Another dying goldfish

Question
Hi Chris,

Thanks for your quick response. I drained the tank, and removed all the gravel and then added the Maracyn 2 to the tank, but I think the poor guy was too far gone.  He died this morning.  I wonder what caused the infection.  What are some of the things I can do to avoid this in the future? My good bacteria is probably all dead by now, since I had to remove the gravel.  The filter is still in there and running.  Should I replace the filter pad before I get a new fish? It has been in the tank for a month now.  Also, whenever I vacuum the gravel, should I stir it up and clean under it, or just vacuum the top of it.  Is it a good idea to clean rocks and decorations too?  Thank you again for all your help.  I am just no good at keeping fish :(
Followup To
Question -
Hi Chris,

I had been in touch with you regarding my new tank.  I had two small comet goldfish in it and they both died.  At that time there was slight ammonia (.25 ppm) in the tank for 5-6 days and I did what you recommended, ie. 25% water change every other day.  This is a 10 g tank.  When the two fish died, I decided to bring just one small fancy goldfish to replace them.  At that point the water had become normal, no ammonia or nitrites, and ph was 7.0.  I checked the water every day.  The new goldfish was very active and playful when he came (I think he was either a ryukin or some other fancy kind, but just a baby).  I continued changing 25% of the water on alternate days along with vacuuming the gravel, and feeding him sparingly.  After a couple of days I noticed a tiny red mark under his jaw, but he was behaving normally so I didn't do anything.  Around the 6th day, he was hanging in the top of the tank, almost on his side, so I thought he had died, but when I went close, he started swimming around normally.  I did a water test - it was fine, but I still changed water.  That day he had more reddish color under his jaw, but he swam around, eating etc.  Next day he was hanging in the top corner again, a lot more now.  He was almost on his back now, and would straighten out once in a while, swim a little, and then go back to hang in the corner on his back.  The pet store said to add aquarium salt so I did that, but I knew something wasn't right because the red area looked like there was some bleeding internally.  I looked up on the internet, and found something about anaerobic bacteria in fish tanks causing haemmoragic septicemia - symptoms described were exactly what my fish had.  Today the poor guy is so bad, he looks like he is dead and floating in the water, and has a big patch of red under his mouth.  My last goldfish that died had something similar.  I am not sure about this, but I have kind of a thick layer of gravel on the bottom, and a couple of live plants.  The gravel is almost 1 inch in some areas, and thinner in others.  It is a medium - large sized gravel.  Is it possible that this has caused bacteria in my tank?  It seems it is too late to save this goldfish now. If I bring any more, should I clean out the tank completely and start out over again without any gravel or live plants?  I am not sure what to do - I am running into one problem after another, yet I really would like to have a goldfish that I can take care of properly.  Please help!  Thanks Chris.
Answer -
Hi Bela;

I think you may be right. It wouldn't hurt to drain the whole tank and clean the gravel thoroughly right now. Even as bad as he seems to be it could actually help him. An inch of gravel is pretty deep so maybe use only half of it next time.

Also, the poor little fella could be helped by using an antibiotic called "Maracyn 2". It absorbs inside the fish where infection is. If you set up the tank with no gravel it is easier to clean the old medicine out that way when treatment is over. Maracyn 2 makes the water foamy and brown. Once it is done, drain it all out again and put the gravel back.

I hope he improves, but you're right, he is pretty sick.......

Chris Robbins  

Answer
Hi Bela;

Oh, that's too bad. Don't be too hard on yourself. You started out with bad advice and no help at all until you could find out what to do. You just have to start over and do it the proper way.

It would be best to clean out everything and get a new filter pad. Since we don't know what caused them to die or where the infection came from, a clean tank and filter is a good way to avoid it again. It will have to go through the break-in again of course. Just don't overfeed and get only one small fish.

When changing water during break-in (first 6 to 8 weeks), don't vacuum the gravel or stir up the gravel. It will disturb the bacteria balance too much. Once break-in is over you should change 25% of the water weeekly and vacuum it every two weeks. Vacuum the gravel all the way down to the bottom of the tank. You don't have to do every inch of the bottom, but maybe skip the same size area you push the vacuum down into. Kind of like a checkerboard effect. This helps avoid disturbing it too much. In a couple of weeks you can do the areas you skipped last time. Try it out on a couple of spots to see what's dirty so you know where to go.
If you don't know how to use one ask someone at your local fish store to show you. Go in when they aren't busy so they have time to do a demonstration for you. If they don't know how either or won't help you with that, you need to find another store. Customer service is very important. If they don't think so then they don't deserve your business.

Unless the decorations are dirty they don't need to be cleaned when you make a water change. The beneficial bacteria lives there too so it is best not to disturb them unless necessary. Just rinse them off gently and put them back in. And then cut back on feeding. That's why they usually get ugly; excess food and waste. Sometimes it's just from algae and it can be cleaned off too.

Have you considered a different kind of fish? Goldfish are messy and you can only have one in there even after break-in. If you had other smaller cold water fish instead like danios, white clouds, guppies, you could have several once it breaks in. Or, get a heater and have fish like small tetras, cory cats, platies, dwarf gouramis etc.

Here is a link to my article on new tanks to help you through the first 6 to 8 weeks. (If I already gave this to you before, sorry about the repeat.)

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Expert_Fish_Help

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins