Pics Of My Oranda... Options

[Hamad]

I left for a week out of town and asked my cousin to make sure none of my cats get into the room where the tank is and she ended up putting the fish in a bowl and keeping her somewhere high without my permission! I came back finding the fish almost dying so I changed the tank's water immediately and added the fish in it with the air pump set on high...


here are the pics of the fish right after added to the tank and 5 hours later...

[Hamad]

oh and btw the fish's length is 4", I hope it will grow but I should just hope it'll live now cause it's been exposed to a lot of stressful environments in the past three weeks [salt treatment and then high ammonia in the bowl]. I hope there's no permanent damage's done, so far I noticed the swimming isn't the best but could be stress only.

[CyberET]

lets hope theres no permanent damage, meanwhile provide as much aeration as u can without causing stress to the fish ohya.. minimal feeding as well for the moment

[void]

nice fish... lucky you come back fast... or else you wouldn't sleep for days.... hmmm.... should buy bigger tank with the tank cover...

[Hamad]

Void, I do have a much larger tank too but I'm unsure if it's going to be necessarry. The fish is in a 10-15 gallon tank right now and by itself, the other tank I have is 50-60 gallon.

Besides I change 80% of water daily because I've discovered that all water tests they sell in this country are expired or almost expired! So having a cycled set up will be hard without tests...and changing 80% of water in a 50gallon daily is tooo much work for one fish.

Tell me if what I'm doing is wrong or not as I'm unsure myself.

Anyway, today the fish seems to be doing so much better when it comes to swimming...very active BUT early signs of gill disease started! Should I treat all over again right away or should I wait a little? Because I'm afraid this will be way too much stress for it to handle another salt treatment with 2% salinity dips daily etc...

Give me your suggestions please...thanks!

[void]

to be honest, i'm no real expert on fish treatment... but do you put salt after each water change? how many percent?
in my case, for non green water tank, i change about 60% of water once every 2 days and add salt... (yup, i will taste the water, if not salty enuff, will add more salt... )
for green water tank, i change about 80% of the water every 3 or 4 days...

[HappyBuddha]

Besides I change 80% of water daily because I've discovered that all water tests they sell in this country are expired or almost expired! So having a cycled set up will be hard without tests...and changing 80% of water in a 50gallon daily is tooo much work for one fish.

How about his, hamad... put the fish in your large tank but fill it up with 15-20 gallons of water only. The low (but wide) water height will have less water pressure, better oxygen exchange, and supposingly good for the development of headgrowth, prevents the tails from collasping and teaches the fish to swim level too. Just make sure the water level is high enough to allow the fish to fully extend its fins.

[void]

The low (but wide) water height will have less water pressure, better oxygen exchange, and supposingly good for the development of headgrowth....

oh... really??! something new to learn... also feeding of tubifex worms will help...

[Hamad]

How about his, hamid... put the fish in your large tank but fill it up with 15-20 gallons of water only.  The low (but wide) water height will have less water pressure, better oxygen exchange, and supposingly good for the development of headgrowth, prevents the tails from collasping and teaches the fish to swim level too.  Just make sure the water level is high enough to allow the fish to fully extend its fins. 

A pretty good idea! Thanks Happybuddha, I never thought of this! I will do this tonight for sure!

As for salt, I used to have 0.2% in the water all the time but during the last two water changes I didn't add any salt. I was told that fish can get immune to salt if it's always used in the tank so I didn't add any this time.

The fish today is back to fast swimming, fins extended all the time, eats very well but still goes up for air every now and then even though the airpump is on and strong...I really hope it's not gill disease again.

Also would the water still be good if I make water changing every 2 days [80%]? Because when I change the water it's always still clear and has no smell at all so I wonder if there will be a difference if I make the changes every other day instead which is going to be an advantage with the big tank as it's a bit far from any water source and no place for it to move closer.

