One of my nlack moors, Pedro, came down witha real bad case of swim ladder yesterday, and today I found him caught in the filter, and he is really cut up by his rear end. I was going to put him down, but I don't have any clove oil,and it is 6:45 here, so I can't go now and get it. I was wondering if I can heal the wounds,or should I put him down. Also, I am leaving for vacation tomorrow, so I need answer fast since I have to get ready today .

Hi,Sorry to hear about Pedro.Unfortunately,I can't really give you a quick answer until I know more about the fish and its set-up.I'm moving this to the correct area.If you could answer all the equestions up above,that will get the process started.

I have him in a breeder box since the filters were putting stress on him. He is just laying on the bottom on his side and he isn't swimming right, so my mom is going to get clove oil just in case, but what do you guys think, should I euthanize him, or not.
Ammonia-.5-1
Nitrite-1-2
Nitrate-10
Ph-7.2
out of tap-7.6
55 gallons, running 3-4 weeks, still cyclying
Top Fin Filter,330 gph, Penquin 200 with Biowheel, 200 gph
changed 50% yesterday, but usually 20%
1 oranda-4 inches, 2 black moors-3 inches
API conditioner, aquarium salt
no meds
no new fish
wounds on stomach, swimming on angle

Sorry for the late reply, but my internet has been out all day

My mom couldn't find the clove oil.

Being in a tank that is cycling is going to stress him out even more. If you could place him in a separate tank or rubbermaid container that would help. Either way I'd do a couple of large water changes (at least 50% each) to get the nitrites down. You really don't want them to get above 0.5 at the very highest. Next if you could get a water conditioner like Prime that would help to detoxify the ammonia and nitrite.

Finally I would salt the tank to 0.1%. Here is a link to help you if you are not familiar with how to do that:

http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...?showtopic=8382

Without seeing the fish it's hard to give a good opinion on whether or not you should euthanize him. Sorry I can't help you further with that.

Let us know if you have further questions and good luck!

What percentage of salt have you got in there? I second doing water changes to get the ammonia and nirites as close to 0 as you possibly can. Perfect water conditions are critical if this little guys got a chance.

Can you descirbe the wound a little more? Or better yet get a picture? How big is it? How deep is it? Are his scales pineconed at all? In my tiny bit of experience the early stages of dropsy kind of appear to be swim bladder troubles, or maybe that was just my two fish

There's 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt for every gallon, so I guess thats .1%. He has one cut that isn't that bad, but there is 1 that is deep that is near the swim bladder. I don't have a digital camera, so I can't get a picture. What do you mean by pinconed scales? Unfortunately, I am going on vacation tomorrow, so I can''t do any water changes.

Yep that's 0.1%.

How long will you be gone as the nitrites are probably going to rise quickly and if they get much higher . . .

Can't you do at least one water change before you go?

Pineconed scales mean the scales are sticking out so from the top the fish looks kinda like a pinecone.

By pineconed I mean that the scales stick out a bit, kind of like a pinecone. Its pretty obvious if the fish is sitting still and you can look straight down on it. Hopefully they're not and the lethargy is only because of the injury.

Fish can heal quite well as long as the water conditions are good. How long are you going to be on vacation and when are you leaving? Are you certain theres no time for even one big waterchange? Since your salt is at .1% already the best thing you can do is keep the water perfect, it crucial to recovery

I'm leaving at 10 o clock tomorrow morning, and I will be back monday

I agree with nichjake--water quality is key for him.

I would be up late doing a water change tonight or up early tomorrow morning before leaving. Actually i would do both but i'm a bit crazy.

Honestly, I don't know that any of the fish would survive as the nitrites are already high. Four more days of rising nitrite levels may do even the strongest of them in. I'm not trying to be rude or scare ya. I'm jsut saying a water change is really really needed before you leave.

OK, I'll see if my parents will let me.

OK please keep us posted.

Clean water and time have healed many goldfish.

Good luck! I hope he pulls thru.

They won't let me,so I'll see if I can do it tomorrow.

Unfourtunately, Pedro died, but I have a question. Is it normal to lose two goldfish in two weeks (which including today I have), or did I make a mistake in stocking all four goldfish at once. Its not that I wanted to do this, but they had 4 for $20 sale, and the guy who sold them to me was telling my dad that it is okay to put all four in at once, and me being the shy type, agreed with him, although now I feel guilty, but I know if they died because of that, I will never do it again. If it is my fault, I hope you guys can forgive me for doing that.

Thank you for all of your help.

Sorry to hear about Pedro.

When establishing a tank, it's better to add jsut one or two fish at a time. That way, the amount of waste that needs to be processed by the biobugs is much less than adding a bunch of fish. Once the biobugs can handle the original one or two fish added, I would still only add one more fish at a time and wait to make sure the biobugs catch up before adding more fish.

Better yet, a fishless cycle is an easy and stress free way of establishing the cycle in your tank without endangering any fish.

And, hey, just remember many of us found Koko's at a time when something was wrong with our fish--often because of advice given to us by people at our lfs. We all make mistakes. Let's learn from them and try not to repeat them.

I would still recommend a large water change to get the nitrites down.