Water turning yellow and the fish seem not active

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I just bought my first freshwater tank with 2 goldfish the tank is 10 gal. and it hasnt been a week yet and the water is starting to cloud and look almost yellow.  when I first got the the fish they were all over the place but now they just seem to hide behind the ornament thats in there on the bottom and the fish only come out when there is food present.  One of the fish is not even too excited when the food comes anymore.  I'm worried about it and am thinking they are about to parish!  Please help before its too late :(

ANSWER: Hi Joshua:  You will need to take a sample of water to the local aquarium and have them test it.  You also need to do a 30% water change immediately.  If you don't have a filter you will need one. I think that your fish are suffering from toxicity.  Please make sure you are cleaning the gravel too... please keep me posted on your fish's condition.  Dave...

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QUESTION: Hi Dave, thanks for the info. I did what you suggested and bought a syphon, vaccumed the gravel and did a 30% water change. A filter came with the aquarium.  I also bought some stress out and added that.  The water still looks cloudy tho and now the calico goldfish is all over the place again.  Even to the point of jumping out of the water!  Is this the norm for goldfish?  Still kinda worried about it lol..  The funny thing is I only bought the tank and fish not even a week ago.  Didnt think there would be problems this soon, kinda overwhelming.  Thanks again for all your help I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon.   Joshua

ANSWER: Good morning Joshua:  The thing to keep in mind is that water is a mixture of bacterial, organic matter, and chemicals.  Keeping an aquarium requires a balance of all three of those elemental factors.  There is a process called "new tank syndrome" that occurs when you first start up a tank, or if you change one of the values too much suddenly...ie a large water change.  The cloudy water is the biological aspect of the tank trying to balance with the chemical side of the water.  You basically have good bacteria and bad bacteria and the two sort of find a balance that keeps everything in the tank healthy.  The cloudy water is the struggle between the bacterium to find that balance.  The Goldfish sounds like to me to be happy... make sure you have a cover on the tank or she will jump out... Fish are jumpers by nature... Don't be overwhelmed... there are only three really important things that you need to do... feed your fish (no more then they will eat in three minutes... I feed mine twice a day... Clean the tank on a weekly or twice a week schedule (goldfish are messy, messy fish so if you need to clean the tank more then once a week do only 10% water changes....and the last thing that you need to do is to enjoy your fish, keep an eye on them for changes in condition, etc.  Fish each have an unique personality so enjoy them all.... if you have other questions please let me know... dave

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QUESTION: Well, my black gold died this afternoon while i was at work.  the calico is still alive and I have transfered her to a glass bowl with a squirt of stress coat.  Should I put an airiator in there? Will she be ok till tomorrow morning until I go to the aquarium?  The water is back to its cloudy yellow color...  I even put 3 gallons of bottled water and nothing.  I'm gonna change out the gravel totally and I was wondering if I could use spring water maybe?  I just think the water here is horrible.  I am going to it tested tomorrow.  Well on the bright side, at least all the problems happened right off.  Get it out of the way lol.  Thanks
 Josh

Answer
Hi Joshua:  I am sorry to hear about your fish loss... keep the old gravel and just let the tank regulate itself. Aside from cleaning dont change too much in the tank or you will start the new tank syndrome again.  At this point I would put the goldfish back into the tank and just make sure there is an air stone in the tank with her.  The new water will have diluted any ammonia build up... and if you continue to clean the gravel she will be just fine... keep me posted... and trust me this will get easier.... dave