Hello all,
Like a fool, I put a rubbernosed pleco in with my goldies without quarantine. Well, turns out he was sick and died, but not before getting my goldies sick! Within days, my fish were covered with tiny white spots and were sitting at the bottom of the tank looking sickly. So, I treated the whole tank for ich and eventually, they began to act normally and the spots disappeared.

I have a gold ryukin (Stevie, like the great Stevie Nicks) who has developed black areas. She's now about 50% black, but it's not black fuzz or bumps. I can only describe this as black that looks painted on. My camera is out of batteries, but will soon post a pic so you guys can give me your impression. Does this sound like a secondary infection to you--it seems too coincidental not to be. It doesn't look like healing ammonia burns I've seen. So, I'm wondering if stress of being medicated more than once and being ill too could be the cause.

I first treated the ick, then with melafix because her fins were looking ragged, and with an antifungal because I was advised by the nnnn personnel that this sounds fungal. I'm afraid to give any more medicine at this point and I'm also skeptical that it would help. The black, if anything, spread. Am I the worst fish mom ever?

• Test Results for the Following:????? Unsure ?????My kit needs replacing
  Ammonia Level?
  Nitrite Level?
  Nitrate level?
  Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)?
  Ph Level out of the Tap?
• Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 55 gallons--running 6 months
  
• What is the name and size of the filter/s? 2 filters--a penguin and an aquaclear 70
  
• How often do you change the water and how much? 30-34% weekly

How many fish in the tank and their size? 5 goldies--2 otto cats--2 snails
<li>What kind of water additives or conditioners?Prime <li>Any medications added to the tank?See above
<li>Add any new fish to the tank?See above
<li>What do you feed your fish? Freeze dried bloodworms, occ algae wafers, Oranda gold pellets,
<li>Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt",
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? see above
<li>Any unusual behavior like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..?see above

Sounds like possible Ammonia burns. Might want to get a test kit. And do a water change. I don't know a whole lot about goldfish illnesses but I do know you you need to test the water.

Sounds like ammonia burns to me to.As black patchs are healing ammonia burns. Its important you purchase a test kit the drop test kits are best API do a freshwater master test kit. Until your water quality is known we cant really offer much advice. If you cant get a test kit take a sample of tank water to your LFS ask them to test it and write down exact results for you and post back here

No hon, you're not the worst fish mom ever. If you were you wouldn't be here trying to help your fish.
It really sounds like ammonia burns. The black is kind of similar to scabs when the burn is healing. When I first came here my fantail was completely black. Saddest thing I ever saw. But you really have to have your water tested. Probably when you used the meds, you removed your filter cartridge as they suggest and the ammonia spiked.

One more suggestion if you don't mind though...ottos are not great companions for goldies. Goldfish will swallow anything in their paths and we've had some horror stories on the forum here about ottos getting lodged in the goldfish's mouth. The spikes on the ottos cause them to be almost impossible to remove without harm to the goldfish, and certain death for the otto.

Welcome to the forum, and as soon as you can post your water params someone will be able to help you figure out what is going on with your fish. I wouldn't use any meds for now as until you get a diagnosis, a large water change (50-70%) will do the best good for them.

Good luck!

Good advice from all. Just want to say black discoloration is a common result of over medication. If you can keep the water medicine free and ammonia/nitrite free this will clear up. Be very wary about using random meds, especially those recommended by fishstores
as the wrong medicine is often worse than no meds at all.

Thanks for the input,all. I'm really glad you mentioned the dwarf otos being incompatible, Vickie. All I need is another disaster! I'm getting a really awful mental image of a half eaten catfish in my goldie's mouth and it's traumatic even in my imagination. I'm going to get the master test kit to watch the water and no more meds for now! I love my Stevie even if she is a fish. Thanks all.

You're welcome, christine. I hesitated to mention it, but I clearly remembered a thread we had on here where the poster's goldie had swallowed his otto and it wasn't pretty. He had a terrible time getting it out because the spines were going in the opposite direction so he couldn't just pull the otto out. I think the goldie turned out ok and we won't go into the hairy details, but of course the otto was a goner.

And I love that you named your goldie after Stevie Nicks...she is indeed the greatest! Does your fish wear a lot of black lace, lol?

Lol, maybe she's just wearing a black shawl (and her color change is just a wardrobe change)!