So where did the wisdom come from that test strips are completely useless? Is it just another thing that gets repeated all the time without any evidence to back it up, like the goldfish organs keep growing and cause them agony if they're kept in a small tank urban myth? I've repeated the 'test strips aren't accurate' thing myself without trying to verify it just because everyone else says it, it's a very successful meme.

Just shows, we need to be careful not to believe something just because everyone on intenet forums tells us it's true. No wonder us newbies always get so confused from all the conflicting advice we recieve...

Does anyone know where the temperatures recommended for different fish come from? I mean, has anyone ever done controlled, double-blind experiments for all these different species and all the different temperatures?

Some profiles I've come across say a minimum of 22 degrees c for Odessa barbs, others say 14 degrees c.

Also, surely in many areas in the wild temperature will vary, dropping slightly at night and a lot during winter, for example.

I have some test strips and in my case they agree with my liquid API test for ammonia, tell me there is no nitrite when my liquid test says 0.25 and tell me I have a pH of less than or equal to 6.4 whereas my liquid test says 7.6 or above.

So I trust the ammonia one bur not the others.

Hi Vikki,

sorry you're having trouble with your goldies after shelling out for a new, bigger tank for them.

I'm afraid that 24 hours isn't enough for a tank to cycle, it takes weeks usually. The ammonia that your goldfish are excreting will be building up and poisoning them. In your old tank, bacteria had grown in the filter and the gravel to convert the toxic ammonia into toxic nitrite, then into the relatively safe nitrate. You can buy tests for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, the API Freshwater Master Test Kit is very good, will last for ages and you can get it for about £20 on eBay. The test dip-ticks you can buy aren't very accurate so aren't recommended.

Do you still have the filter from their old tank? If you do, and you haven't let it dry out or washed it in tapwater, then the bacteria will still be alive inside it, and if you put it in the biorb it will sort out the ammonia and nitrite. Or cut some of the sponge out of it and put it in the biorb filter. Do this now as the bacteria will die soon if they haven't already. You can add some of the old gravel too, if you haven't let it dry out or washed it in tapwater (the chlorine in tapwater kills the good bacteria). Hell, even if you have washed it in tapwater stick it in anyway, some of the bacteria may have survived.

If not, Prime as recommended by Violet is very good and will make the water safe for your fish by detoxifying the ammonia and nitrite. Until you can get some, do large water changes every day to dilute the ammonia and nitrite. I'd do at least a 50% water change right now if the fish are looking that bad, then another in the morning.

Good luck, any more questions fire away!

I guess pet shops are just out to make money, and even the nicest LFS has to make a living. I found out that all the fish in the shops here come from the Far East too, I wonder what percentage don't make the journy? :(

Anyway, the danio is looking loooads better today, in fact i'm not sure looking at them which one had the infection! Should I put them back in the main tank soon, so they are back with their shoal, or wait a while and give them a chance to heal in the peace of the sick tank?

Yes, I am definitely on the Isle of Man , but the IOM did not appear in the drop-down menu so I selected the Isle of Mull instead. I'm googling to find somewhere which will courier fish here, but I haven't found one yet :(

Pets at Home have only just opened here, and they were very good at first with clean tanks and healthy fish, but they have gone downhill fast. Any time I go to any if the fish shops here there are dead or dying or damaged fish in the tanks. Pets at Home had put guppies in with some kind of albino shark, and they were tearing them to pieces and when we pointed it out they didn't seem to care. Once shop seems better than the others but even there I have seen dead or dying fish in the tanks every time I go. I honestly think that some of the deaths I have had are down to poor fish from poor shops. I bought 6 harlequin from P@H, when I put them in the tank I could see right away that one of them was very ill. It died the next day. Since then I have lost two more. and only found their eaten bodies. Now a Black Skirt Tetra from the same tank, but as I said he looked stunted when I got him, he was tiny and gaunt with huge eyes.

Thanks, guys.

I have had bad experiences with ALL of the fish shops here on the Isle of Man now. I can't even get fish couriered from breeders because they only deliver to the mainland UK. So I'm either going to have to go back to the bad shops, or give up my hobby :(

BTW, I also have an Odessa barb with one eye (I i bought him after the danios from a different shop), and I'm certain he had one eye when I got him because I have been back to the same shop since and saw other fish in the same tank with only one eye :( his eye socket is full of very dark pink tissue unlike the danios, i don't know if this is scar tissue filling the socket or maybe he just didn't lose the whole eyeball like the danios did? There's no way i'm taking him back to complain as they told me they don't take fish back, so I guess they would just kill him!

Incidentally, if any of my one-eyed fish were to lose their other eye, could they survive as blind fish with their remaining senses, or would I have to euthanise them?

Thanks Violet, good thinking and i'm impressed that you remembered me, but the Flag Fish already went back to the shop before I got the danios. They were just in with White Clouds when i noticed the missing eyes, and the only suspect is a Leapord danio I bought at the same time who is much larger than them and has been chasing the others around, although it looks more like spawning behaviour than bullying, and i understand that Leapords are the same species as Zebras and they should all shoal together peacefullly? None of the fish have nipped fins either despite the chasing, just these two with missing eyes.

But the shop (it was pets at home) that I returned the Flag Fish to told me that store policy is to not take fish back in case of disease, and the Manager agreed to take the fish back that one time after I started loudly complaining about that policy, but never again. I'm scared to buy new fish now, what am I supposed to do if something like that happens again?? They're just encouraging people to kill problem fish - hardly responsible of them since they sold me the fish as compatible. (i did research the fish online before I got him too and read that most Flag Fish are fine for commmunity tanks). I suppose it gives the shops a good excuse to say 'Ah well, you'll just have to buy another tank from us if you have an unsociable fish'. I've asked the other local shops and they don't take fish back either :( NONE of them, and liiving on an Island means I can't go further afield to different stores. None of them have quarantine tanks for returned fish, they just refuse to take them back. I have a female Kribensis and was thinking about getting a mate for her in the future, but there is no way I will do that now in case she doesn't get on with her new mate. They won't take home-bred fish from people either, all the local fish come from the Far East apparently. :(

So even if i DID discover that the Leopard danio was the culprit, what the heck am I supposed to do with him??

I bought fish from my LfS. They were iin two separate tanks. Perhaps one tank had a disease and the other didn't. I added these fish to the same tank. They were stressed from being moved to a new home, perhaps tank A had a disease and Tank B didn't. Fish B is now stressed and may catch a disease from tank A water is I add tank A water to my tank? Also, we may not know if our current fish have a lowered immune system or are suffering fro m stress. The mere addition of new fish may cause stress to current fish.
Or could the water carry things other than disease, such as parasites? But I guess that disease and parasites will be in the fish rather than the water...
Thinking aloud here, i'm a complete beginner and don't have a strong opinion yet as I don't know enough.
Blackghost, I take it you don't bother using a quarantine tank if you think your current fish won't catch anyything if healthy?

Also, I would never float a bag with the iights on simply because the lights will cause the bag to overheat! But it seems like common sense that bright light will stress the fish out - after all, vets always cover the eyes of wild animals to calm them down whist they are examined or treated, even diurnal ones like deer - ESPECIALLY deer, who often die if they get too stressed. We also use blinkers for horses and calming caps for dogs to reduce stress. Imagine carrying your bag of fish home from the shop on a bright say - surely they will be more stressed than if we carry them home with their bag inside a paper bag? Don't more aquatic predators hunt by day than by night? And if the tank is dim the fish will feel hidden, after all a background or a shady cave to hide in makes them feel more secure. In bright light they feel exposed and many species prefer subdued light with floating plants than bright light.