Anyone have any idea what a red spot on the small fin behind the gills may be?

He has also been flashing/darting. (i dont know the difference)

Hi there and


The flashing and darting certaily isn't normal goldfish behavior. But, to make a diagnosis. we will need much more info than that. Could you go back and answer ALL of the questions from the red box at the top of the page when you go to post back? You can click and paste it for easy referrence.

With that info provided, we will be MUCH better able to help you.....


Paul

I am sorry, I did not mean to post in the 911 area!

Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? .50
Nitrite Level? 0
Nitrate level? 0
Ph Level,7.6
Ph Level out of the Tap? 7.6

Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 1 fish,10 gal, 23 days.

What is the name and size of the filter/s? Cascade 80

How often do you change the water and how much? have done 50 % water changes last 2 days and have added 2 tbsp salt. I had another fish in the tank that died of dropsy, plus possible ich problem. i was not treating for ich, just dropsy w/maracyn 2 for 5 days. (i was not sure if there was an ich problem but the fish that died had awhite psecs on his tail)

How many fish in the tank and their size? 1 21/2-3 inches

What kind of water additives or conditioners? Aquasafe water conditioner

Any medications added to the tank? maracyn 2, tuesday was last dose

Add any new fish to the tank? no

What do you feed your fish? Colorfin sinking granules and peas

Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt", on the fish that died, tailfin only.

bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? red spot on small front fin

Any unusual behavior like staying flashing/darting, poop is broken up

at the bottom, not eating, ect..? eats fine and is very active

Thanks for the response paul, i hear your one of the best around!
I hope i provided enoough info!

~Chris

I forgot to mention when i first got Dega a lil over 3 weeks ago, had had a floating problem. I went to the pet store and told them the problem and they said he was injesting air from eating floating fish food, then i switched him to the sinking food. his poop is floating and has air bubbles in it. Could this be that i am not soaking his food long enough oris there possible another problem? I couldnt stand to lose another fish right now. he is still flashing/darting.

Firstly, no need to apalagize. I accidentally moved your post over here to the 911 forum. I thought you and another new member were the same person as both your names have "rookie" in it. My mistake. I'll move it bak over there when I post this reply.


Anyway, The cascade 80 is a good filter, a little on the low side of efficient, but it should suffice for a single small goldfish. As it gets bigger, and it certainly will, you will want a little more filtration added to compensate for the heavy bio-load growing goldfish create.

Off the top, your ammonia is a little high. No so high that it should cause any flashing like this though. All the same, make sure the ammonia does not rise any further than this level. I suspect that either the maracyn 2 cause your bio-fltraton to fail, or you perforomed too thorough a cleaning to the filter recently. Here's a page to help you through tank and filter maintenence: http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=26495


Ok, it is very highly likely that you have a parasite in your fishtank. Is there any chance of you being able to procur a microscope that goes up to 400X magnification? Even a cheapo like my 30 dollar Walmart kiddie special will do. It is rather easy to examine slime smaples and the like under the scope for a definitive diagnosis. I can walk you through everything very easily.....

Are there any ich spots anywhere on your fish?

See any small greenish colored lumps on your fish?

If no is the answer to the two questions above, then I suggest you try the following:


Firstly, increase the salt level of the water to 0.3% as per these instructions:

Raise the salinity to 0.3% (zero point three). This should be done over the course of 36-48 hours. To do this, multiply your tanks total gallons by 2.5.

----------------------------------

Example: 10 gallon tank - 10 (gal) X's 2.5 (tsp) = 25 teaspoons

So, a ten gallon tank needs 25 level teaspoons to reach 0.3%.

----------------------------------

To bring the salinity up over the course of 36-48 hours, the total amount of salt needs to be split into 3 equal amounts and bagged up into 3 separate baggies. Each baggie of salt needs to be added (pre-dissolved in a jug of tankwater) to the tank every 12 hours or so until the last baggie has been added. Once the desired salinity has been reached, you only need to add 2 1/2 level teaspoons to each gallon of water you add to the tank. Thats it, no more. It is important to remember that salt cannot be filtered out nor can it evaporate. So, calculations and meaurements need to be precise. And again, ONLY add salt back to the water you are going to pour into the tank during waterchanges.

If you see improvement within the first 3-4 days, keep the salinity up for at least 3-4 weeks. If you see NO marked improvement within the first 3-4 days, then you should try adding Jungles Parasite Clear to the tank along with keeping the salinity up. You can treat with PC for 5 full days.

Nether salt nor PC will cause your biofilter to fail as I suspect the Maracyn 2 did.


Now, if the above doesn't reap you the desired results, or you would like to skip straight to the chase, I suggest Quick Cure or some other parasite med that contains Malachite Green and Formalin such as Rid-Ich, Rid-Ich plus or similar meds. MG/F is a very effective treatment but should only be used on fish that are still alert. Keep a bucket of dechlorinate water on stnd-by just in case your fish reacts badly to the med. Not that it will happen, its just a precaution that should be taken with all parasite meds. Increase aeration, do not let the tank get any warmer than 80-82 degrees.


Hopefully, the salt alone will do the trick.


Post back soon.


Paul

TY for all the info Paul! Very much appreciated.

The red spot on his fin is completely gone. Could this have possibly been a reaction from maracyn 2?...was just a thought that popped in my head. I was thinking along the lines of an allergy. Like we do to certain medications.

~Chris

Stress usually manifests itself as red streaks or blotches in the fins and especially the tail. Sounds as though the ammonia and everything is the cause of the redness.


