Quick Question

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KellyFrancis

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2012
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Somerset WI
Granny's fish are acting strange...

I noticed last week that one of her fish has fin rot...it got pretty far before I came around and caught it. We started treating with melafix on Tuesday.

This is the one we're treating...obviously...

View attachment 933309

The question is that the other one was floating straight up and down, tail up, and seemed to have trouble righting itself before I could grab my camera. Should I be concerned about it or do goldfish just do that? We had one when I was young that would float upside down (no, it wasn't dead. :p) so I'm really not sure.

Trying to get a pic, I noticed he's got something in his, for lack of a better word, armpit. It's bright red. I've been coming by for the past several days to check up on the fish and make sure the fin rot didn't spread to the other fish. I haven't noticed it before today. Is the red spot something I should worry about?

View attachment 933313


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Sounds like a case of not changing the water for a long time. If that is not done, not much else will do any good.
 
She says she does a 50% water change once a month. The last one was just a couple weeks ago. She's had the tank set up for like 8 years. These fish are 3 years old.

I got her test strips for Christmas. The Params are fine according to them. Is the lack of water changes the only thing that would cause it?


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I never thought test strips were very accurate but they are better than nothing. A 50% water change once a month even with a relativly small bio-load and a filtration system with a large bio-capacity will not keep nitrates in check. While it will chew up the ammonia and allow the conversion of nitrite into nitrate the end product will have nowhere to go. Nitrates while much less toxic than the ammonia or nitrite at levels over 20 ppm start to stress fish, at 40 ppm your hitting the red zone and beyond that long term exprsure to elaveted levels the immune system is compromised, it will also interfere with the ability of red blood cells to transport oxygen (anoxia) and also interfere with the central nervious system.

Do another 50% water change while performing a good substrate vacuming, Add 1 tablespoon of salt per ten gallons to help with resperation. How long has it been since the filter was cleaned?
 
KellyFrancis said:
She says she does a 50% water change once a month. The last one was just a couple weeks ago. She's had the tank set up for like 8 years. These fish are 3 years old.

I got her test strips for Christmas. The Params are fine according to them. Is the lack of water changes the only thing that would cause it?


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Click to expand...
Test strips are not very accurate at all.

I recommend purchasing an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It is a liquid test kit which is very accurate. It costs around $40-$50 in my area but is well worth it and will last a very long time. It tests for high and low range PH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

Also is she using water conditioner?



I think it may be poor water quality. I try to do at least a 25% WC on all my aquariums weekly. The aquariums that have messy fish or are heavier stocked I do a 25% every other day or every 2-3 days. 50% once a month might be a sudden shock to the fish. Tell her to do 25% weekly. Goldfish are very messy fish.

Also the images don't work for some reason. Maybe it is just my computer?
 
Aquanero said:
I never thought test strips were very accurate but they are better than nothing. A 50% water change once a month even with a relativly small bio-load and a filtration system with a large bio-capacity will not keep nitrates in check. While it will chew up the ammonia and allow the conversion of nitrite into nitrate the end product will have nowhere to go. Nitrates while much less toxic than the ammonia or nitrite at levels over 20 ppm start to stress fish, at 40 ppm your hitting the red zone and beyond that long term exprsure to elaveted levels the immune system is compromised, it will also interfere with the ability of red blood cells to transport oxygen (anoxia) and also interfere with the central nervious system.

Do another 50% water change while performing a good substrate vacuming, Add 1 tablespoon of salt per ten gallons to help with resperation. How long has it been since the filter was cleaned?
Click to expand...
+1 I wanna know how long the filters have gone without a cleaning as well. Is she using a canister?
 
Aquanero said:
I never thought test strips were very accurate but they are better than nothing. A 50% water change once a month even with a relativly small bio-load and a filtration system with a large bio-capacity will not keep nitrates in check. While it will chew up the ammonia and allow the conversion of nitrite into nitrate the end product will have nowhere to go. Nitrates while much less toxic than the ammonia or nitrite at levels over 20 ppm start to stress fish, at 40 ppm your hitting the red zone and beyond that long term exprsure to elaveted levels the immune system is compromised, it will also interfere with the ability of red blood cells to transport oxygen (anoxia) and also interfere with the central nervious system.

Do another 50% water change while performing a good substrate vacuming, Add 1 tablespoon of salt per ten gallons to help with resperation. How long has it been since the filter was cleaned?
Click to expand...



^^^--------- This right here.... Agree 100%
 
Ok. Thanks guys. She's got a HOB filter that came with the tank. Its one of those 29 gal wal mart special things. Shes had it forever! i cant believe it doesnt leak! lol. I'm not sure how long it's been since the pad-thing was changed but I do know she took out the carbon. I don't remember why.

As far as the chem set goes, it's practically out of the question. I'm the only one who does the strips as it is and I'm not up there very often these days. I know they aren't very accurate but like Aquanero, figured they were better than nothing.

I didn't think to ask her if she did anything about the water she used to top the tank off and change the water. She's got city ways so that might be the problem. I'm so used to being on a well that it didn't even occur to me. I'll ask.

As far as more water changes and the salt, I will pass that along. Thanks for the help. :)


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I moved this over here so maybe others could benafit from the information.

Kelly tell granny to do once a week 50% water changes with the salt added to replace what was removed by the WC for a month. After that if you could get her to do at least a 50% wc every 2 weeks it would help. GL
 
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