fin rot causes wits end

I'm glad your fish are doing well.
I think, like Shawnie had said earlir in the thread, the meds effected the cycle before you had to do the massive cleaning.
Test for nitrite, lets see exactly where you are in the cycle.
Either way, daily water changes are in order until you get the cycle back. You can use Prime to detox the ammonis for 24 hours between changes.

I'm so glad you're getting your tank back on track. Once the cycle is complete, you'll really start to enjoy your tank.

 

Nitrate was 0 this mornning I updated my info. Also, the LFS told me the meds they sold me would not kill my cycle, my concern was that cleaning my tank did. I don't think I had enough bacteria left from the live stuff I took out of my tank and put back in. I did dump some prime in this mornning.

Also, what is the deal with all the algae in my bio filter. My tank does not get any extra light other than inside lights and the cheap lighting that came with my tank. I don't even think it gets light in the filter box... Why did I have so much algae on it after one day. I don't have algae any where else in my tank. Does the ammonia cause algae growth?

 

IMO, you had no choice but to clean the tank thoroughly.
Remember how mad you said your tank was with green and pieces of (RIP) of the goldies in there.
I don't remember what your readings were when this thread was started. I saw it was asked that you post them a couple times, but didn't see a repsonse.
As long as everything, filter, media, deco etc was kept wet and warm the bacteria (if there was any) really should have survived the cleaning.

Not sure about the algea. Maybe this will help:


Edit: What is your nitrIte reading (not nitrAte)

 

amonia .25, nitrate 0, nitrite 0. I didn't keep all of my deco and I'm not sure the stuff I kept will be enough. I guess I will just have to asume that I need to recycle

PS. Can you please delete my thread out of the beginners forum "quick question". I'm not sure if I have the priviledges to close my own threads or delete them.
Thanks!

 

HI cathrinetta ...you did loose the cycle and are at the beginning again...keep using the prime and partial water changes until its once again cycled....good luck with everything!

 

I still seem to be having trouble with my tank. I bought another goldie and he's been living with my albino cory. The two neons I got rid of. I still seem to be having issues with fin rot or some sort of white fungus. I've been treating with melafix for a week now and did a 50% water change on Sunday because the ammonia was getting kind of high. My readings have been 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, .25 ammonia. I haven't been able to change the water as much as I like because the instructions on the melafix say to treat for 7 days and then do 25%. The goldy was doing good with the treatments but I planned to continue treating another week because I was told in the past that a minimum of 2 weeks treatment to kill the bacteria. Its now Wed and my fish is not doing so good. He and the albino seemed quite happy after I changed the water but Tue and Wed they were sleeping on the bottom of the tank alot. They actually like to snuggle o_0 The albino looks fine maybe because he's white and I can't see but the goldy has white all along the edges of his fins, some growing on the outside of his gills and also I noticed that stuff is growing on the lower half of both of his eyes -___- NOT GOOD. This is what happened last time and my fish were dead in 24 hours. I added an extra teaspon of the melafix and also started treating with the formail 3*1, also added some stress coat +

Seriously, I stripped my tank all the way down and this stuff is still around. How do I get rid of it???? Should I try treating with maracyn or maracyn II???

 

I'm really sorry you're still having issues.
You'll have to refresh my memory, did you have the cory before?
Was the cory sick before you got the goldie?
Did you Q the goldie for 2 weeks before adding it to your tank?

Unfortunatly, if you're going to have fish in an uncycled tank, it's a good chance they're going to get sick.
Ammonia weakens fish. It makes their body fight off the toxin which leaves them with less energy to fight off anything else.
It's like if our resistance is down from stress and over work, it's easier for us to get sick also.

 

I had the cory before. I've been testing my ammonia like crazy and doing water changes to help keep everything 0 or below.25. "Stan" my new goldy died over night in less than 24 hours like last time. This stuff moves fast. I was double dosing with formalin and melafix last night and this morning. but he was completely covered with white and stuck to the filter intake this mornning.

I was reading about maracyn and found an article mentioning flexibacter columnaris When I looked up columnaris this sounds similar to what I've been experiencing. I'm wondering if I should be treating with maracyn instead of melafix. What's the difference?

 

Maracyn is an antI bacterial med that treats gram positive and some gram negative bacterial infections.
Melafix is an herbel treatment and used more for open wounds and torn or damaged fins.

 

sorry that your new goldfish died.

Your tank isn't recycled yet, so I advise against buying any more fish until it is.

also, please don't buy another goldie for your 10 gallon tank. As stated earlier, one goldfish needs a minimum of 20 gallons.

 

Missed that you lost your goldie, I'm really sorry to hear that.

 

I went back to my FLS who sold me the melafix and formalin and explained that the stuff was not helping. Also, I stripped down my tank to almost scratch and I was unable to get rid of the stuff...

They sold me nitrofuracin green powder and said that this stuff was pretty strong. I believe it, there's a warnning on the front of the bottle that it caused tumors in lab rats o_0

I really think that if I could get rid of this stuff my tank would be fine other than re cycling which seems to not be going any where. My readings have been stuck at .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate for a few weeks now -___- Trying to be patient...

The cory is sleeping a lot and will once in a while swim to the top to get some extra air. I'm really hoping he doesn't die because he's got a wonderful personality and is really fun to watch.

Lucy, sorry to here about Rommy. I hope he gets better soon!

 

Thanks, he's hanging in there. Other than being unsightly, he's acting pretty well.

I've never heard of the med you mention.
Really, what should have happened after you tore your tank down is...
You started with 100% fresh water and a cory.
Readings at that point should have 0 all the way across.
I'm sorry, but adding a fish, especially a goldie was a mistake.

Then as soon as you had an ammonia reading from the corys waste and left over food (which there shouldn't be unless you're over feeding)
Start daily water changes until your readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some nitrates showing.
Cycling can take up to and over a month.

Is your cory showing any symptoms other than sleeping a lot?
Just so I'm clear here, there's nothing in the tank but 1 cory?
The tank is 10g's?

 

Ok I'm confused... are you thinking that you have columnaris In your tank?

 

I am sorry you are having a hard time. The down side to treating with meds is that it won't allow you to do daily partial water changes which is needed since you have a Cory. A tank that is going through the cycle with fish will most likely have problems due to the toxins that make the fish stressed which then weakens their immune system and that is an open door for disease. You also need to q-tine new fish before adding to main tank. You need to inspect the tanks at the LFS before you purchase any fish to make sure the tank is not sick.

Don't get anymore fish until tank is cycled.

 

I've never heard of the med you mention.
Really, what should have happened after you tore your tank down is...
You started with 100% fresh water and a cory.
Readings at that point should have 0 all the way across.
I'm sorry, but adding a fish, especially a goldie was a mistake.

Then as soon as you had an ammonia reading from the corys waste and left over food (which there shouldn't be unless you're over feeding)
Start daily water changes until your readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and some nitrates showing.
Cycling can take up to and over a month.

Is your cory showing any symptoms other than sleeping a lot?
Just so I'm clear here, there's nothing in the tank but 1 cory?
The tank is 10g's?

When I tore my tank down I essentially started with 100% fresh water treated with the stress coat +, the cory, bio grid, live plant, and rainbow rock. The rest was all bleached so nothing was living on it. This is all in a 10gl

I don't think I've been over feeding. Everything seemed honky dory other then my tank was cycling. I didn't notice anything until about a week after I bought the goldy. I think I just didn't notice before because the cory is white and that little guy is fast! When I noticed stuff on the goldy I started treating with melafix and everything was fine. After 7 days I changed my water and that's when things went down hill. I think the water change diluted the meds and because I didn't know to restock right away the disease kicked in. Three days later it was pretty bad and that's when I realized it was the same as before. I double dosed with the melafix and formalin but it was too late.