Paul

I have noticed that the area around his small fin as well as on it, is red now. But this is on the other side. Should i still continue with the salt treatment? Appears like the same problem to me.

He also has a floating problem. It seems to only happen after he eats. I feed him sinking granules soaked prior to feeding. His butt seems to swell then goes away after he defecates, and there is air bubbles in it. At other times he seems fine after eating so this really has no pattern to it. I have heard that if a fish has air in its system it may cause infection so I am concerned. Would giving him peas more frequently benefit him? Any suggestions?

Other than that he seems happy and is active.

Thanks for the prior advice. I will let you know how things go!

~Chris

Sure, If you see him becoming a little floaty, try feeding peas. Peas makes for a wonderful laxative as they are made up of little tiny balls of pea "meat" That dont compact easily. Ths makes for a great way to flush out air and compacted foods and the like.

NitrAtes have a tendency to cause fish to float too. Anything above 60ppm can cause it in fancy goldfish. Keeping nitrAtes low for fancie is a good way to keep nitrAte induced floaters from becoming bouyant.....


You might want to think about getting ahold of some medi-gold from goldfish connection. You can feed this stuff to goldfish to keep internal bacterial infections at bay.



Good luck!

Paul

Hey Paul,

Your advice with the salt worked great. Both fins look so much better within 3 days...however, his poop"er" is dark orange to semi red, and he seems constipated. My son took it upon himself, early today to feed our fish...and I have told him, NEVER feed our fish unless you ask me first or I tell you to do so. UGH!!

So being the rookie I am, I am going to be brave and go with my gut instinct and what I have learned so far....

I am not going to feed him for 24 hours, and when he gets fed it will be peas. Then i will wait another 24, feed him more peas and see if he stops floating. I heard fat content in food may do this to fish. What % is considered to high? As I read the back of the fishfood canister...I see Guarnteed Analysis: Min. Crude Fat 6.0%...is this the "fat" i should be monitoring?

Ph 7.6
Ammonia .5
NitrIte is over 5.0 (dark purple) is this bad? and if so what do I do? it is usually never over .25.......
NitrAte 5.0
Water temp 78 dgress w/no heater
Salinity 0.3%

He eats well, is active and responsive. He is still flashing but not to the extent he has before. Since the Ammonia level has been down for a while what else could be causing the flasing? He has been doing this since I brought him home almost 5 weeks ago. I also believe he has had this constipation problem since I b

Sorry....my cat decided to say hi via-keyboard.....

ANYWAY....I believe he has had this constipation problem since I brough him home...I thought at first he was injesting air from eating floating flake food. Then I was advised to buy sinking granules and soak them, which I have done. Hasn't seemed to help. I usually give him a good amount of food when I feed him which is once a day. Could I be giving him to much? He eats everything thing I give him in a matter of 2-3 minutes. I am stumped on this one...!!!

I HATE BEING SO GREEN

Thanks again, ~Chris

Perform a very large waterchange, ASAP. Your nitrItes are waaaaay too high right now. I suggest a 75% waterchange while adding the 2 3/4 level teaspoons per gallon to the water your adding back to the tank. Once you finish that, test again for nitrItes nd report back with the results.


I have a feeling that your nitrItes are due one or more of the following:


Your son fed waaaaay tooo much food the other day and your bio-filter is having problems breaking it down through the nitrification process.

Your filter was recently cleaned too well and your beneficial bacteria is trying to recolonize. Meanwhile, nitrAtes are rising because of the reduced bio-filtration.

Your filter is not completely cycled yet. The overfeeding is making it too tough a job for the filter to handle yet.




Have you recently cleaned out the filter at all? Not that you want to, you don't actually. Here's a link to help you with filter maintenence: http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=26495


All in all, I would hide your food from here on out......


Post back soon.


Paul

NitrItes are still high. My old filter broke so this is a new filter. I have not cleaned the filter at all. Anything else I can do?

The floating has stopped but he is still flashing.

If your old filter broke and you replace it, can you answer the following:



When was the filter replaced?

Did you seed the new filter at all?

What is the name and size of the filter?

What are the results for ammonia and nitrItes right now?


Post back soon.


Paul

The new filter is about 1 week old.

I have never heard of "seeding" your filter.

The filter is a Cascade 80. (I have a 10 gallon tank)

Ammonia is .25 ppm and nitrItes are still high??? The test water is dark purple, close to the same color as .50 reading on the card. I watched the test water turn color, it never became a fuschia-burgundy color. Maybe i read the test color wrong last time.

Thanks for all your help Paul, I so appreciate it !

~Chris

Well, it seems that your tank is re-cycling itself. The nitrification cycle resides in your filter. It processes ammonia to nitrItes and then the nitrItes to nitrAtes. When you replaced the filter, you essentially started the cycling process all over again.

Test daily and change as much water as it takes to keep the nitrItes below 1-2ppm. Ammonia should remain below 1ppm. Keep these levels this low until you find that they have dropped off of the test kits to 0ppm.

If you see the flashing going on beyond the point that you filter is fully cycled, I suggest that you let us know and we can work on a treatment regime for parasites........

It could take several weeks or less than a week. The key here is diligence in testing and changing. Keep an eye on the flashing and scratching. We might need to intervene before your filter becomes cycled.


Paul

So I take it I was reading the test correctly...

I did a 75% water change last night. Shall I do another water change and at what %?

All the red spots he had are gone and disappeared very quickly after I started with the salt treatment.

Thanks again Paul!

So no flashing or scratching anymore?

Yes there is still some flashing. It has not been as frequent as before...sorry forgot to add that.

~Chris