Black mark started to show up on right side of gills

Confuzedd · September 8th, 2009

What's wrong? I noticed it after putting it into my quarantine tank. It's spiked with 1 ppt of sea salt and melafix. The first time I inspected him before putting into the quarantine tank he had no spots on his gills.

shellbell4ever · September 9th, 2009

hows your ammonia?and your using sea salt not freshwater salt?

Shawnie · September 9th, 2009

why did you medicate him to begin with ? if he was healthy....medicating a fish just because, could kill him....id do some big water changes with some prime or ammo lock to make sure hes not getting ammonia poisoning as well ....QT a fish is great but you dont need to medicate him if hes not ill

gremlin · September 10th, 2009

If a goldie has been injured, the "scar tissue" is black and then fades back to the normal coloring. If he had an injury - bumped into something, fought with another goldie at the store, etc - and it is now healing, it could show black for a while. I would just keep a close eye on it and keep him in the q-tank for a while. You don't need to salt his tank, or treat him with anything else for a while. Just nice clean water. If it is an injury that is healing, then it should fade after a while.

aquarist48 · September 10th, 2009

Hello Confuzedd. Your Goldie is beautiful. Great advice above.
Ken

Confuzedd · September 10th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shawnie

why did you medicate him to begin with ? if he was healthy....medicating a fish just because, could kill him....id do some big water changes with some prime or ammo lock to make sure hes not getting ammonia poisoning as well ....qt a fish is great but you dont need to medicate him if hes not ill

On the bottle of melafix, it said to dose daily for 3 days when adding new fish or handling new fish. I had to transfer these goldfish to a temporary tank as I've decided to switch over to fishless cycling.

As for the ammonia levels I try to keep it at <0.25. I do a 20% water change in the morning and another 20% in the afternoon; the QT is too small for the fish I think - 10 gals - the goldfish are roughly 2" long. Apparently all I need to do is keep the ammonia levels below 0.5 based on my water's temperature (72 F) and pH (7.8). My last test for ammonia before doing the next water change was unclear between 0.0 and 0.25. My testing for pH is also unclear, I'm having trouble making a choice whether it's 7.6 or 7.8

I hope it's okay.

As for the salt, I just assumed plain sea salt with no additives and no anti-caking agents would be the same as aquarium salt. And I used some salt as on another website it mentions small concentrations of salt apparently stimulates the fishies' immune system by producing more mucus which is a good thing (what it said) - even for "freshwater fish".
-----------------------------------

I think I found the answer... comments and other insights still welcome though.

I just remembered there was an occasion where I wanted to adjust my heater an extra 3F from 72, but the heater was ment for "up to 30 gals" if that means anything... and I was using it in a 10 gallon tank. The next day my thermometer read 80 F, and that alone would make the ammonia levels more toxic.

Would the emergence of the fin rot or fin blackening occur over a single day?

Shawnie · September 10th, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Confuzedd

On the bottle of melafix, it said to dose daily for 3 days when adding new fish or handling new fish. I had to transfer these goldfish to a temporary tank as I've decided to switch over to fishless cycling.

As for the ammonia levels I try to keep it at <0.25. I do a 20% water change in the morning and another 20% in the afternoon; the QT is too small for the fish I think - 10 gals - the goldfish are roughly 2" long. Apparently all I need to do is keep the ammonia levels below 0.5 based on my water's temperature (72 F) and pH (7.8). My last test for ammonia before doing the next water change was unclear between 0.0 and 0.25. My testing for pH is also unclear, I'm having trouble making a choice whether it's 7.6 or 7.8

I hope it's okay.

As for the salt, I just assumed plain sea salt with no additives and no anti-caking agents would be the same as aquarium salt. And I used some salt as on another website it mentions small concentrations of salt apparently stimulates the fishies' immune system by producing more mucus which is a good thing (what it said) - even for "freshwater fish".
-----------------------------------

I think I found the answer... comments and other insights still welcome though.

I just remembered there was an occasion where I wanted to adjust my heater an extra 3F from 72, but the heater was ment for "up to 30 gals" if that means anything... and I was using it in a 10 gallon tank. The next day my thermometer read 80 F, and that alone would make the ammonia levels more toxic.

Would the emergence of the fin rot or fin blackening occur over a single day?

you do not need to medicate...there were other threads we advised this ...being afraid of disease is no reason to put these fish through all this....the qt with fresh water is fine .... If the fish catch a disease, would you have to do a complete water change? please just keep up with his daily water changes and prime and just let him heal....no salts no meds just fresh clean water daily to get the tank cycled and a happy fish

Confuzedd · September 10th, 2009

Is it bad to do too many water changes? Or in my situation, if too frequent water changes is bad, wouldn't it still be less stress for the fish rather than it dealing with the ammonia levels?

There could be a 0.2 pH difference between my tap water and the water in the Q. tank. I will have to re-test my tap water again some time in the near future.

As for the temperature, I just stick my hand in the Q. tank, get a feel for it and then do the same with my "re-fill bucket"... I hope that's good enough.

Red1313 · September 10th, 2009

that's fine just do daily changes to keep the ammonia down

Shawnie · September 10th, 2009

while the tank is cycling, you NEED to do at least 30-40% a day water changes with some prime or ammo lock...the ammonia/nitrites will kill your fish....the changes slow the cycle down, but its needed for the babies to survive....the prime or ammo lock will neutralize the ammonia/nitrites for 24 hours until your next change....you really need a thermometer because temp changes can stress them and cause ICH among other things.....

yukoandk · September 11th, 2009

Hello,

I think occasional use of salt is beneficial for a goldfish tank, but you need to keep on top of how much salt remains in the tank and for how long. You don't want unwanted organisms in the tank to grow immune to the salinity thus losing the benefit of salting. Melafix will burn some fish--some are more sensitive than others, of course, but it would be safer to start with a smaller dose than the instruction on the bottle.

I agree with others on waiting to medicate your fish until it is necessary. You are doing water changes and that's the best thing you can do. If you are using a water treatment like Prime or Amquel Plus that removes nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, chlorine, your water will be ok for 24 hours. I don't think you need a heater, though. Just try to match the temperatures when adding fresh water. Why are your fish in quarantine? I'm sorry I missed that, but was it because you are trying the fish less cycle in the main tank? If so I like to add that when it's time for your fish to return to the main tank, it may go through the cycle all over again because most likely, the beneficial bacteria will have to catch up with the volume of waste your fish will introduce to the tank. You are already doing all the work of cycling a tank, you may just like to do so in the main tank?

Red1313 · September 11th, 2009

Salt is a hit or miss arguement it seems. Some people say yes other's say no. What salt does is irritate the fish encouraging it to produce a thicker slime coat. On scaleless fish it can often "burn" since they lack the scales to keep it off they're skin. In the concentrations that salt would normally be added to tanks I'm not sure how much it does towards keeping unwanted organisms out of the tank. It will affect the salinity but more bacteria etc. that live in aquatic environments are pretty adapt at homeostasis (keeping they're internal enviro stable regardless of external enviro). So unless you're seriously treating the tank and I mean really cranking the salt (which will by the by affect your cycle bacteria as well) it likely wouldn't do much but make your fish thirsty.
Sorry for a bit of the rant but just thought I'd add my 2 cents.
Good Luck

Confuzedd · September 13th, 2009

The black mark on the gills is gone.

And yeah, I moved these fish to a temporary fish tank (and will be quarantine tank) while the main tank cycles.

gremlin · September 13th, 2009

It was probably a reaction to the stress and poor water quality. Goldfish are pretty sturdy fish and can bounce back from a lot. I'm glad fishie is doing better. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a speedy cycle!

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