sigh.. should I do this..

[SevEnvy]

hey guys, as some of you might know (who read my post in the disease section), my tank isn't doing so hot..

for those of you who don't know.. I have a 30 gal and I initially bought two bubble-eye goldfish, and my girlfriend bought me 3 fantails (they're small). As you could imagine my ammonia sky-rocketed (being that goldfish are huge waste producers).

Now they all have something wrong with them.. from redenning to lethargia to frayed fins to ich.

I'm pretty sure they are all going to pass away here soon .

so.. what I'm wondering is.. if they all die, do you think I should empty my whole tank and give it a good cleaning, along with some new decor, and then get it all back up and running and do a fishless cycle? by clean I mean.. scrubbing off the water stains at the top, and totally cleaning/killing the bacteria in my gravel. TO COMPLETELY START ALL OVER AGAIN.

after this is all complete (2-3 weeks after death of my fish), can you guys give me some suggestions on what fish I should get that are kickass (fun to watch/awesome/school).

[Huugs]

I wouldnt give up on the goldfish yet! When I had goldfish first and didnt know much my fantail got reall ill (spasming on the bottom). I thought he would die but after a quarentine and medication he recovered within a day and is still living happily half a year on. I then did some research and felt bad coz I had him in a small tank.

If you can quarentined then fish with the things sticking out and try and treat them. Could be worms or something. Leave the ones that are just ichy and red in that tank do a big water change of 50% to get the ammonia down. And as Lexus said keep the salt and melafix up for the ich. Remeber only put enough salt in to replace what you took out in the water change dont add the same as you first put in. If you get the fish health then they should be able to fight off the ich.

As for this if you lose them all I would break the tank right down and clean it all. I think somene said that you can use a solution of one part bleach to 19parts water but make sure you rinse it very well afterwards.
Cycle your tank. Either fishless or with a few hardy fish that you want to keep with plants. If you dont mind whether its goldfish or tropicals you have then Id go for tropicals. You can get much more in that tank than the 3 goldfish which is still kinda pushing a 30Gal.

[SevEnvy]

thanks huugs. I feel really bad, and it like.. makes me cry looking at their frayed fins that were once beautiful. my favorite bubble-eye is very lethargic.

I have the three fantails in a 5 gal. bucket.

[maxpayne_lhp]

The goldfish are, yes, hardy. So it's worth a try and just keep your spirit up and run the medications. I think it'll all be okay.

[Huugs]

It is sad when your fish are ill but its a learning experience. I have had finrot (or frayed fins) but they do grow back so all is not lost. Ich and finrot are quite common so I wouldnt feel too bad about that and both are not nessescarily a death sentence.

I think I would leave the black moor in the main tank for the moment with the 2 bubble eyes as none of those have the 'sprouts'. and it probably has more chance in the proper tank. The water in the tank should have the ammonia levels kept below 1ppm at the very most. and the same goes for the water in the bucket but that will need to be changed much more often.

You are doing the right thing and asking for help so you should be ok.
How long has this tank been going?

[SevEnvy]

ok, I just moved him back in.

my girlfriend bought my calico fantails and black moor fantails at petco.

1 of my black moors already died (he had fin rot). I'm beginning to suspect that petco has crappy quality fish, because they seemed to contaminate my tank. I had the bubble-eyes in there for a week priar to the fantails, and they were doing just fine. and ever since I put the fantails in, i've been overstocked (ammonia sky-rocket) and diseased. 5 goldfish = too much for 30 gal.

[Huugs]

Was the tank cycled before you got the fantails?
Do you know any other fish keepers who could loan you some filter media if it wasnt cycled?

[TheOldSalt]

I already told you this in the disease section, but the worms are anchor worms, and they usually only show up under very poor conditions.
"Coppersafe" and "Clout" will fix them.

[SevEnvy]

ugh, *pulls my hair out* bought so much chemicals in the last week. ahaha. time to go back to the store I guess.

[Brad]

Hmm.. Kickass fish.. I would say either Guppies or Cichlids. I read on how to take care of Cichlids and it only made it confusing. Just get a heater and keep their water around like 83 degrees and the PH around 8 and feed them daily. I like to give mine about 30 feeder Guppies one day during each month as a little treat. They are great fish!