help i have a goldfish bowl

HELP!I have a goldfish bowl!

How to save the life of your new goldfishFrom the makers of thegoldfishtank.com

Dedicated to Meg and Mog, Goldie, Jaws and Elvis

Our f irst goldfish who, sad ly, al l had to start their lives in bowls. Remember: we were al l beginners once!

- The team at The Goldfish Tank

All contents 2013 by The Goldfish Tank.

All rights reserved worldwide.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein.

Book cover and interior page layout design by Pair of Aces Designs

Visit us at thegoldfishtank.com

Whats Inside Introduction ............................... 1

[1] The Dreaded Goldfish Bowl ........ 3

[2] Preparing your new tank ............ 6

[3] What is cycling? ......................... 9

[4] Cycling your tank ....................... 11

[5] Your new routine ........................ 14

Feeding: .................................................14

Testing: ..................................................15

Water changes: .......................................15

Filter cleaning: .....................................15

Resources .................................... 16

thegoldfishtank.com 1

HELP! I have a goldfish bowl!

IntroductionWelcome to Help! I have a goldfish bowl: How to save the life of your new goldfish.

If youre reading this then youve probably just got your first goldfishperhaps it was an impulse purchase, an unexpected gift or maybe you won it at a fair. Its probably swimming around in a small bowl right now. There may even be a little bridge or a miniature diver in there too...

But, to find out a bit more about the latest addition to your family, youve probably done some Internet research. And youve probably made some startling discoveries!

Discoveries like:

One goldfish needs at least 20 gallons (75 liters) of water. Goldfish produce a lot of waste and need a filter. A goldfish tank should be cycled before the fish is

added. Goldfish can grow to over a foot long. Goldfish can live for decadesat least one lived

to be 45 years old! Goldfish dont have stomachs and will never stop

eating. So... how much do you feed them?!



Youre probably feeling overwhelmed and worried that your goldfish will die soon. Well, dont panic!

We cant promise that your goldfish will live a long life. Unfortunately, many gold-fish die within weeks due to improper care at fairs, pet stores and immediately after purchase. But we do promise that your goldfish will have the best possible chance of survival if you follow the advice in this guide.

Not only that, but whether your current goldfish lives a long life or not, the knowledge you gain here could lay the foundation for many enjoyable years of goldfish keeping!

In this guide, we wont judge you, patronize you or criticize any mistakes you may have made. We will simply offer clear, straightforward advice on how to recover from a poor start to goldfish keeping and help you to look after your first goldfish properly.

In offering this advice, well make the following assumptions:

You know nothing at all about goldfish and have never kept one before. You currently have a new goldfishor more than onein a bowl or small tank. You didnt cycle the tank before adding the fishin fact, you

dont know what cycling means. Youre willing to learn more about goldfish and

youre keen to take good care of your fish. Youre willing to make a few relatively inexpensive

purchases to keep your fish alive.If this sounds like you then keep reading. We have a fish to save!



Chapter OneThe Dreaded Goldfish Bowl

The number one mistake made by new goldfish owners is keeping their goldfish in a bowl or small tank. Unfortunately, goldfish are often shown in bowls in the media and sold in bowls by unscrupulous or ignorant pet stores, which leads inexperienced fish keepers to think that bowls are an acceptable home for goldfish.

Theyre not. If your fish is in a bowl then, sadly, its life is in danger. A bowl really is a very unhealthy environment for a goldfish.

But its not too late! If you have a goldfish in a bowl or small tank then heres what you need to do:

Step 1:

Stop feeding your goldfish more than once every three days. And even then, only feed a very tiny pinch of food and remove any un-eaten food after one minute.

why? Because the more you feed, the more polluted the water will get. But goldfish can survive on very little food for a long time. Cut feeding to a minimum and you cut pollution to a minimum too. We 100% guarantee that your fish will not starvegold-fish can survive for weeks without food!

Step 2:

Start changing 80% of the water every day.

why? Again, this reduces harmful pollution, as youll be removing polluted water and replacing it with clean water.



