Hi all:
I know how much salt you are supposed to use, but what is the duration/time table for how long you do it, etc.?

SO much depends on what you are trying to do with the salt. If salting for nitrIte levels, a .1% salt is only needed when there is a positive reading for nitrIte in the water.

If salting for parasites, I tend to leave the salt in for at least 2 weeks, depending on the parasite and the temperature in the tank. A warmer tank will speed up the life cycle of most parsites, making it so you can kill off multiple generations in a shorter time. The cooler tank would need to be treated longer.

When isolating a new fish for observation, I salt at .3% for the duration of the iso - usually 4 weeks or so.

Hi..ok - I am salting for what I believe to be internal parasites - I have seen that one of my goldies (fantail) has stringy white poop - so would I do a water change in between those two weeks, because I usually do that weekly?

First, here is a link to "goldfish poop" (a wonderful topic! )

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/GoldfishPoop.html

Nest, using salt is just fine when you do water changes. All you have to remember is that the salt will NEVER go away unless it is physically removed from the water by a water change. It does not evaportate.

When you do a water change, simply measure how much water you take out of your tank. Replace with fresh water that has been salted to the correct dilution.

For example, you have 3Tablespoons of salt per 5 gallons at 0.3% salt in a 20 gallon tank. You remove 10 gallons of water to change the water. Replace those 10 gallons of water with clean 10 gallons that have 6 Tablespoons of salt added to it. Mix it in before you add it back to the tank. The tank is now changed, but the salt content has remained the same.

THanks! You are great! I appreciate your help so much!

Ok..so one of my fish has thin poop that is clear/white - I am assuming that it is a bacterial infection - where/how do I get antibiotics or know what kind to get - is this a situation where I feed her the medicated food...should I NOT bother salting the tank after all?

Also..as for the salting of the tank..I read on the boards that when you are done with it you should gradually reduce it..I am kind of confused as to that - if I have a 46 gallon tank, and I have salted it, how do gradually reduce so as to not shock the fishies? And ALSO, is it true that salting a tank can cause finrot???

Medicated food is an easy thing to get, if you live in the States. If you live in OZ, it will not be so easy - and Europe is close behind.

A good source of medicated food is Goldfish Connection - MediGold and MetroMeds are both excellent medicated foods, and Rick Hess will get them to you in no time flat! I try to keep a supply on hand - I vacumn pack it in 2 Tablespoon packets for storage.

http://www.goldfishconnection.com/shop/lis....php?parentId=5

Salt, in too high of concentration can fray fins. But this is a mechanical fuction, not a disease.

Dropping the salt levels are easy. When you change out the water, just do not put salt into the replacement water. Each change will dilute the salt down and, after multiple changes, you will slowly have reduced your salt to zero.

Since you have already salted your tank, I think I would leave it that way for about a week - it will not hurt and might help - you never know what nasties may be hiding, waiting to opportunisitically take advantage of your fish when they are not feeling good.

Daryl: thanks so much - I have the Medigold and started today - I read on these boards to feed four small meals a day..do you agree with that? I've noticed a significant increase in pooping since today by the fishies - it's much thicker and the color of the food - I will continue to use it for 14 days as instructed - and I will keep the salt in the tank too - I am sure I did not use too much - I have 46 gallons and I only put in 6 tbs. The instructions said one tbs for every five gallons..so is it ok what I did? I sure hope so -

Finally, in your opinion, should I wait to use Maracyn (I have a fish with finrot) and see what the salt and Medigold do? Or should I use that at the same time? ?? ?? ?

Fin Rot is a bacterial infection - caused by an opportunistic bad bacteria infecting fins that are damaged traumatically, by moving/poor water/stress/parasites. Maracyn is an antibacterial bath - one that is added to the tank's water. MEdiGold is an antibiotic food - one that goes directly into the fish. The next step up would be an injected antibiotic - definately over kill for fin rot. I think you should wait on the Maracyn and let the MEdiGold do its job - it will be working on the fin rot as well as any intestinal infection.

With antibiotics, the dose for an adult human is much larger than the dose for a small child. The same goes for the fish - a larger fish needs more than a small fish. You need to get a certain percentage of the fish's body weight worth of meds into him every 24 hours or so. To do this, it is much easier to feed multiple times a day - with as much as the fish will eat at every feeding. This will max out the amount of medication that is going into the fish. Spreading it out over the day will not only encourage the fish to eat more, but it will spread the dose out more - evening up the doses, making the dose level more consistant through the day. So, yes, feed multiple times a day, as much as your fish will eat.

