cleaning 2.5 gallon fish tank

Question
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I just put some new water in the tank and noticed that the air tube is starting to turn slightly green and the light cover is also turning green.  We just put the water in the tank 2 days ago.  Why is it already turning green?  How long do you think the goldfish will survive in this 2.5 gallon tank before it dies?  Its body is about 1.5 inches long.  I dont remember what the name of the fish is but it has white on the ends of its tale and fins.

Answer
Hi Melissa;

Try to use the followup option so I can see our previous correspondence when you reply. I answer quite a lot of questions and I don't want to get them mixed up. These were pretty close together and I remembered you, so it was okay this time. I'm just a scramble-brained mom of four on the edge of menopause, so gimmee a break! *laughing* ;-)

Anyway, the green is just from algae and is quite normal. It's spores are present all over the place, including our tap water. It isn't harmful. The fish's poo probably even had some algae spores in it. Having it appear in your tank so early is actually a symptom of what we discussed earlier about the small tank and a messy fish. Algae is actually a lower form of a plant. The fish is making plenty of 'fertilizer' for that green stuff already. Just wipe it off and keep making frequent water changes. It would help greatly to keep the tank away from windows and feed the fish very little food. Green algae thrives in bright light. The food makes waste. Cutting back on food reduces the "fertilizer" for the abundant algae. Here are some guidelines on feeding to help you with that part;

Feed your goldfish once a day. The fish must consume all food from everywhere in the tank within 2 or 3 minutes. You can even skip two or three days of dry food a week and give him veggies instead. A little piece of a romaine leaf, a cucumber slice, a cooked green bean, a slice of squash are all very good foods for goldfish and they really need the fiber. Just rinse them off and drop them in the tank. These foods don't rot like dried foods do so they can be nibbled on all day long.

If he has been used to more frequent feedings, your goldfish will beg and act like he is starving at first. He is just fine and will not starve. Goldfish will literally eat until the food can't go in their mouth anywmore. It's their nature to eat and eat and eat but they don't need to. Especially in a closed environment like an aquarium. For their own good we have to restrict their diet. The fish food labels may tell you to feed several times per day. Their business is to sell food. They love it when you overfeed because you have to buy more. So, don't fall for it!

There are many types of goldfish; Orandas, Ryukins, Pom-Pom, simple fantails, moors, telescopes, bubble-eye, pearlscale, celestial, all in many different color variations and shapes...... They all get big and all are messy. When you see fish in the stores and they are referred to as "small" or "medium", this only refers to their current size. It doesn't mean they stay that size. They are just babies when small and basically 'teenagers' at medium size. It's just an easy way to index sizes at the time of sale in the commercial pet fish industry.

Here is a pretty nice web page with photos of many of those types;

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8175/gdtype.html

I would move him to a bigger tank within a month. He is going to grow in spite of restricted feedings. I hope he does okay until then but just keep up the good work in cleaning and don't overfeed him.

Here is info on new tanks and good beginner's info;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help
http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin.html
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/charts/good_bad.html
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/aquariumstartup/a/newtankmistakes.htm
http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/feedingfish/f/howmuchfood.htm

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins