Beginner: Goldfish Water
Optimal Goldfish Water Conditions
One of the most important things when it comes to goldfish care is to have optimal aquarium water conditions. Doing so will ensure your goldfish are happy and healthy. The following are the main things you should be concerned with when it comes to water parameters.
Temperature
You should use cooler water around 70*F (21*c). Goldfish can live safely in waters that are between 55-80F. Lower than 50 and higher than 85 are the danger zones and these temperatures can kill your goldfish. Some goldfish can survive in ponds down to a few degrees about freezing 32F. Some goldfish pond owners have claimed to have their ponds frozen over and the goldfish survived. On the other extreme, goldfish can survive in temperatures as high as in the mid 90s but only for a short time. The most common cause of death when it comes to water temperature for a goldfish is rapid changes in temperature.
pH Range
The water should have neutral pH of 7 or a pH that the goldfish bowl presently has.Goldfish can live happily in water with a pH of 6-8.5 pH but they don’t do well when the pH is changed to quickly. Buy a test kit to check your tank’s pH level and the water you plan on using to replace it with. See more on Adjusting Aquarium pH.
Chemical Free Water
The tank water should contain no chlorine or chloramine. If you use tap water, let it sit over night to allow the chlorine to evaporate or get aquarium dechlorinator drops to treat the water. If you don’t know if you tap water has chlorine, if you get your water from the city, it will more than likely have it.
Water without Waste
As your goldfish lives in its bowl or tank, it will go about eating as well as producing waste. This will change the chemistry of the goldfish’s water. Ammonia will build up and can kill a goldfish if these levels get too high. See goldfish ammonia poisoning for additional information. You can test the tank water for ammonia using an ammonia test kit. If the levels are high, it’s time to change the goldfish bowl water.
Read more goldfish bowl info or the next beginner post on Introducing a New Goldfish
Need Goldfish Water Supplies?
It depends on how large or small your tank is. If you have a small tank, less than 5 gallons or so, you might need to change the water two or three times a week. Larger tanks might not need to have their water change for week or even more. The best way to know if you need a water change is to test it for ammonia. you can purchase a cheap test kit at a pet store. Some people like to change all the water but if you have a tank with gravel and a filter, you are likely to have some beneficial bacteria growing in it (a cycled tank). The water chemistry in these tanks will be different than what you get from the tap so you might just want to do a 50% water change so you don’t shock an kill them.
Is it okay to change all of the water at once, weekly?
That’s good that you change the water every day in your goldfish bowl. bowls tend to get dirty much quicker than large aquariums. If the water is still cloudy after your water changes that might be okay but to be safe, get a cheap ammonia test kit and test the water. if the levels are high, change more of the water. best of luck
I change about 30-40% of the water in my goldfish bowl every day, but the water is still cloudy. Is that okay?