The salt that you have in your 46 gallon tank is not sufficiant to help much at all. A tank generally does not hold as much water as the size indicates. That is usually the volume measured by the Length times Height times Width - not taking into account that you potentially have gravel and deco taking up volume, as well as the fact that you are not filling it to the brim. I would assume that you have somewhere over 40 gallons. The dose that you want to treat fin rot (yes, the salt can help here, a bit, too) is at 0.3%. This is 3 Tablespoons of salt for every 5 gallons of water or 3 teaspoons per gallon. For your 46 gallon tank(I will figure 40 gallon) you will want 3 times 8 or 24 level Tablesppons of large grained aquarium salt to take the tank to 0.3%.

You have 6 Tablespoons - somewhere less than 0.1%. I suggest that you add 10 Tablespoons of salt, dissloved in a cup of water to your tank - taking it to 0.2% salt. Wait 12 hours or so and then add 8 more Tablesppons of salt, which will take your tank to 0.3% - a salinity that will help ward off parasites and some other problems.

The color and consistancy of the fish's poop sounds good!

Do not forget - water quality is all important here, also. A fish cannot shake off finrot, even with the best of meds, if he is swimming in toxic water - so change, change, change and do not be afraid to treat with Prime to keep matters under control between changes.

IT will seem like FOREVER, but this really will all work - honest.

Daryl, I am truly in AWE of you. Your knowledge is incredible! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your help. THANK GOD for Koko and this board. If I did not have your help, these poor little guys would be dead, and my kids and I would be heartbroken. I understand everything you said and will and can do exactly what you advise. HOWEVER, I noticed that my nitrites went up to .25 since I have been doing Medigold which leads me to believe I am "overfeeding" - I am thinking that I should soak the Medigold and feed one pellet at a time to the fish as much as they can eat rather than dropping it in the tank, it's much harder that way but may help with the nitrites, right?
What is Prime? I am not sure what you mean by that, it a water conditioner? I have the Dechlorinator that I use..but I am not sure what Prime is. Finally, you say do multiple feedings, is there such a thing as "overdosing" a fish on this food like a human and/or child could o.d.?

Nope - I doubt that you could over dose a gold fish on MediGold. If you can get it into them, they will process it and poop it back out. The meds will work. Stuff as much as you can in.

If your tank is cycled, and nitrItes are appearing, it may mean that you are feeding a bit more than usual and the waste volume in the tank has risen. The beneficial bacteria in your biological cycle should grow to accomodate the large amounts of nitrite that is coming from that. The first type of bacteria - the ones that process ammonia into nitrIte are happy active little guys - they can grow and colonate at a drop of a hat or ammonia. But the second type - the ones that process the nitrIte to nitrAte - are stubborn little snotty brats that tend to be sluggish at responding to added waste. Give them a few days, and they should respond by making more bacteria and the nitrite levels should return to zero.

As far as Prime - it a water conditioner with an added benefit. Prime (and Amqel+) is a product designed to bind and render harmless to fish, ammonia, nitrite, and to a degree, nitrate. It can be VERY useful in helping tide a tank over when there is a slight bump in the cycle, when adding extra fish load, when you are on vacation and know the tank will go for longer periods without change, or when the tank is cycling and the toxins rise between water changes. It is nearly impossible to overdose with Prime - what is not used by the available ammonia/nitrite/nitrate will remain, inert, in the water waiting until it is needed. When I have a not-quite-cycled tank, I dose it with Prime after the water change and the Prime keeps the toxins lower until the next day when I change again. It will go many steps further than just the salt to protect your fish from the toxicity of nitrite. (It can be used at the same time as salt) The marvelous part about it is that it binds the toxins, yet leaves them available for the beneficial bacteria to process - thus it will not impact the development of a cycle as say, ammochips or zeolite will. Prime (and Amquel+) smell skunky - but it disapates mostly after you add it to the tank. This is a normal smell.

Thanks for the compliments. I try..........



Edit: I do not think you want to soak the MediGold too long - you may soak the antibiotics from it and leave you with nothing but a food pellet..... other than that, the feeding one at a time sounds like a plan. My fish are such big pigs that I feed between 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons of food at a serving!

Ok..got it. I don't know how to thank you for your help. I have done as you said and will get back to you in a day or two with a status on the fishies..keep your fingers crossed!

Daryl..

You there? I have a question about my tank - I did the salt as you suggested and the water looks less clear since I salted it - also, the salt I got at the acquarium store - it was dusty! When I put some in a cup, the water turned brown! Is that normal? SHould I be "rinsing" it first??? Finally, my fish are REALLY pooping a lot because of how much I have been feeding them as far as the Medigold goes..should I be cleaning my tank more often? I don't think my filters (two penguin 200s) can handle all this poop..!!

I have never had the salt cloud the water.... hmmmmmm....... Up until recently, I have always used Dr. WellFish's salt. It is no longer available and now I have something else - but I do not remember what. It worked well and was clear when I dipped a little fishy for a friend the other day, though.......

Two Penguin 200s sound like a good filtration for a 30 gallon tank - is that what you have? The older Penguins (except for the older 350) did not have any place for extra media except the biowheel. Does yours have a place for extra bio-media? If so, is it in there? (pardon me if you have answered these things - my brain sometimes does not categorize all information correctly and I may have your information connected with other's)

Extra poop does mean extra nitrates in the end. Test your water and let your eyes and your tests guide you in the water changes. You cannot change too much - but you can change too little. I never go by a schedule - each tank is different. I let my eyes, my nose and my tests tell me what, when and how much. If your nitrates are higher than they should be, change. If your nitrites are climbing, change. IF the waste is not being sucked up properly into the filters, change and rinse the filter cartridges so the water flows freely again. Sometimes, when odd things are happening in a tank, I just pop out the cartridges once a day and rinse them to keep things under control. Rinsing away extra waste will help keep your cycling tank under control - less waste means less nitrIte, too.......

See if the tank clears up a bit more as time goes - that salt should not be cloudy.

What type of salt did you get? When I first started using salt I bought something by mistake that turned the water a little cloudy and it was a yellow, dustly colour. It was called aquarium salt, but it had some kind of ph buffer in it as well which is not really needed. Make sure it's plain old aquarium salt, which is salt-white in colour

Good luck with the treatments, fins crossed for you

Hi Guys..thanks for all your help -They said my tank was 46 gallons, but you said it was probably closer to 40 gallons - I used Dr. Wellfish's salt from the Pet Store, I just don't understand why the salt appeared dirty/dusty - maybe I got a bad carton - the water, as I said, turned brown in the cup when I put the extra tablespoons in to dissolve it! - anyways, once I put it in the tank it didn't look dirty, and the water is not cloudy in that I can't see the fish, it just appears to have a little of a residue in it, if that makes sense...I think it is a combination of the salt (which was very dusty) and the excess waste maybe. I have noticed that in feeding them a few times a day they are more active, but also really really pooping a lot - also, they seem to have less appetite, believe it or not, they don't seem so eager to feed as they were when I fed once a day..
My Penguin 200s have a place for the bio wheel, and two "slots" for their filter pads, so yes, there is an extra slot, but I have never done the "extra media" thing and I don't know how..
Anyways, the little fish with fin rot seems much better! He is out and not bottom sitting all by himself like he was. Plus, I can see that his fin is starting to heal! The other little fish, however, the one with the white stringy poop and the SBD (she sits on the bottom with her top tail up and face down, kind of vertical) is still doing the same thing... I think with her she may have permanent damage - she was really constipated awhile back..other than that, she has actually grown quite a bit the last few weeks and eats well. I am worried about the excess waste so I am going to keep up with the water changes and keep my fingers crossed....

The extra slots are a great place to put extra media. I do not know the new Penguin 200's but would one of the clamshell media holders that they sell for the Emperors/Penguins fit in there? If so, stuffing one of those with ceramic cylindars, sintered glass, lava rock, sponge pieces, bioballs, etc. would give you a much greater bio-base and a more solid cycle. A good solid cycle in a tank can withstand an amazing number of problems. Many medications that supposedly kill cycling bacteria do not touch my cycles in my tanks.....

Salt does, also, have a slight laxative effect on a fish. A salt dip will purge a fish in a short time!

I am glad your little guys are doing better. Time may yet help that little one that is still unsteady. Sometimes it takes a looooooooooooooooong time, but if you keep banging away at a problem, you can conquer it!

Hi Daryl, I will try and see if I can add the extra media. I did another water change tonight - my nitrites were up as well as my amonia - also my nitrates were up - I am really trying to stay on top of it. I really want to thank you for your help, you are truly responsible for saving my fishies! Thank you so much..I will check in with you in a few days..so far so good...

Daryl, you there? I am checking in - my fish with the Finrot is MUCH BETTER. His little fin is totally growing back. However, the fish that had was bottom sitting, (really vertical with tail up in air) is still doing that, and I notice that his poop is still white/stringy - I still have my tank salted, I am doing the water changes and I am keeping up on the MediGold food - the 14 day period for the food is July 1, 2006 - anything else I can do for this goldie - she has no clamped fins, and she swims on occasion and is not totally isolating, but I am not seeing improvement in her...

Also, the Prime - that is enough for when I do the water changes, right? I used another product, but I went and bought Prime when the other stuff ran out, so is that enough to take the chemicals out of my tap water? Thanks Daryl..

I am glad to hear that the fin rot is almost gone. That is GREAT!

I think that I would keep up with the MediGold - just keep feeding it every day - until you are completely through the cycling of the tank. Once that tank settles down so there is no ammonia, no nitrite, then you can work really hard on keeping the nitrates low.

Once you know that it is not the water parameters complicating matters, it will be time to assess whether the Medigold is doing the trick. It may be that it is holding "something" at bay, and that something will be conquered when the water is good. It may be that you need MetroMeds or some other type antibiotic. It may be that you need a water bourne antibiotic to scoot him up over this problem. But as long as he is not getting worse, the water will come first. Water can always make anything harder to conquer - sometimes impossible to conquer. When the water is no longer complicating matters, you may uncover the real reason and make it possible to cure.



Yes, Prime whould do the trick for you.

Ok..I just did another water change, and about 20 minutes later decided to test the water - nitrites were at oppm nitrAtes were at 5ppm and amonia was at .25 - Should I change again? Also, I had been talking to you on another post..I added a Penguin 150 to my two Penguin 200s so now I am at 550 gph for the tank..I hope this is okay - you guys had recommended that I up my filtration and the two Petstores I went to had NO Penguin 330's - Also, I am keeping the tank salted still - should I keep it salted for as long as I give them the MediGold - ?

I think that since you are still seeing a bit of ammonia, you need to consider the tank not cycled yet. It will not hurt to keep the salt at at least 0.1% to protect the fish from nitrites. They may yet raise their ugly heads...... As far as keeping it at 0.3%, you probably do not need to do so.

The 550 gph is slightly less than 12 times an hour turnover - a very respectable amount.

That Penguin 150 has a flaw in it that you can easily remedy - at least a what I consider a flaw. The filter depends entirely on the biowheel for bacteria platform - it has no place to put any other media in there. You have a couple of choices to fix this, if you wish to. You can slit the blue filter floss and knock out the carbon and replace it with some media - the sintered glass/ceramic cylindars etc. On some filters, if I do not need them for mechanical filtration, I have taken the blue floss all the way off the cartridge and sewed a net bag over the plastic frame, stuffing the frame full of media pieces - this is a bit more permanent and easier to clean - they do not fall out when you are cleaning it. (if you are careful, they do not need to fall out - I am just a clutz!) This will not filter waste out - it becomes simply a biological filter......

Ok....so as far as my tank not being "cycled" do I need to change the water again right now even though I did it this a.m. (about eight hours ago)? - I added Prime and waited about an hour and re-tested and the params are: Nitrites .25 Amonia .25 and NitrAtes 10 - so do I do another water change?

Also, as far as the fishies go, I've noticed that they all seem to have a decreased appetite - What I mean by this is that when I feed them they no longer approach the food in a fast and furious matter..I am starting to get concerned that they are not getting enough MediGold - when I drop it in, sometimes, with my biggest fish, he will just be swimming around, swim right by it and it drops on his head and he ignores it and keep swimming around..any ideas??

As for the Penguin 150, I bought it to add to the tank because it appeared to me from what I've read, etc., that the two Penguin 200s were not handling all the waste..I am now regretting it because I think I should have just waited until they were in stock and bought the Penguin 350 and put it in place of one my 200's - it still would be a 550 GPH but I would have the room for extra media, etc. - not to mention the fact that this little 150 is INCREDIBLY noisy (worse than the 200s!) - what would you do if you were me? Would you get a 350 and one 200 or just keep it the way I have it and make it work?

Daryl, you are such a good person to help me like this..thank you so much - I am sorry if I am asking a million questions..I don't mean to - I just want to do right by my fishies...

I try to keep the water at no more than .25 to .50 ammonia/nitrite when cycling a tank. At those levels, the Prime can do the rest of the job relatively easily and keep the water there during the 24 hours before the next change. Test your water the next day (ACK! today!) and see how high those readings got. If they are still at .50 and under, you are fine. If not, you may want to change a bit more or add a bit more Prime.....

It may be that you are feeding the fish so well that they really are getting all they want of the food. They are eating, right? Jsut not all that is being offered, correct? Unles you think that they are not eating because they are sick (sluggish and bottome sitting, etc), then I would not be too worried. You stuff in what you can stuff in.

As far as the 150- A lot depends on your future plans and your budget. If you think that you may want or need a 10 gallon iso tank in the future, it never hurts to stash thta 150 away. You can keep extra media in your tank to fill that 150 when and if you need it, and it can be the backup filter/iso filter along with the other 200. Then get a 350....

If you have any potential that you may wish to add a 20-30 gallon tank to your collection, the 150+ the200 would support a 20 or 30ish gallon tank. You would have them, if you get the 350.

If your budget does not allow getting another filter, then the 150 you have will certainly do the trick - it adds up to a little less than 12 times turnover - a very respectable turnover. I have at least 12 times on all my tanks - up to 15 or a bit more on some, depending on fish needs, etc.

The 150's noise is concerning. I have had a couple of Penquins/Emperors that, for some unknown reason, become more noisy than they were. No amount of adjustments seem to get it under control. Occasionally, breaking the entire filter down, reseating the impellor, cleaning it all, inside and out and resetting it will fix the problem. A couple of times, I had the filter set in a position that bubbles from an air feature were carried by current (or in one case - a big fish's tail!) to the intake. As the bubbles go through the filter it makes noise. Check to make sure there are no bubbles in the intake. PRime the pump well, before starting and as it starts, until it is running freely. Perhaps that may quiet it.

If you do decide to get a 350, this place has the best prices I have ever found. They ship in strange boxes, but have been reliable and quick to deliver. I have never had a problem, except for once (shipper's fault) and they remedied it within days....

http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/catego...ategory_id=1721

Hey - I am glad you are asking questions! That is how we all learn. I did too. I am helping just as someone else helped me when I first started! Besides, you are making sure I am needed and not just sitting, wrinkling on the shelf!

Dont mean to interupt but just had to say I have been reading this thread and Newfishmom your doing great! and daryl, you certinaly do not wrinkle! LOL. I love reading your posts, and this thread is so informative, im learning heaps about salt and filters!!

Thanks LuvmyFred - that is sweet of you - I certainly am trying - isn't Daryl the BEST...She has helped save my fishies lives! I swear..you should see how much happier they are, swimming around, etc. No bottom sitting at all! I do have the one fish that is showing signs of SBD, but it is very mild. I am learning a lot, and I really have grown attached to these little guys..I want to do right by them..so thank goodness for Daryl and the other great people on this board!

Guess what Daryl??? I did a test and my 150 is quiet as a mouse actually - when I turn off my bubble wall!! HA! It's what you said! You are good! My bubble wall is making all the noise..so what do you think I should do? Should I get rid of the bubble wall (it runs along the back of my 46 gallon tank) and get some airstones? Do I need airstones since I have the three filters - I noticed the water on top of my tank is full of bubbles too! Is that too much air?

I have extended the intakes for the filters in my tanks down to the bottom of the tank. Then I raise the bubble walls to just about the intakes. This still lets the bubbles rise on the back wall and makes a pretty curtain of bubbles and gread water circulation, but eliminates the water bubbles in the intakes. If you play with it a bit, you may find a setting that works for you.

In other tanks, I have bubble disks in the center and a shorter bubble wall on each side. The fish love to ride the bubble disks rising bubbles like a carnival ride. Still other tanks have a bubble stone tucked into an ornament so that the bubbles come from the top or sides of the ornament ( works if I do not feel like filling in a partially hollow ornament)

Bubbles are fun and there are soooo many options. Play with a few things, move them around, see what neat things you can find at the store for making bubbles - short wands, flexible wands, stones, disks, etc. You should be able to find a great combination that you like and that works well.

With overflow filters that splash the water returning - moving the water to the surface - you really do not need air features. In a really deep tank, or a heavily medicated tank, they are probably necessary, but in general, they are more asthetic than necessary. They help move the water from the bottom areas of the tank to the surface where it can pick up more oxygen. You can place them anywhere and they will do the trick just fine. It is really really hard to have too many bubbles - fizzing type air features, over done to the max, are probably the only way you could even begin to approach that problem.


(you guys are making me blush - good grief! )

Ok..I think I like the sound of the bubble disk..maybe I will try that one..

This morning, after my most recent water change (tank has not yet cycled but levels are not rising any higher) I noticed my fish with the finrot is hiding behind the log I have in my tank..he used to do that before all this started. When he sees me he comes out and says hi - he is not bottom sitting or clamping his fins, he is kind of floating behind the log next to the bubble wall - I got worried because the last few days he has been hanging around in the front of the tank with the other fishies and now he is back to isolating. - I guess at this point I need to wait for this tank to cycle and get my water right and finish the MediGold, right? Once that is done I can see what to do next...right?

I would guess so. As long as there is no definate identification of an urgent problem, your best bet is to get the water in order. That MediGold may be holding something at bay, it may be curing something or it may be doing nothing but feed the fish.....

If your little guy is hovering, not bottom sitting, and is alert enough to recognise when you come - he may be just fine. Isolating fish typically stick their noses in the corners and generally look miserable. I do not get the feeling that floating behind a log necessarily means he is isolating. Maybe one of the other fishes insulted his mother or punched him when you were not looking.

I have a little koi that used to hide in the deco. when he was tiny. Then, he started coming out and being bold all over his tank. All of a sudden, he is behind the deco again. The only thing I can figure is that my cat said "BOO!" one day and the little koi is not feeling so bold anymore!

Keep an eye on them. Time works wonders.

Daryl, help. I have an isolating fish. - it's the one with the SBD that I tried to treat a few weeks back before the fin rot ever took over on my other goldie. She is now in the corner, nose down and looks miserable. She has not done this since I started the Medi-Gold, and now she is doing it again. She would float down kind of, but not completely isolate! What do I do? My water is still testing at Nitrate 10 ppm Nitrite. .25 and Amonia .25. I've been doing my water changes and adding Prime..the other fish seem fine, and the goldie with the fin rot, although he has been favoring being behind the log, he is not miserable or bottom sitting...What should I do?

Are you still feding MEdigold? How long have you been feeding the Medigold? Is this fish eating it?

Have you done any treatments for parasites? When you got your fish, were there any parasite problems that you dealt with? Do you see any other symptoms of ANY nature with the fish - other than the actions?

Less than steller water parameters can bring out the nastiest opportunistic bacteria and parasites possible in a tank. The fish that is most stressed or weakest will show the problems before the others - or the others may be able to kick it off.

Lets review this over again to refresh my memory.

Your fish are in a 46 gallon tank with a Penguin 150 and two 200's. You have them crammed full of biomedia to help in cycling. You have been cycling for a while now, but have kept the ammonia/nitrite as low as possible - hopefully at 0.5 and under. You have been treating with Prime to handle the rest between daily water changes.....

Do I have it right?

If so..... I am going to ask that you start a new thread in Diagnoses and Discussion - or I can split this off - with your answers and we can get more input than just mine a bit better over there.

TAke a deep breath..... this is something that we can address and see if it can be solved, ok?

Daryl, ok - I am on day 13 of the medicated food, and my tank has not yet cycled. Yes the fish is eating it - as the others are - I notice this fish has long poop that is either stringy white or the color of the food, depending on the day - I believe she is constipated -

I've never treated for parasites. My daughters got these fishies from their grandma - four of them (two for each daughter) in a LITTLE BOWL - I knew by looking at them after a couple of days that they were miserable! I immediately found Kokos and upgraded a couple of times finally resulting in my 46 gallon tank - up until a few weeks ago, I did fine with the cycle - things went haywire when I found the finrot on the other fish - I guess it is possible I am dealing with parasites - When my fish that is isolating first started this, I went in disease and diagnosis and Laurie P. helped me - we believed it to be constipation - after fasting, peas and epsom salt the fish appeared better for some time - but not long, she went back to her same old motus operandi - isolating in the corner nose down. Soon after she reverted, I discovered the fin rot on the other fish and here I am...

I don't mind you moving me to disease/diagnosis - As far as noticing other symptoms, the fish was doing well for the last few days and just suddenly started isolating again - she was actually swimming and hanging in the front of the tank with my other two fish. My little fish with finrot (whichis healing) always kind of hung back behind the log...Both of these fishies' poop goes back and forth between color of food but very long and trailing and very long and stringy - sometimes I see bubbles too. Tomorrow is technically my last day for the Medigold food - that would make 14 days..I am ready to go in disease/diagnosis now to see what I can do - I have to believe that the MediGold hopefully knocked out the bacteria andnow it is time to deal with a possible parasite of some sort...thanks Daryl. I am tracking this thread so I guess I'll find it when you move it...