So, we've had this little calico oranda for about 2 1/2 months. Last week, my husband brought home another little chocolate oranda and I had nowhere to quarantine him so I put him in with the fish I already had and just salted the tank. Now my calico oranda has red spots at the base of his pectoral fins. I'm not sure how long they've been there, but I just noticed them this morning.

• Ammonia Level? 0
  Nitrite Level? 0
  Nitrate level? 5
  Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)? between 7.5 and 8, KH 6 drops, GH 1 drop
  Ph Level out of the Tap? 7.5
• Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? 5 gallons, I know, 2 1/2 months, 20 gal cycling
• What is the name and size of the filter/s? not sure of the name, but came with the eclipse 5 hex
• How often do you change the water and how much? daily 40%

How many fish in the tank and their size? 2 calico about 1 inch, chocolate about 1/2 inch<LI>What kind of water additives or conditioners? dechlorinator only<LI>Any medications added to the tank? salt <LI>Add any new fish to the tank? the chocolate oranda 1 week ago <LI>What do you feed your fish? pellets, peas, bloodworms, zuccini<LI>Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt",
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? chocolate has frayed fins and calico has red spots under pectoral fins <LI>Any unusual behavior like staying
at the bottom, not eating, ect..? no unusual behavior from either

After doing a little more research and comparing symptoms and pictures, it seems to me to be septicemia. I have to wait for my daughter to wake from her nap, then I was going to head to the petstore to buy some maracyn? I'm planning on doing a very large water change and then treating. Does this sound like the right course of action? Also, since the smaller fish has frayed fins, should I be treating them both?

Hello 32flavors,

When you posted 5 gallons, I know, were you saying that you know that 5 gallons isn't enough for 1 fish, much less 2?

If you read around here, you'll know that the general rule of thumb is 10 gallons per fancy goldfish and 20 gallons per comet, or singletailed. So you would need a minimum of 20 gallons for 2 orandas. Are you currently cycling a 20 gallon for the 2 fish?

Quarantining new fish is a must, even if you use a Rubbermaid container to do so. Virtually all fish come from the lfs with some kind of parasite or flukes.

I have an Eclipse Hex that I use for a QT tank, and the filter that comes with them is too small and not powerful enough for goldfish.

I'm not sure about which Maracyn you should use. Thats Trinket and Pixie's department and they are very good at diagnosing fish diseases and which medications you should use. There are a few different kinds and they each treat something different. Is there any way you could post a pic? Many posters who don't have 100 posts use Photobucket or Snapfish to post pictures. That would be really helpful!

My camera is really old and I could not get a good picture of either fish. Yes, I am currently cycling a 20 gallon for them that will house them for about a year until I move and get a larger tank. I went to a chain store and the employee told me that 5 gallons will easily house 2 oranda and after looking into a bit, I got the 20 gallon tank and have been working on cycling it. This tank is very close to being ready for the move. I bought the maracyn 2 and started it yesterday. Today I saw a slight improvement on the fins of the chocolate oranda and both of them seem much more active. I will try again in the morning for another picture of them. I feel so irresponsible for buying them in the first place without knowing anything about them. I am very attached and will do anything I can to help them survive this. Thank you for your help and I will post back in the morning, hopefully with a picture, and with an update on the fish.

I suggest you find a larger container to keep your 2 fish in until the 20 is cycled. Cycling can take a looong time! And medicating in a small container is really not a good idea because meds deplete oxygen (less available in a small space) and water toxins including lethal ammonia and nitrites build up so much faster.

A few golden rules of fishkeeping. 1) please don't listen to store peoples advise. Always remember, it is in their best interests that you buy as many products from them as possible. Unfortunately this includes fish.

2) 10 gallons per fish, even when quaranting.

3) ALWAYS quarantine a new fish separately. the new fish is a carrier of diseases that your old fish has not come up against yet and you need to keep a new fish separate for at least a month to observe and medicate for parasites. Approx 80% of new fish from pet stores are carrying parasites.

