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My sister has a pet "feeder" goldfish that is a little over a year old. It is recovering from ammonia poisoning. We got the ammonia out, she does lots of water changes, and he was treated with.....I guess I don't know. Some medicine. Anyway, although quite tattered, he seems to be getting better. She says he certainly swims upright more, and eats more, with no further signs of fin rot/scales falling off.

Anyway, today she said she is seeing black areas forming on his tail at the end that connects to his body. Thats about all I know as I haven't seen the fish (I will tomorrow). Does this sound familiar enough for anybody to know what it is?

thanks,

-Dennis

We'll need some more info to give you an answer here, I would suggest taking a look at THIS and posting with the required information so we can get a better idea of what's going on.

Feeder goldfish are generaly commons, which don't really belong in a tank. They should be kept in ponds as they grow to be quite large, often reaching over 2 feet in length when full grown. Could you please give numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, along with the size of the tank. The link I gave suggests posting this, I just wanted to make it extra clear.

Also, does the black marking on the fins look fuzzy at all or does it look like regular fin, just a different colour? Common goldies will often change colour as they mature, and black tips on the fins are normal. You'll really want to take a good close look and make sure it's not diseased tissue, and watch for other signs that something just isn't right.

I hope we can get this sorted out.

it could also be ammonia burns.

my goldfish just died and i am not sure why. all i see are little black stuff forming on the edge of his fins... what is this stuff??? my other goldfish are fine and they live in the same tank. can someone tell me how did my fish die? =(

~amy

If your goldfish were together in a small tank, considering a goldfish needs a lot of space for each one, then I would go with ammonia problems caused by waste from the fish.

If it is ammonia, what can i do to prevent my other goldfish from having them? I have 3 in a 30 gallon now and i believe that is enough space for them to swim in...

~amy

Nah, the three feeder golfish(usually comet goldfish) will each get around 2 feet

...eventually though

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-09-06 02:44][/span]

just buy a test kit so you can test the water levles, and check what your readings are. If there are ANY ammonia or Nitrites present, better start doing water changes until you bring them down to 0.

just buy a test kit so you can test the water levles, and check what your readings are. If there are ANY ammonia or Nitrites present, better start doing water changes until you bring them down to 0.

But won't that also slow down the cycle?
If the ammonia is really high then it would be good to do a water change, but goldies are recommended cyclers and all

They should be kept in ponds as they grow to be quite large, often reaching over 2 feet in length when full grown.

Nah, the three feeder golfish(usually comet goldfish) will each get around 2 feet

You guys must be thinking of koi. Goldfish (Carassius auratus) reach a maximum of 14" for the common varieties, and about 8" for the fancies. They are a large fish nonetheless, but can easily be kept in tanks.

[span class="edited"][Edited by Cory Addict 2004-09-06 03:17][/span]

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

The black marks on your Goldie's, if it has been decided all ready that they have no disease, will probably be the skin healing.
I had a Goldie with mouth fungus, which got quite bad, eating away his lip. I did manage to cure him, as the white fuzz went away, it was replaced by a thin line of a blackish grey, which made me panic, and think he had a new illness, but after talking to an old fish keeper, I found out that this occurs when they are healing, so it may well be that the fish have been harmed due to the bad water quality, and this is now just part of the healing process, I have seen this too with my sisters Goldi's, who are not looked after as they should be, water changes only occurring when the water really stinks, and then with the clean water the fish start healing and develop the black bits, in time this disappears to leave normal healthy skin growth.

?

"just buy a test kit so you can test the water levles, and check what your readings are. If there are ANY ammonia or Nitrites present, better start doing water changes until you bring them down to 0."

it would slow down the cycle, that's true. But sounds to me like these guys are pets for her, not just cyclers, and if the ammonia is high enough to be causing burns, I would be inclined to make them comfortable and start over with the correct tools (test kit) to do it properly, you know?

Oh yeah doh sorry, got koi and commons mixed up

and Guppylove I was just thinking that since they are recommended cyclers they might have a toleration for a small amount of ammonia

my bad

no need to apologise, I understand what you meant Goldies certainly are hardier than most fish, it's true.

I reccomend for a cycling tank a product called Prime. it detoxifys nitrite and ammonia, and doesnt mess with test results. It is a great water conditioner as well, and while being slightly more expensive, one 200ml of prime will last the same amount of time as 4 500 ml bottles of AquaPlus water conditions, as you use 4 times less prime than any other water conditioner.
This removes the need to change water frequently during cycles, which you shouldnt do anyway. You should leave the tank to cycle naturally, use a good product like Prime, and just monitor the fish and the water readings.
A 30g tank is too small for goldfish of any kind. I would reccomend taking them back to the pet store and swapping them for a smaller "gold" fish such as gold barbs or gold danios.
For 3 common goldfish at full size I believe you would need at least a 75g tank. Goldfish are poop machines and need a lot of space so they dont contaminate their water so quickly.


[span class="edited"][Edited by Sneaky_Pete 2004-09-06 18:32][/span]

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