The cory isn't doing much other than sleeping at the bottom and then swimming to the top once in a while to get some extra air, then he swims to the bottom and goes back to sleep...

Now that the cory isn't moving around so much, when he was sleeping at the front of the tank I was able to see some white on the tips of his fins. I'm not sure if its attacking else where like on the goldy.

Now there's nothing left but a 10gl with a cory and then same ornaments, no other fish.

Red: from what I read I think its a bad case of columnaris. I've been trying to get rid of it for a while and the stuff kills my fish in less than 24 hours

As far as QT. I know about it but don't have room for an extra setup, but that's been discussed in the past... Also, I did check the tanks when I was at the FLS, everything seemed fine. I'm really picky about what fish I buy, how they look and move around the tank. Thanks for the advice.

 

Ok, ty for the clarifications.
A Q tank doesn't have to be anything elaborate. It can be a clean plastic tote with a small filter and heater (depending on the fish) and it doesn't have to be set up all the time, just when you need it.
It's never a good idea to medicate a healthy fish.

If you had the goldfish in the tank for a week without changing the water, the ammonia would have time to build up to a toxic level. They produce too much waste for 10g's of water.
White spots on the corys fin could be from ammonia or over medicating (double dose of melafix?) Plus, I don't know that compatible the 2 meds you used were with one another.
Let's start here:
Do you know what your readings are for ammonia nitrite and nitrate? What are you using to test? (Sorry you may have told us already)

Hang in there, we'll do our best to get you through this and cycled.

 

Everything is up to date in my aquarium info. 0, 0, .25. I'm not using the melafix or formalin as of yesterday. The new meds seem to be helping.

 

Everything is up to date in my aquarium info. 0, 0, .25. I'm not using the melafix or formalin as of yesterday. The new meds seem to be helping.

hmm is your kit outdated? there's no way to get a cycled tank in that amount of time without help....it won't happen that fast especially with meds being used.....

 

hmm is your kit outdated? there's no way to get a cycled tank in that amount of time without help....it won't happen that fast especially with meds being used.....

I don't think it is cycled since my nitrate is 0 and my ammonia is .25 The kits are less then 8 months old and the ammonia one is only a few weeks old. How can you tell if they're dated?

 

Hmmm... There's a thread in the betta section called HELP: Fungus. I had an issue that in hind site was probably a case of colimnars... There's a bunch of pics on it if you're interested in comparing.

Best of luck,

 

Hmmm... There's a thread in the betta section called HELP: Fungus. I had an issue that in hind site was probably a case of colimnars... There's a bunch of pics on it if you're interested in comparing.

Best of luck,

Red, Thanks for the info but I'm having troubling finding the thread could you post a link for it. I went to the betta section but couldn't find it and searching pulled up other random results. I would love to see pics and see if its similar.

 

Hello Cathrinetta. Sorry you are having problems.
Is there any way you could return the goldfish and start over again? It is a lot of work but with so much ammonia + the medication it won't cycle your tank and will only stress your fish. Again, sorry you are having trouble. The only way you can be SURE your tank is spotless is if you tear it down again. The goldfish can go back to the FS, that way( it may sound bad) you won't be messing up with the cycle by medicating new sick fish. It really isn't that bad. Its just a waiting game with the cycle....

EDIT:
The cory going to the surface to get air is a sign that your ammonia levels are high. It also explains why he is "sleepy"

 

Red, Thanks for the info but I'm having troubling finding the thread could you post a link for it. I went to the betta section but couldn't find it and searching pulled up other random results. I would love to see pics and see if its similar.

Sure hang on...
(RIP Fuzzy)

 

Everything is up to date in my aquarium info. 0, 0, .25. I'm not using the melafix or formalin as of yesterday. The new meds seem to be helping.

It would help when you post your readings to let us know which ones are 0 and which is .25.
At this point, I would just do daily water changes with Prime as the water conditioner. Vita-chem and garlic guard if you can get it.
Best thing is to get that tank cycled.