Step 3:

Before adding fresh water, ensure that its temperature matches the temperature of the water in the bowl. Also, treat the new water with a product called Seachem Prime before adding it to the bowl.

why? A sudden change in tempera-ture will shock your fish. This shock can lower its immune system and in-crease the risk of illness and disease.

Seachem Prime will remove chlorine, am-monia and other harmful chemicals from the water. Be sure to follow the instructions on the bottle. If you cant get any Prime, or a similar product, then leave the water standing in a bucket for 24 hours before each water changethis will give the chlorine time to evaporate.

Step 4:

Get a bigger tank as soon as possible! Ideally 20 gallons for one goldfish. If you have more than one goldfish then add 10 gallons for each additional fish. For example: 20 gallons for one goldfish, 30 gallons for two fish, 40 gallons for three fish, etc.

Try to look for a long style tank. Theyre a bit shallower, but they contain the same amount of water because they are longer than stan-dard tanks. This maximizes surface area and swimming space!

why? Goldfish produce a lot of waste and can grow to be over a foot long. A big, long tank gives them room to grow, space to swim and allows a stable colo-ny of good bacteria to develop. This bacteria will convert harmful chemicals into less harm-ful chemicals. More on this later!

The most important step is, of course, getting a bigger tank. A goldfish is

very unlikely to survive for long in a bowl. And, even

if your goldfish did some-how survive long-term in a bowl, it would almost

certainly suffer significant discomfort and would not grow

to its full potential.



If youre concerned about the money needed to buy a new tank then look on eBay or Craigslist. You can pick up a second-hand tank very cheaply or possibly even free!

If youre worried about space then try measuring out the size of your tank in a variety of locations around your home. Most homes do have space for a 20 gallon tank some-where, even if it involves moving some furniture around a bit!

Theres no enjoyment in keeping an animal in poor conditions where it cannot grow and thrive, so get a new tank asap!

Sorry but Im keeping my goldfish bowl!

If youre really determined not to get a bigger tank or if it is genuinely impossible to get one for some reasonthen you should look into giving your fish back to the pet store or to a friend or family member with a big tank or pond.

If you absolutely must keep your goldfish in a bowl or small tank then you should continue to follow the steps above and add a small filter too.

A filtered bowl will help your fish stay alive for a while, but its still unlikely to live very long...



Chapter TwoPreparing your new tank

Once you have a nice new tank you should follow these steps to move your fish to its more spacious home:

Step 1:

Add a thin layer of gravel (optional), decora-tions (optional) and fill the tank with water (definitely not optional!). Then treat the water with Seachem Prime.

why? As previously mentioned, the Prime will remove dangerous chemicals such as chlorine and ammonia.

Step 2:

Add a filtermaking sure that you choose a big enough filter for your tank! We recom-mend Fluval U-series filters, which come in models U1 (the smallest), U2, U3 and U4 (the biggest).

You should aim for a filter that turns over ten times the volume of your tank per hour, or as close to this as possible. So, if you have a 20 gallon tank, the filter should turn over 200

gallons per hour. If in doubt, go for the bigger version!

why? A filter will re-move debris from the tank and will become

a home for good bacteria. Youll find out more about this later when we

discuss cycling.



Step 2a (optional):

Add an air pump and an air stone.

Put the air stone into your tank and attach it to the air pumpwhich sits outside the tank with some tubing.

why? The bubbles from an air pump cause a disturbance on the sur-face of the water, which increases the amount of oxygen in the waterand your fish needs oxygen!

Why is this optional? The flow from the filter should cause enough surface agitation to get plenty of oxygen into your water without the need for an air pump. However, if youre plan-ning to keep your water at a high temperature then you should definitely get an air pump, as a higher temperature will reduce the amount of oxygen in your tank water.

Step 2b (optional):

Add a heater.

why? A high temperature will en-courage bacteria growth, which means your tank will cycle more quickly.

