Ok, My Shubunkin has mini white bumps (look like bits 'o salt) on his tail. I can feel them just the tiniest bit, too. (top fin) He is perfectly healthy, and he is the only fish in the tank w/ these bumps. Now I'm in the process of getting my tanks levels right by doing a 10-15% water change every couple of days or so. Both my comet and shubunkin have a bit of fin rot (frayed fins) so does that have anything to do with these white bumps on my shubunkin? I'm gonna go get my water tested again tomorrow so I'll post the specs as soon as I get them.


This is the best picture I could get. Whenever I come within 3 ft of their tank my fish get excited and wont stop swimming long enough for a picture
any sugestions?



Now 2 weeks ago I had my water tested b4 I bought new filters and here's what they were:
pH - 6.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 20
Nitrate - 200+
Hardness - 300+
Alkalinity - 0
I was told to do 10% water changes every couple of days as well as put the new filter cartridge in.

I have a 55gal tank w/ a Aquatech 30/60 filter. And I've had this tank going since November 2004. (I was told to buy another one to help keep up w/ the goldfish, which I will buy w/in the next week)

I have:
1 Comet (8in)
1 Shubunkin (8in)
1 Pleco (8.5in)
1 Pleco (2.5in)
1 shark/catfish (4-5in)
3 African Frogs

Now I did add 3 minnow about three weeks ago. But I started getting scared b/c one of them had a white bump right where his tail fin met his body. So we put them in my fiance's tank as feeder fish for his Texas Cichlid. I felt bad but I didn't want to get my Goldies ill.

Any thoughts?

My Fish

Welcome to Kokos!!!!

Right now the water parameters you are showing are definately not good for your fish. Anytime the water is less than quality, the fish are stressed. When they are stressed numerous problems and parasites can take over and really do a number on your fish.

So the first thing you need to address is the water quality issues. A reading of 20 nitrite is toxic. A reading of 200 nitrate is toxic. You must lower the concentrations of nitrite and nitrate immediately. Doing a 10% water change every day or so will not touch these numbers. Immediately do 30-50% water change. Do not change your filter pads or anything. Test the water. If your nitrite is not under 1ppm and your nitrate is not below 40 at least, you need to do another change. Immediately. This changing will dilute the toxins to lower levels.

To have nitrates in your tank, you must have had a decent cycle going. So there must be a reason that your ammonia and nitrite have spiked so much. I am not familiar with the AquaTech filter - but when you changed out the filter pad, is there any media left in the filter that contains the beneficial bacteria? Is is possible that you changed out the best part of tyour cycling bacteria and threw them out? Since you had a cycle going, hopefully you have enough left in gravel, decorations or the filter to rebuild it quickly again - given a little time and care.

My next question is..... are these plecos common plecos? A common pleco is not a good tank companion for goldfish - they can and will kill a goldfish - fraying fins and sucking the slime coat and eating holes in your fish during the night.

Your tank, as you know, is really overloaded. Once you separate out the fish into your new tank and this tank, you are going to be faced with a lot of work to keep both tanks in shape as they are cycling, but with less fish load in each, it will work much more easily. With luck, this tank will cycle back again shortly and you can use it to seed your new tank.

Now - the white bumps may well be ich - or something else. But many things can be greatly improved if not totally cured simply by getting the water parameters under control. I think that unless you see a dramatic increase in the spots, I would not do anything about them at this time. Work really hard to get the water back into shape and see if the spots disappear.

Please post back and keep up updated!

Thank You soooo much for all this info.

I'm going to take some water in and get it tested tom. and I'll post the stats. And I guess b4 I go do that I should do a 30-50% water change?!

I cant thank you enough for getting back so quickly.

I have to go now but I'll post those #'s tomorrow.

I sure hope your new filter has improved you water quality or your fish are in trouble anyway.

Ok I got the water tested but the lady wouldn't write the exact #'s down. I'm going to get a second opinion (somewhere else, later today) and ask for the #'s. I know I need to just buy a home testing kit but $'s tight right now so maybe next payday!

She said everything looks great except for the nitrate, which was high.
She told me to start feeding my fish everyother day and continue doing the 20% water changes and gravel cleaning, every couple of days.

Does this sound right? I think it does but let me know if otherwise. Or if anybody has any other ideas that I could do along w/ the water change and feeding.

AGAIN, 2 weeks ago I had my water tested b4 I bought new filters and here's what they were:
pH - 6.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 20
Nitrate - 200+
Hardness - 300+
Alkalinity - 0