This said. Which Maracyn did you get there? Maracyn 2? This will be ineffective in light. The tank must be covered with a towel to keep light from de-activating the meds because minocycline is light-sensitive.

How are your fish behaving now? Any bottom sitting? Any gulping at the surface? Sudden flashing/darting?

I woke up this morning and their activity is about the same as yesterday. They're swimming fine, begging for food and are looking slightly better. Neither are bottom sitting or gulping for air. The chocolate is no longer clamping his fins. I did have to do a water change because my water test this morning detected a small amount of ammonia and nitrite (both between 0 and the next color on the chart). Yes it was the maracyn 2 that i started for them. We're on day 3 of the 5 days. Should I just go ahead and finish that out? My 20 gallon tank is almost ready. I'm just waiting for the ammonia and nitrite to stay at 0. Thank you for your advice, I think I've learned my lesson about listening to the people at the store. I'm still trying to get a good picture, but I may have to borrow a camera since mine is so crappy.

When you use an antibiotic of any kind you must finish the course to avoid the strong possibility of vaccinating bacteria to the meds so they will not work another time. So yes, 5 days. Hopefully that will be all that is needed. Don't forget - low lights with Maracyn 2....

I managed to get a couple of pictures of my calicos fins. Unfortunately, they aren't the clearest. I hope you can make out the red spots I was talking about. The chocolate seems to be improving, but the calico is staying the same, no better, no worse.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p4/sapho666/fish1-1.jpg
http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p4/sapho666/fish-1.jpg

I finished out the 5 days with very little improvement. Now the chocolate oranda has a white bump on his tailfin. It is not cottony and looks kind of like a blister. My 20 gallon tank is done cycling as of this weekend. Should I go ahead and move them to the larger tank?

Yes. I think it's almost impossible to keep 2 orandas in a 5 gallon tank without skin/slime coat spots and other problems. The water is just never going to be perfect enough in so small a space with fish who are trying to grow and releasing growth hormones into the water. I know it was a temporary situation but I do think the spots in this case are/were related to water quality. They are sure to do better in a cycled 20

I moved them yesterday and the calico seems very happy and active. The chocolate on the other hand is floating and back to clamping his fins. I used the jungle parasite clear tabs after the maracyn 2 was finished and the white bumps seem to have disappeared from his tailfin. I'm pretty sure I saw one fall off last night and during the night the other disappeared as well. They both have the red at the base of the pectoral fins, but only the chocolate has thin white poop. I'm going to my lfs that I actually trust today. There is one person there who seems very knowlegable about fish. I'm taking in a couple of pictures and he wanted to retest my water to make sure I didn't miss anything. Hopefully he will be able to advise me on what to do next. Any ideas? I feel so bad about all this. I never knew fish were this hard to care for.

How are things with your little chocolate now, 32Flavors? Did the trip to the store bring anything new?

I know it is frustrating when you start with the hobby and run into problems right away. But hang in there, and with time and knowledge it'll get better. You already overcame the biggest problem with goldfish - issues due to overcrowding, and you have remedied that. With the bigger 20 gl tank and nice regular waterchanges every week, problems shouldn't arise anymore once the chocolate has cleared up and taken care of.

Unfortunately, the chocolate has passed on. My husband keeps reassuring me that pretty soon I'll know more about these little guys and not to give up. All was well with the water test and he sent me home with antibiotic food, which the calico happily has devoured. It doesn't seem to have helped after 5 days though. He still has the red around the base of the pectoral fins, but is still very active and happy to be in his larger tank. I think I've already seen growth and his colors seem brighter. Any ideas on what to try next? The guy at my lfs gave me a different antibiotic to try, but I have to fast my fish for 24 hours prior to feeding so we haven't started it yet. We have done 5 days of jungle anti-bacterial food and now he has recomended neomycin, but I have not started that one yet.