Why is this optional? Goldfish dont need high temperatures, so while a heater set to a tem-perature of 76F or more, will encourage strong growth of good bacteria and your fish, it is not strictly essential. Also, a heater will reduce the amount of oxygen available to your fish, which

is why you should add an air pump if you choose to

add a heater!


Step 3:

Check that the water in the tank is a similar temperature to the water in the bowl, then move your fish into the tank. You may be able to gently pour the goldfish in, rather than causing unnecessary stress to the fish through the use of a net.

If the water temperature differs significantly between the bowl and tank then float the fish in a small container within the tank for a few minutes before letting it swim freely.

why? A sudden change of tempera-ture will shock your fish. This shock will cause stress, which lowers the fishs immune system and makes it vulnerable to illness and disease.

Scooping the goldfish up in a jug of water from its own bowl and then floating that jug in the tank for twenty minutes or so will cause the water temperature in the jug to slowly change to that of the tank. This will allow the goldfish to gradually adapt to the new tank temperature and minimize stress.




Chapter Three What is cycling?

So, you have a new tank all set up and youve moved your goldfish to its new home. Now, as you may have heard, you need to cycle your tank! You may be less clear on what that actually means! Lets take a look

Cycling is the process of building up a colony of good bacteria that will convert dangerous chemicals into less dangerous chemicals. There are three chemicals that you need to know about:

Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate

Note the difference between nitrite and nitrate.

Ammonia is produced by your fish. Its a very toxic chemical that will damage your fishs gills and fins. Eventually, ammonia burn will prevent your goldfish from breathing properly.

A goldfish will not survive long in water that is heavily polluted with ammonia, and even with frequent water changes, ammonia levels will quickly increase to dangerous levels in bowls and small tanks.

So, we need to get rid of that ammonia. How do we do it? We con-vert it to nitrite.

Nitrite is also a harmful chemical, but its LESS harmful than


ammonia. Once some good bacteria develop in your tank, they will start to convert ammonia to nitrite.

But, as we just said, nitrite is bad for your fish. So how do we then get rid of the nitrite? We convert it to nitrate.

Nitrate is STILL not good for your fish. But its much less harmful than ammonia and nitrite.

So, the aim of cycling is to develop a colony of bacteria that will first convert ammonia to nitrite, then convert nitrite to nitrate.

We then control the nitrate levels with regular water changes.

Ideally, you would cycle a new tank before add-ing any fishyou can find out more about this on

thegoldfishtank.com However, as your fish was already in an uncycled bowl or small tank, it made

sense to go ahead and add them to the larger tank and do whats known as a fish-in cycle rather than a fishless cycle.

Your tank will go through the cycling process with the fish already inside.




Chapter FourCycling your tank

So, how do we go about cycling the tank? Its actually really easy. All you need is am-monia in the waterwhich your fish will naturally provide in its waste!and the tank will cycle in time.

The difficult bit is keeping your fish alive and healthy during the cycling process! To do this, you need to regularly take water readings using a test kit and change some of your fishs water whenever ammonia or nitrite levels get too high. We recommend the API Freshwater Master test kit.

Heres what you need to do:

Before you start:

Set up your tank as described in section 2 of this guide and add your fish.

Buy a test kit and measure your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. This is a base reading so that you know what youre putting into your tankthere may be am-monia and nitrate in your tap water!

Daily:

Measure a sample of tank water for ammo-nia and nitritedo this before each water change. At first you will only see ammonia readings and nitrite will be zero.

Change at least 20% of the tank water every day.

If you measure more than 0.5ppm of either ammonia or nitrite (ppm = parts per mil-lion, this is the same as Mg/l, which stands for milligrams per liter) then change 50% of the tank water until the ammonia spike is under control.



After a few days to a week:

You should start to see nitrite readings higher than zero. You may still get ammo-nia readings too.

Continue to change 20% of the tank water every day. And 50%, or as much as neces-sary, when ammonia and nitrite spike above 0.5ppm.