[HappyBuddha]

Also would the water still be good if I make water changing every 2 days [80%]? Because when I change the water it's always still clear and has no smell at all so I wonder if there will be a difference if I make the changes every other day instead which is going to be an advantage with the big tank as it's a bit far from any water source and no place for it to move closer.

Crystal clear water is never a good indicator for the condition of the water. Unfortunately the only way you could tell if the water is good is with a good test kit. Fortunately you'll learn the characteristics of your tank after a while and don't need to test the water quality as often, until the setup or the stock load change.

My tanks are far away from the tap and drainage. So I use a long hose to discharge and fill up the water. Using a hose is a lot easier than pails.

[Hamad]

Fist of all, amazing header and entrance HappyBuddha! I'm a big fan of your calico orandas and would LOVE to see more pictures of them!

Anyway I'm currently still setting up the other larger tank for the move tonight and I'll try to get a long hose today cause the water changing will be quite a job!

Oh and one more question! as u can see in the pics I have a cheap sponge filter in there, I'm providing this for aeration and not to leave any dirt on the bottom of the tank...but I'm wondering, should I clean this [as in throw the sponge/cotton and replace it with a new one] or should I leave it as it is to develop bb and clean it once or twice a month using tank's water? Thanks!

[Hamad]

Oh and another thing, I also have an extra Fluval 403 external filter [I actually have two] with a UV Sterilizer attached, would it be good if I take off the media inside it and use it for water flow? I'm going to be doing 80% water changes semi-daily so I believe I don't need it for filteration!

[HappyBuddha]

Fist of all, amazing header and entrance HappyBuddha! I'm a big fan of your calico orandas and would LOVE to see more pictures of them!

I have bad news. Sometime last week I accidentally damaged one of the Oranda's tail; I was scoping the fish out and frightened it somewhat. It caught part of its tail around the air-line tubing and tore it when it struggled to swim away. The torn tail sank to the bottom of the tank together with my heart.

Unfortunately I was told the way it was torn, the fish will no longer be able to regenerate a new one.

Oh and one more question! as u can see in the pics I have a cheap sponge filter in there, I'm providing this for aeration and not to leave any dirt on the bottom of the tank...but I'm wondering, should I clean this [as in throw the sponge/cotton and replace it with a new one] or should I leave it as it is to develop bb and clean it once or twice a month using tank's water? Thanks!

Because it takes at least 2-3 weeks for beneficial bacteria to establish and colonize in the bio-medium (the wool in your case), do not throw away the wool or wash it under tap water which kills the BB instantly.

Frankly I doubt you can cultivate and maintain BB effectively in those box filter. They work nicely as a mechanical filteration to trap and hide debris though. So if you change water frequently, it's okay to discard the soiled wool whenever you feel like it.

[HappyBuddha]

Oh and another thing, I also have an extra Fluval 403 external filter [I actually have two] with a UV Sterilizer attached, would it be good if I take off the media inside it and use it for water flow? I'm going to be doing 80% water changes semi-daily so I believe I don't need it for filteration!

Bio-filtration is good for clear water. Actually... it's a must.

Setup up your Fluval with bio-media in it. Even with bio-filtration, you still need to change water as no bio-filter can remove the end product of bio-filtration - nitrate. Although relatively harmless (compared to ammonia and nitrite), they are still bad for the fishes at high concentration (above 10-20 ppm).

Furthermore, you can theoritically extend the water change interval if you need to go away instead of coming home to find your fish housed in a little goldfish bowl again.

Attach a rainbar to your canister placed an inch above water level. This will aerate the water nicely without creating much current. I can't think of any fancy goldfish that likes/need current so avoid it if possible.

[kingyoo]

What a cute fish Hamad!

Attach a rainbar to your canister placed an inch above water level. This will aerate the water nicely without creating much current. I can't think of any fancy goldfish that likes/need current so avoid it if possible.

I agree, the rainbar or spraybar creates a lot more O2 than an air stone with less current.