# goldfish help?



## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

i have obtained what i believe is a comet goldfish from school. (a girl in my class wanted to feed fish to the snake but got the wrong kind) so i asked to take one home, but now im faced with a dilemma. i wont have a tank to put him in until tomorrow so he is stuck in the little tupperware container my teacher gave him to me in. and the snake bit him so he has some scales missing and might be bleeding on his stomach. i know goldfish prefer colder temperatures than bettas and lots of oxygen in the water, so how can i achieve this in this tiny container? i know that the usual temp of water left sitting in my house is about 70.


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## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

What kind of snake is it anyway? A garter snake? Not many snakes eat fish. Anyway.

Man I hope he recovers from the bite. Goldfish people will come along soon enough. How bad is he bleeding?


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

You could buy an air stone, some tubing, and an air pump. He will be fine at room temp. He does need oxygen though


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Good for you for saving him!
Hopefully he will recover, as long as there's no deep damage (can't imagine there is).
A bubbler should do fine.
Comet goldfish are pretty big animals, if you keep in mind that he should reach 12-14" without tail, you can see why you'd need a big tank. 55 gallons is a good starting point for an adult, however, it might be a good idea to start looking for a pond to house him in.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

yeah its a garter snake, and hes not bleeding bad just a little, and he seems to be acting fine. my mom is getting a 20 gal tank for her classroom at school and i was going to keep him in there until he gets too big for it and then ive got a couple friends with ponds that will probably take him. but i cant get the tank or an air stone/bubbler until tomorrow so do you have any tips on how to keep oxygen in the water?


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

Erm. I used to keep my dad's bait minnows as pets in a bucket when I was little. I had one for a month until my brother dropped it under the porch when I was cleaning his bucket. I did water changes from the pond every day AND had a random pond plant in their. I never knew anything about keeping fish at that point but maybe doing a lot of water changes a day might work.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

yeah i read something about manually adding oxygen in case like the power goes out or something, so basically i just do multiple water changes and i suck up the water in a turkey baster and then squirt it back out in there. he doesnt seem to like it that much but hopefully it'll get him through the night and school day if i continue doing it.


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

Yea. I really don't know. You might also withhold feeding til you get the tank tomorrow


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

i dropped a granule of some tetra tropical food in there because its the only thing i had that would sink but if i see he hasnt eaten it ill take it out and so another water change.


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

Okay  good luck! I'm an accidental goldfish mom too


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

Maybe rescue is a better word than accident ><


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Keeping the water in a cooler place will help as well.


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## Jessie1990 (May 21, 2012)

Hows the fishy? Did you get his tank up?


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Oh wow! Is there anything people won't try to feed goldfish to? :roll: Some people. 

Good of you to take him in. If you want a good emergency home for him get a large rubbermaid container. I've seen ones as large as 55 gallons at Walmart. That's going to be much better than putting him in a 20 gal tropical tank. In warmer water goldfish grow faster. He'll produce more ammonia there and need more water changes. I don't think your mother would be willing to do 2-3 water changes on her tank per week. 

Since it is the end of summer, you won't be able to plop him in a pond until next spring. You can't take a fish that has been living at room temps and expect it to survive in a pond in the winter. Plan to keep him over the winter. 

While he's in that tiny container don't feed him. Any food in means more ammonia. Keep it in a cool, dark place. This will prevent him from darting into the sides and injuring himself more.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

well hes doing a lot better, ive got him an air stone and he seems to be breathing better. ive upgraded him to a 2 gal jar for the time being, ill continue to upgrade as money becomes available and ive still been doing frequent water changes. my mother's moods are very fickle so no telling when we actually get this tank. but we've got plenty of those 55gal tubs(we have horses so they come in handy) so when he gets too big for anything else we'll have that just in case.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

> . my mother's moods are very fickle so no telling when we actually get this tank.


sounds like my mother


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## DragonFyre14 (Aug 20, 2012)

I saved a few goldfish too. at the moment they are in a 2 gallon tank because I haven't been able to buy a bigger tank yet, and the only other tank i have is a 10 gallon with my land hermit crab in there, and I really can't justify putting him into a smaller container. I've been doing daily water changes of about 50% and feed them a little bit daily and they have become much more active and don't look as sickly as when I got them.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

okay so im freaking out a little bit. my goldfish (now named Tippy) has developed dark areas on his body. and white spots which i guessed was ick so hes being treated with copper safe. hes still very active and doesnt seem like its bothering him too much, but im still freaking out considering my teacher wants me to take another goldfish.(they keep getting sucked up in her filter and she doesnt want to clean them out of there anymore) hes in a really big round tupperware container thats got about 1-2 gal of water in it that i change 50-75% of everyday. i chose the container because it was super wide and had a lot of horizontal swimming space and i cleaned it thoroughly and hes been doing fine the week hes been in there. ive been feeding him bloodworms every 2 days and he has been eating them. im getting goldfish food hopefully from a friend tomorrow so if he makes it then he'll have that. so if it is a bacterial infection, how do i continue to treat it? with the water changes how do i keep the right amount of medication in there?


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

i just looked up the black spots and saw that they are probably ammonia burns. and it totally makes sense because i forgot to do a water change yesterday. i feel terrible  but he got a good change today, but i still dont know how to keep the right amount of medicine in there while doing water changes everyday.


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Dark areas on the body are most likely ammonia burns. That's the problem with goldfish. They excrete so much ammonia that even daily water changes don't keep it down. They're not like bettas. You might want to step it up to two water changes daily. Are you using Prime as a water conditioner? It will detox ammonia for 24 hours.


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## kellyyoungmoney (Jun 20, 2012)

yeah, hes getting an upgrade to a bigger container this weekend. and a filter. and no im using Tetra Aqua Safe water conditioner, but im heading to the pet store today anyway so ill be sure to look for some Prime.


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