When ammonia levels fall to zero:

Eventually you will see ammonia levels suddenly drop. At this point, start testing for nitrates.

Continue testing for ammonia and nitrites too.

Continue to change 20% of the tank water every day. And 50%, or as much as necessary, when ammonia and nitrite spike above 0.5ppm.

Nitrate levels may be high, but dont worry about this for now.

When ammonia and nitrite levels fall to zero:

Eventually you will see both ammonia and nitrite levels fall to zero. At this point, check your nitrate reading. It should be very higharound 100ppm.

Do a big water change of 75%, or however much is necessary, to get nitrate levels down to less than 40ppm. Remember: there may be some nitrate in your tap water, which will limit how low your nitrate can go!



[Congratulations! Your tank is now cycled!

Continue to test for ammonia and nitrites every few days, just to make sure there are no problems. Also monitor nitrates and do a big water change whenever nitrate levels exceed 40ppm.

IMPORTANT:

You can accidentally stop the cycling process if you clean your filter incorrectly! Never clean your filter in tap water. It will kill the good bacteria living inside the filter and effectively un-cycle your tank!

Dont clean your filter until cycling is complete.

Then, to clean your filter safely:

Scoop a bucket of water from the tank.

Unplug and disassemble your filter.

Gently rinse the filter sponges and the filter itself in the bucket of tank water.

Reassemble the filter and place it back in the tank.

Your fishs living situation is now much better than when it was living in a tiny bowl and your tank will be much easier to maintain from now on. No more daily water changes!

In the next section, well talk you through your new fish tank maintenance routine!



Chapter FiveYour new routine

Firstly, well done! Youve gone from an inexperience goldfish keeper with a fish in a tiny bowl to someone who has:

Kept your fish alive long enough to see its new home. Set up a 20 gallonor more!fish tank. Learned about water treatments, cycling and test kits. Successfully cycled your new tank!

You should now have a much healthier and happier fish in a nice big tank! But what do you do now? How do you look after a goldfish?

Check out the care section of thegoldfishtank.com for all of our best advice in detail, but here is the basic routine you should follow:

Feeding:

Add a couple of tiny pinches of food to your tank twice per day.

After one minute of feeding, remove any excess food from the water. Dont leave it to rot and pollute your tank!

For a balanced diet, feed your fish a combination of flakes, pellets, bloodworms, brine shrimp and peas with the shells removed.



Testing:

Test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate at least once per weekideally twice per week for the first few weeks after cyclingto make sure all your water parameters stay within acceptable limits.

If ammonia or nitrite rise above 0.5ppm, or nitrate rises above 40ppm, then do a 50% water change.

Water changes:

Change some of your fishs water once per week.

That is, unless ammonia, nitrite or nitrate spike to high levelsas described abovein which case you should change 50% of the tank water immediately.

You can find out more about how to do a water change on thegoldfishtank.com

Filter cleaning:

You dont need to clean your filter every time you do a water change, but giving it a quick clean once every two weeks or so is advisable.

But remember: Never clean your filter in tap water. It will kill the good bacteria living inside the filter and effectively un-cycle your tank!

To clean your filter safely: scoop a bucket of water from the tank, unplug and disassemble your filter and gently rinse the filter sponges and the filter itself in the bucket of tank water. Then reassemble the filter and place it back in the tank.

And thats it!



Youve successfully saved your fish and started a healthy goldfish care routine!

If you have questions or need more help

Theres only so much information we can fit into this guide, and goldfish keeping is a big subject!

But if you need more help then please post a question in thegoldfishtank.com forum

TGTor one of our friendly and knowledgeable forum members!will reply as soon as we can and do the best we can to answer your questions!

ResourcesTGT Resources on the Internet:

Website http://thegoldfishtank.comForum http://thegoldfishtank.com/forum/

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ebook version of this guide for Kindle today!

IntroductionThe Dreaded Goldfish BowlPreparing your new tankWhat is cycling?Cycling your tankYour new routineFeeding:Testing:Water changes:Filter cleaning:

Resources

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