloudy.  I have tried all of the water clear solutions, and have done partial water changes and nothing seems to help.  My ammonia levels are sky high (when I test it is a deep yellow) and my Ph is 6.4.  I have been using Amquel in my tank over the past two weeks.  I went to the pet store and the clerk told me to use Amquel every day for four days and then do a partial water change; however, it has not worked yet.  Also, recently, the tank walls and the filter have had a black residue on them and when I vacuum the gravel there is black residue.  Is this the Ammonia?  I don't know what else to do.  High Ammonia levels, cloudy water, and black residue.

Answer
Hi Greta;

Sounds like overfeeding. Goldfish are natural-born gluttons and will basically eat until it won't go in their mouths anymore. Their intake muct be controlled to keep them from getting sick and/or from polluting their own tank. They only need as much food as they can consume in 5 minutes every day. You can feed twice a day, just feed them for 2 or 3 minutes to give them 5 minutes of actual feeding time in one day. If there is food leftover after that, it is excess and will pollute the tank. Goldfish also require veggies like cucumber, peeled peas, green beans, romaine and other green foods. Avoid iceberg lettuce as it has little nutrition and causes diarrhea. (Yuck!) Feed these foods along with their dried pellets or flakes, or give greens as one entire feeding two or three times a week. Goldfish are omnivores and require limited protein. The veggies keep their digestion working properly and helps avoid constipation, which fancy goldfish are very prone to.

Keep doing frequent water changes and gravel vacuumings.  Once the food situation is under control, the ammonia levels should go down and stay down.

Here is a list of good web pages on feeding goldfish;

http://www.goldfishinfo.com/general.htm#fed
http://www.goldfishinfo.com/feeding.htm
http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/care.html#Feeding
http://www.flippersandfins.net/goldfishfaq.htm#food

I know this next one is a little strange, but is important to know about;

http://www.goldfishutopia.com/feces.php

Your fish will outgrow that tank eventually. Five fancy goldfish will need at least a 50 gallon tank once they reach adult size which is about 6 to 8 inches. This is not including tail size, just body length.

I hope things get better soon......

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins