Hi Dave

We have all been victim to the sale people in the past.

Firstly you shouldn't mix goldfish and white cloud mountain minnows, they prefer different conditions.

My second bit of advice is to buy yourself the API Master test Kit asap so you can test your tank water yourself.
You need to test for ammonia and nitrite daily until you have cycled the tank. If you get any readings for either you need to do a water change to get them down to zero. You also need to keep nitrates at below 40 ideally. If you have not tested for 3 days and your filter is uncycled i would suggest you need to do a water change asap.
Once your ammonia and nitrite are staying at zero between water changes (you should do a change at least once a week ideally) you are cycled and the water changes are used to control nitrate.

Never clean the filter in anything but tank water.

What water conditioner do you use? Seachem Prime is good as it is very economical and can help protect the fish from ammonia damage short term.

You should be OK for now in the 90 litre, but will need to upgrade in the future, don't put any more fish in there though.

The other advisors will be along shortly to give you more technical advice but this should tide you over until then.

No idea about the wood - I assume you soaked it for a couple of weeks before putting it in?

Feeding - mine are fed twice a day with sinking pellets and have treats like cooked broccoli or peas once a day. Don't feed floating food.

thanks so much silverfish I'm glad its not just me who behaves like this when they lose them.
your lovely words have given me comfort and i can definitely say she was well looked after - spoiled rotten if truth be told.
thanks again.

Thanks Silverfish

I'm still really upset, and I feel SO guilty that I didn't spot it in time to save her.

I only commented to my mum on the Saturday what a big fish she was as I thought she had grown more, but she was fine, swimming round, eating as usual, scales flat, fins erect. I wish I'd seen it was something more serious but she had such a round belly and was acting normally - i just thought we'd perhaps been feeding too much.

We miss her loads, and feel so guilty, I'm sure everyone does when they don't spot something in time. Even if we'd known what it was I guess its unlikely we could have saved her as I've read dropsy is usually fatal.

Anyway she's been buried in a lovely box and has a little cross marking the spot - am I nuts or what??? lol .

Hi all

I didn't see the programme but agree that P@H is not the only chain store with terrible policies about fishcare. Although they don't sell fish, Argos still sell tiny plastic bowls as goldfish starter kits and The Range has a wide selection of terrible tanks on sale. One of my local independents still sells plastic fish bowls as well.
My P@H I would say is very average, poor advice and knowledge in terms of species compatibility (they sold me a sucking loach for a goldfish tank), fish generally look OK healthwise and a good selection, but as discussed earlier they offer poor advice on the 3 day setup etc.
I noticed a few weeks ago they have baby snakes in tiny cardboard & plastic tubs literally stacked up on the shelves like cartons of eggs in the supermarket.....how can that be right?
Rant over

Thanks everyone for your kind words.

People at work think I'm mad being so upset over a fish but she had a real character and we really loved her.

I just wish i'd known something was so wrong sooner but she was such a round bodied fish I didn't see any bloating until she started pineconing, and she was swimming round fine until Tuesday evening when she had a rollover or 2, but even then she stayed upright for hours after that. Her fins were erect, the only sign of something amiss was the not eating. I know it was the right thing to do, there was no coming back from how bad she went yesterday so quickly, and recovery from dropsy at any stage is slim.
I think it all stemmed from whatever the growth in her eye was, can't think of any other cause.

I'll keep a close eye on Devon for any ill effects but she seems fine so far, currently stuffing her face with broccoli!

Thanks again for the support

From a heartbroken Nikki x

Hi guys

We've decided to let her go.

Can't bear to see her so ill anymore and her scales are coming off now.

I hope its the right thing to do.

We loved her ever so much, we're all crying and stuff. Can't believe how quick its happened.

Hi

Latest update, I got in from work to find Magoo pineconed all over her body and permanently upside down.

I rang a vet in desperation and they have given me Baytril to dose the tank with which I have done.

I really don't think she can pull out of it she has gone downhill so fast today I could hardly believe my eyes when I got in from work.

She is still swimming about and is able to right herself briefly before going over again.

My questions are:

How long shall I give it before I euthanise her, I hate seeing her like this but I want to give the antibiotics time to work. I know its unlikely they will but we love her so much.

Should I add salt? If so how much and what type? Epsom or aquarium?

Thanks for any help you can give me

Hi

I'm sure this is dropsy, please please tell me what i should try to see if I can save her....

Hi Suey

I'm never 100% certain on the nitrate reading due to the close colours on the chart but it is between 20-30, we've always struggled with nitrates tbh.

She's never had any buoyancy issues before.

The only odd thing is the lack of interest in her food yesterday and today, her behaviour other than that is normal.

We'll be gutted if we lose her after getting her back from the brink when we had no idea about cycling etc, and we're so attached to her as she is so tame.

How will I know if its time to euthanise? The last thing we would want is to have her suffer at all, but we don't want to do it if there's a chance its something she can recover from.

Should I just carry on with the eSHa2000 and see what happens?
She's been upright again for a couple of hours now.

Hi everyone

Last time I posted it was to say magoo has a white growth in her eye. I was going to get some pics but then it burst (the white growth not her eye) and she has white rubbish inside her eye so i assumed it was a cyst as had been suggested.

She has been fine since, white gunk still in her eye but otherwise fine.

Yestrday and today she went off her food (VERY unusual) then abhout an hour ago she went onto her head upside down. She is slighlty curved over as well.
Now she has righted herself a couple of times, but gone over again in between.

Fins erect, no sign of any injury, no pineconing that I can see.

Don't think its swimbladder as she has peas regularly.

Water params are good, zero ammonia, zero nitrites, 30 nitrate, pH 7.4.

What do I do??? I started a course of eSHa2000 in case there's anything going on but I fear the worst.