Well, I started the neomycin this morning and now the little guy is having trouble staying up right. He flips over and swims on his back and his side. I tested the water and 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, ph 7.5-8 Could this be a reaction to the neomycin?

It is probably not the correct medication BUT it should be finished because it is an antibiotic....

Let's just re-cap since March 5th you have used:
Maracyn 2 for 5 days (I hope you remembered low lights, no tank light as Maracyn is ineffective with light)
Parasite Clear tabs (how many days was this for?)
Jungle antibacterial food (5 days)
and now you have started Neomycin food?

Is this right? It is a lot of medication for 12 days. In the first pics you posted it was quite difficult to see anything wrong with the fish. You said white spots- can you describe those- are you sure it wasn't ich? Ich looks like sugar or salt grains, often on the fins, sometimes the body.

Since the Parasite Clear tabs actually showed some improvement when you used them, that would seem to be the meds to use and points to parasites, antibiotics and antibacterial medications will have no effect -except to weaken the fish- if the fish has parasites.

Unfortunately many, perhaps most new fish come with parasites. If you have started an antibiotic food you MUST complete the course or you strengthen the bacteria onboard to become antibiotic resistant. I think you need to use the PC tabs again and continue and finish the course for those.
Could you also confirm the kind of white spots that you saw?

I used the parasite clear tabs according to the package directions and repeated wtih 48 hours in between. The white spots didn't look like anything I could find a picture of. They looked kind of like blisters, round and raised up from the fin. Those spots were only on the tail of the chocolate oranda. I took pictures on my phone that were clearer and took them in to my lfs. They told me it looked like septicemia and to try the jungle antibacterial for 5 days and if I don't see any improvement to go ahead and try the neomycin. I went ahead and fasted the 24 hours for that one and did a large water change before starting. Then last night he started flipping on his back and swimming on his side. After I posted he started bottom sitting and scared the crud out of me. I did another large water change at about 10 last night and as soon as the fresh water hit, he started swimming around. I just don't know what to do.

I may be out of line here, but I don't remember seeing an answer to how are you tesing your water? Are you using Test Strips or are you using Test Tube Tests?? (or is your LFS doing the water tests for you??) Strips tend to be wrong alot. Maybe the readings are off just a little??

If he started swimming around after fresh water/a water change then there is your answer. Daily water changes. 50% minimum. This is what most fish keepers do when they have a sick fish regardless of water readings.

Blisters on the fins are NOT septicemia, your LFS don't know what they are talking about and were wrong to sell you two medications that were of no use. Fish stores are in the business of selling products and very often sales staff do not know much about fish health.

I am using drop test kits. Tetra test master kit (ammonia, nitrite, ph, kh, gh) api nitrate test. I tried giving the neomycin again yesterday to finish out the treatment with it and my fish started bottom sitting again shortly after the medication. Another large water change and he was up and moving again.

The guy at my lfs said that the red at the base of the pectoral fins was most likely septicemia. Is there something else this could be? It kind of looks like open red sores at the base of just the pectoral fins. That seems to be the only thing that is still going on with him now. I will continue with the large daily water changes. My daughter will be spending the day today with her grandmother so i was thinking I would ask her if I could borrow her camera when i drop off my daughter. That way I can hopefully get a clearer picture of what I'm talking about or maybe some video since the fish is pretty active and hard to get a clear picture of.

The thing is there are dozens and dozens of antibiotics for fish and each one will only work on a selected few bacterial strains, whatever the packet says. So even if it is septicemia, treatment can be a shot in the dark without any additional symptoms...and those arm pit red areas while sometimes meaning septicemia can also be caused by water problems and initiated by parasites like flukes. Some antibiotics have a wider range than others. There are hundreds of strains of bacteria that affect fish and speed in detecting the most likely obligate (the initiating leader bacteria or parasite) is always key to best outcome via most appropriately chosen medication. Smaller fish are particularly vulnerable to antibiotic and medication overdose.

