Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

Got some beautiful huge goldfish from gumtree for free today. They're clearly old, and came out of a pond (water stats unknown) and were put by their previous owner into an esky with rainwater from his tank. (I didn't know this at the time)

The rainwater had trace ammonia but more concerning was the ph which was at 6 or below and very soft. It occurred to me to ring him and check whether he'd used different water for the esky, not water from the pond. Getting pond water isn't really an option as he was draining the pond when I arrived. He reckoned they'd be fine.

I've added our (treated) tap water slowly to the water from the esky (over several hours) and the ph is at 6.6. There was absolutely no buffering capacity in the rain tank water.

I would guess the ph will raise overnight, and I don't want to risk adding any more water as I think it would bring the ph up to 7.2 and that's far too much change in under 10 hours.

ATM they're in a 40L foodsafe container with only around 20L or water and a 100L/hour air pump. Obviously I've not fed them. I'm nervous about adding a filter since all ours are primed with water from our tanks which run between 8.0-8.2 (our water is very hard here)

Any suggestions how I can make them more comfortable? I'm actually more than a little worried these beautiful guys will be belly up in the morning or the day after (I was never a goldfish person either, but these guys really are beautiful)

I tried to do the right thing and source fish locally to increase the likelihood of similarities in the source water. It just never occurred to me that a little further out people are using bores and rain tanks and thus have completely different parameters.

I would mix the water and gradually adjust the ph over several days. Then once the ph is the same transfer them to your system. I think they're pretty hardy, but I don't have any first hand experience with them...yet.

I know when you buy goldfish (or any fish from an aquarium), on the bag, it says let the bag sit for an hour in the new water, so the temps establish. Then add half your aquarium water, then give half an hour, and introduce them together.

Can you add some hydrochloric acid to the system? If you don't have any fish in there, you can bring it down quickly.

What are you going to put them in? I would be more worried about 3 large goldfish in 20l of water with the temps we have been having recently. If you can pull your FT water to mid 7's with Hydrochloric acid as Column said I would be getting them in as fast as possible.

The 20L grew to 40L, well aerated and inside where it was air conditioned. I pulled a filter from one of the tanks and kept the ammonia down overnight.

I rang the aquaculture guys at TAFE. Pretty much he said well, if they've gone from one to the other, trying to pull it back too quickly might stress them further (which was actually kind of my thoughts). I've spent the whole morning prepping a tank, shifting as much bio filter and trying to stabilise temperature within reason. ( they were going to go into a tank inside, but it's very stable at 8.2). He reckoned the best way to tell if they are stressed is to try feeding them just a little. He also seemed to think if they came from poor quality water, they will tolerate some pretty wild changes if the water quality is ok.

Short story: Astonishingly, the fish seem fine. One of them also has fin rot, and wasn't so keen on food. The other two though were very keen to eat. They're all swimming normally. I have never been so happy to see goldfish eat.

pictures!

Haha, you must be psychic! I was uploading when you wrote.

I gave her a salt bath. 90g /7litres for 3 - 5 minutes

That's what we did when we brought home Elsa and Anna a couple of weeks ago, but they were acclimated to town water.

I didn't have any ph down, I am off to the shop now to get some, and something to keep in the tank to buffer it.

Good score ! Velvet
Great start for your system
Have you managed to have a look at the AP set up at the TAFE "Durack Institute" here in Gero ?
I had a look on one of there open days just recently. It looked like it was a work in progress a few empty or unstocked tanks & not much plant growth. Still worth a look for ideas. I think the mostly concentrate on marine fishes ?
GTK

Went out to get a cover for the pond, and my dog ate the goldfish who was adjusting best and eating. The dogs haven't been near the pond today, but I wasn't sure I could trust them.

I cried.

I'm going to have to do a complete water change I think as the pond is full of fur and scales. If the fish weren't stressed before, they will be now.

Oh dear...

Woops spoke too soon!

I didn't think fish were the sort of thing dogs would go for.

PH down isn't the best thing to use to bring down the PH. Hydrochloric acid (pool acid), is better and cheaper. You can get it at bunnings pretty cheaply.