They're all always zero for GH, KH, Nitrite, Nitrate, 6.0 PH, and zero ammonia (on separate strip). The tank is a week old today, and nothing new registers on any of the test strips, not even a slight change in any of the color pads. Believe it or not I still have a few questions! Those are silk plants and a couple Marimo balls. I attached a pic of my bare bottom goldy tank so you can see they don't have to look like sterile pet shop tanks. I don't use them because I don't have the patience to soak. So is New Life Spectrum.ДЇreeze dried foods should be soaked for a minute or two so they don't expand in the fish's belly. Unlike HikarI or Tetra, Omega One is a high quality food. No chance of gulping air (which leads to swim bladder disease) and she can take her time picking the pellets off the bottom. If you switch to bare bottom, you can feed even better than floating pellets by feeding sinking pellets. Gravel will trap old food, let it rot, and can easily lead to ammonia spikes. Bare bottom is also much easier to clean in an undersized tank. They're prone to investigating everything, and there have been a number of stories here of goldfish choking on the substrate. Small gravel is the worst substrate for goldies. If you really want to make sure she's eating and not gulping air (and have a cleaner tank and lower nitrAtes) I'd scoop all that gravel into a new (never-seen-soap) panthose foot and set it in the back of the tank while the tank cycles. Is there anything else I can do to help the fish survive until the tank is cycled? I know I will have to get a larger tank, and probably should have to begin with, but it would be at the same point in cycling now and don't want to stress the fish further at this point. The ammonia tests 0, and I'm getting a kit to test the water for other things later today. The fish was active at first, playing around the plants and little statue, but never ate as well as it did in the bowl and has slowed down quite a bit, often looking listless - although it perks up after water changes. I also just got a siphon vacuum to clean the gravel. The water was a little foggy at first but cleared up after I started changing about 25 percent every other day. I read everything I could find about cycling and know that I should not be doing it with a goldfish in the tank, but it was dying in the bowl so I had no choice - I didn't know anyone who could keep it in a cylced tank for me. I bought a 5 gallon acrylic tank (still small, but I didn't have space prepared for anything larger yet), an Agueon Power Filter 10, some gravel, 2 small plants and a small decoration, and ammonia test strips. Last week he/she started to get listless so I faced the fact that it was here to stay and ran out to the pet store to get it a larger living space. The fish was active, eating and playful in the bowl for the first few months, even though I knew that it was too small. I knew absolutely nothing about goldfish, but was told that I should get stress coat and keep the bowl as clean as possible. After numerous reminders the fish was never picked up. A goldfish was left at my house 'for a weekend' about four months ago, in just a tiny bowl with gravel at the bottom.

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