My friend had a very sick oranda that she was going to put in the freezer and I said I'd have a go at making him better first. He is about 3 inches long with his tail. He's very round (the pet store told her he was a ping or ping pong oranda). He looks like my other oranda but his body is almost round and resembles a bulldog. When I got he was upside down gasping like crazy. His fins are very tattered and small and what's left of them is all streaked bright red. I put him in a rubbermaid tub with ten gallons of water in it and an air stone. I am putting a filter on it tomorrow (aquatech 5-15) which someone is giving me. I'm going to change half of the water tonight and have salted 1 teaspoon per gallon last night and repeated that dose today. I'll repeat it again tomorrow to up it to the .3%. She said he hadn't eaten or pooped in about 3 or 4 days.

Within an hour in new water he was upright. Today he is no longer gasping or floating. He's swimming around, although a little slow. Today he had a 6 inch long brown stringy poop and then a 4 inch long white stringy poop. After a few attempts at getting him to eat he ate two small flakes of food and kept them down. He also tried a couple bigger sizes of flakes and spit them out. (I've tried to get him to eat peas but he has no interest.) Today he has a bit of black on his top fin. He also has a white patch on his side that looks like peeling skin. Maybe my ph is way off from hers. I did take a whole hour to graddually add my water into his bowl before putting him into the rubbermaid.

I have no water testing stuff. My friend treated him with melafix and primafix numerous times and tried both together. He was in a 30 gallon at her house with 5 other goldfish and a few other fish and algae eaters that had sucked on this goldfish. She had nothing but problems(the others had red streaks too) and finally found a good home for the other fish. This one was too sick to give away. Sorry this is so long. I'm not quite sure what else to do and if I'm even on the right track with the salt. He looks a whole lot better so far. Any suggestions would be great and if I don't answer back right away I'm just busy with my kids. Thanks. Jessica

Hey Jessica,good for you for not letting your friend give up on this little guy.I'm so glad that you took him. By your description,he almost sounds like a fat little Pearscale to me.
My first thoughts are that what you are seeing are the results of that fish being in some very poor water quality in your friends tank. The peeling skin sounds like it dealt with a ph crash,the bit of black that you are seeing on the top of his fin ,sounds like an ammonia burn that is starting to heal because you've placed him in some fresh clean water.All in all,your friend was overstocked and her fish paid the price for that.
I can't stress just how important test kits really are,so as soon as you get a chance,try to invest in one. One of the Best is Aquarium Pharmaceutical's,and if you shop around,you can get it for a decent price.
Those test strips are convenient,but they are not the most accurate.If that's all you can do for now,then at least get them as they'll give you some sort of idea on your water params.I get mine on line at Big Al's,or Wallma*t.
as for the salt,I think now I would just keep it at 0.1 %,just to be safe.We aren't positive of all what ails this fish as of yet,and I have found that some of the sicker,or smaller fish,don't always handle the higher concentration of salt.That is only my opinion though.
I would also look into some sinking pellets for this fish.With the shape that his body is,he is at greater risk at dealing with "floatines" and swim bladder problems.Flakes are not one of my favorites to feed the fish as they seem to ingest too much air as they're eating them. Flake food also makes a huge mess in the aquarium. Make sure you soak them in a bit of tank water before feeding themas that helps them eat less air.
I think that with frequent water changes and param levels in order,the fish's fins should heal right up and grow back in due time.Sometimes it seems to take a bit of time,so be patient.
I wouldn't give up on the peas either.Are you cooking it a bit,peeling the outer skin off and smooshing it some?When it's a new food for a goldie,it may take a few tries for him to go for it.Again,with his body shape and the fact that he finally pooed and it was so long and stringy leads me to believe that he may have been constipated for a while too.
Adding the filter is good.
For now,I would continue to do 35% water changes daily,work on getting the test kit,etc. The thing is as this is a new set up,you'll see the "cycling process",which is very hard and stressful on the fish.By doing the daily water changes,that will help until you know the param #'s for sure.You can get a sample tested at the LFS for free,but I know that is not always easy to do especially when you have children.