Strange symptoms

Question
I recently entered college and took my fish with me. I resetup my 10 gallon tank last month with my 5 goldfishthat I have had for awhile and two algie eaters that I got last month (they are all really small) The light in my tank has been out for a month and I was just recently able to replace them. I now have found that some of my goldfish seem to be turning white. There is no change in scales, nor is the white a spot or bump. One of my fish has gasping alot as well, but not at the surface. They all look healthy except for the whiteness and the gasping in that one fish. Their eyes are slightly swollen, but I don't think it is Pop eye. Please help me, Thank you.

Answer
Hi Lillian;

Sometimes setting up a tank over again after moving it makes a tank go into a break-in period again as if it was new. Toxins rise when that happens until it re-establishes a bacteria balance. The fish feel ill and their skin eyes and gills are irritated. Make a water change of 25% right away. Do a change every day for 3 more days. This should lower the toxins enough for them to feel better. Their coloration should improve too unless it is pale from lack of light. It happens sometimes. Once the crisis seems to be over, it is essential that goldfish tanks get a water change of 25% weekly and the gravel vacuumed every 3 to 4 weeks.

Even though the fish are young the tank is just too small for that many. Especially goldfish. Goldfish are very messy little guys that get to be about 6 to 8 inches long. They also make a lot of waste for their size. Each goldfish needs about 10 gallons of water in order to thrive.

Depending on what kind of algae eaters you have, they may need a bigger tank too. If they are Chinese Algae Eaters, they will start sucking the sides of the goldfish as they grow. They really like goldfish slime (eew, gross!) and will just attach to them causing sores. If the algae eaters are plecostomus, they are pretty docile when small but some varieties get 12 inches long. (tank busters!) The smallest varieties get about 6 inches long. They need at least a 20 or 30 gallon tank. The only algae eaters suitable for smaller tanks like yours long term are "otocinclus". They get about 1.5 inches.  

The long term solution of course is a bigger tank if you want to keep all the fish. If your housing doesn't allow for that you may have to find someone else to adopt a few of them instead. They really can't live in there for long. Just  keep up with water changes for now until you can decide what to do for them.

Hope they feel better soon.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins