misspants12 wrote:I used a liquid test kit that I got from the aquatics shop by me and its just shows you colours depending on how much amonia or is in the water, with the ammonia if the water turns yellow its 0ppm and the darked shade of green it goes the more amonia it has in. I test it before I do the water change then if its any higher than .50 which is when it starts going a yellow/green then I do the water change. Nitrates is the same but pink and is usualy below 25ppm. Im not sure what its called thou as I got the box wet one day and it needed to be binned.
Firstly, liquid test kit is good as they are relatively accurate so it's great that you have these. But, 0.5 ppm ammonia will harm fish in the long term and can kill them. In fact, any readable ammonia will harm fish and as a general rule of thumb, even in the worst situations of an uncycled aquarium, one must never let ammonia *reach* 0.25 ppm.
I didn't mention before, but ammonia poisoning most often manifests as health problems, increased susceptibility to disease and shortened lifespan.
And what about nitrite? That is also harmful.
Ammonia and nitrite levels are "fine" only when they are *always* at 0 ppm, anything above is "harmful to the fish".
misspants12 wrote:Oh and they went through the cycling process for 2 weeks while I was on holiday before I added fish
I am going by what you said here: I think you didn't cycle your filter (as you don't even have filters on all of your tanks), I think you just say it for two weeks full of water, which would not have been any different from sitting it for one day. I really, very, very strongly recommend you read about the nitrogen cycle right now because this is the reason your fish died and the surviving goldfish has already been poisoned.
For the sake of your fish, please read about the nitrogen cycle, especially fish-in cycling as that is what you have been doing.
misspants12 wrote:measurements in inches (cm):
Width: 15" (38.1cm)
Height: 20" (50.8cm)
Depth: 15" (38.1cm)
Your tank's volume is approximately 4,500.0 cubic inches or 19.5 U.S. gallons, which is approximately 75.8 liters. (got that last big off a tank calculator as im no good at math)
Although this is not the cause of the deaths, the tanks are too small for the fish in the long term. Fancy goldfish can grow to over 12 inches (30 cm) long with proper care and will live for 15-20+ years. If you don't believe me, here's photo evidence:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/at ... 93&thumb=1 and
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/attachmen ... 1201271019misspants12 wrote:I feed all of my cold water fish 'Tetra Goldfish Flakes' and none of the others have anything wrong with them. the 2 of them I have had for nearly a year now.
Again, this is not the problem here, but they would benefit from a varied diet and one which includes cooked and de-shelled peas. The fancy goldfish would benefit from the peas more than the commons because during the the inbreeding which gave them their body shape, their digestive systems suffered, ending up squashed and warped.
misspants12 wrote:My fella seems to think it might have something to do with the shop I bought them from but im not sure as i get all my fish from there :S And I have moved the black moor back into his original tank as I decided he had lived in there for 3 months with out being ill so it must be okay

The problem really is only caused by ammonia poisoning and the other fella is also affected, he just happens to be better than it is usual at surviving!
I really hope read what I advised above, but if you don't believe me, please at least ask on another forum, stating the water parameters and tank sizes: you will get the same response.
If you do believe me, I strongly recommend that you do temperature matched water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 ppm as possible, using a double dose of dechlorinator which "deals" with ammonia (like Prime or Stress Coat, both temporarily convert ammonia to ammonium). Then buy filters and seed them with media from any other established freshwater tank or pond. You are in a fish-in cycle situation. It would be very useful for you to know your tap water ammonia and nitrite readings, pre- and post- dechlorination because tap water can contain ammonia, nitrite and chloramine (the latter converts to ammonia after dechlorination). During a fish-in cycle, it is not uncommon to be doing 90-95+% water changes at least once per day.
The most important thing to remember is that *any ammonia or nitrite is hurting your fish in ways which can not be undone*.