Clougy water and a trapped fin tail

Question
We bought our tank last week, set it up, and the water went from cloudy to clear. It was clear for a few days, and so we bought two small organdas (with frilly tails). Worringly when we got home the water had gone slightly cloudy again - which really worried us but we had two fish in a bag, so they had to go in...

Now the fish has stopped their happy swimming around and are trying to hide in corners - and one of them managed to get its fin tail caught in the filter. Managed to free him - but are having kittens (sorry to mix species!) because we figure the filter should be on to help sort out the cloudy water - but if the fish is going to get trapped by their tails, it seems self defeating...

We did do a small partial water change later on.

Any ideas? The water had been treated with the water conditioners, and as I say - was beautifully clear six hours ago...

Specifically - do we turn the filter on and hope the goldfishes three second memory is a fallacy, and they'll have learned not to get trapped on the filter.

We did make sure that the shop knew exactly which aquarium and filter we had before we bought the fish... They are now sitting at the bottom of the tank, listing to one side...

Answer
Hi Claire,

Your tank has not been cycled yet, and the fish are suffering from toxin poisoning, mainly ammonia poisoning. Here's how it works:

Fish produce waste. This waste decomposes into a toxic compound, ammonia, which is naturally occuring. Unfortunately, this is extremely toxic for the fish. However, over time, beneficial bacteria will develop in the filter that removes ammonia. In the wild, a filter would not be necessary because new water constantly flows in, diluting the harmful ammonia. Right now, your fish are suffering from stress and ammonia poisoning.

The water is cloudy due to bacterial bloom. When fish first get introduced, ammonia gets produced, and bacteria gets attracted to an area of high oxygenation (the filter) to live. They remove ammonia, which is very important. When you turned off the filter, the source of oxygen was removed, and as a result, the beneficial bacteria died off, leaving cloudiness (dead bacteria). Another cause is overfeeding or floating debris.

Right now, turn on the filter. The filter should ALWAYS be running 24/7. You can put a sponge over the intake of the filter to decrease water flow. This way, the Goldfish won't get trapped in the intake. Foam (replacement filter media) will also work even better.

Perform a large (30-50%) water change right now, to help remove toxic ammonia. Your Goldfish are most likely injured from the incident with the filter, and are extremely stressed. Add a full dose of the water conditioner to the water. This will reduce stress.

Perform a 10% water change daily and add water conditioner until the problem resolves. As a side note, your aquarium should be at least 20+ gallons to support two Orandas. Anything smaller is not good enough because the water volume is not big enough to help dilute the toxins from fish waste.

And of course, the three-second memory is ridiculous.

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!