Septicemia is simply the name given for one way bacteria attack the fish. It means that bacteria that have invaded the body of the fish have worked their way inside the fish and are causing inflammation and bleeding internally. Yes it is true that pectoral fin base reddening can be a sign of this. But blisters on the fins may be something quite different .. the chilo parasite for example I have seen produce blister type ulcers with rough edges...you say white bumps fell off..if so you need to do a 100% water change to clear the tank of any poisons released into the water and populating. What did these bumps look like? Were they raised or releasing pus? Is there also a red line at the base of the caudal fin or any yellowing at the base/peduncle of the caudal tail fin?

Septicemia is caused by all kinds of bacteria. If your fish is behaving well after a water change it may well be primarily water and bacteria related. Flukes and parasites will usually cause bottom sitting, gasping/piping and flashing/scratching. Have you seen any of these? I still think parasites were/are the first offender here and hope you have caught them all...parasites bring in bacteria on their "feet" or prongs as it were and inject those bacteria into the fish. Red spots, blisters on teh fins and sudden death sounds very parasitic to me. How is his poop today? Is it still white or is it grey and stringy looking?

Thank you for your help. If it is parasites, how safe is it to treat again and with what? I cannot get my hands on prazi right now so all I can get is what's carried at my local mmm and smart. The blisters just fell to the bottom and didn't release anything, then when vacuuming the bottom, I saw them come back up through the siphon.

I don't see any red or yellow near any of the other fins. It is hard to say though because of his coloration. I do see some yellow under his face if that means anything.

His poop has been looking more normal for a couple of days. It's thicker than it was and is the color of his food.

For a 100% water change, would I leave him in and just leave enough water to cover? or should I remove him from the tank? Before reading this I did a 75% water change first thing this morning because he was bottom sitting when I woke up.
My husband is going to be running all around town this morning so it would be pretty easy for him to pick me up whatever I need to treat parasites. Thank you again for all your advice.

The normal looking poo is a very good sign. A fish that is eating well and has good poo usually means a fish with a residual strong immunity. I think he can beat this.

If you do a 100% w/c you can remove the fish while its being dne. If you think being moved is stressful, some fish really hate handling and being moved (always use a bowl to move the fish - never a net) after that then just do the 75% or 50% w/cs daily to clear bacteria/parasites from the water. These should be done with a good gravel vacuum -or if no gravel -a sponge down of all tank surfaces followed by the water change to rid the tank of the dislodged bacteria and larval forms.

Bottom sitting? Check temperature and pH are stable.

Then try a repeat course of parasite clear tank buddies if you cannot get prazi. I would also salt. To 0.2% in two increments. This is where 50% w/cs are so much easier to work out replacement salt dose.

It doesn't sound like septicimia to me. the clear blisters with no fluid could still indicate chilo, which can be killed in 0.2% salt. They could also be viral or early stage bacterial- either will benefit from salt. Since your fish is eating try feeding a medicated food (antibacterial for example medigold or easier to fing Jungles antibacteria food) and you should cover most bases

He seems much more active this morning so I'll go ahead and do the water change and start the salt. Is salt safe to use with the parasite clear tank buddies or should I wait to salt until after treating with those? Also, 0.2% in a 20 gallon tank would be 40 tsp over 2 days?

He was bottom sitting when we woke up yesterday, but started moving around after the water change and hasn't gone back down since then. I have a heater in the tank so the temperature stays pretty stable. I didn't even think to check the ph as I've always had a stable ph. I'll remember that if it happens again.

I have the jungle antibacterial food on hand here. I will start on that. Thank you again for your help.

He is sounding much better.
I would start with the salt in 2 doses up to 0.2% and start the med food. If he gets worse add the p.c tab. It is possible that salt and the med food will be enough.

I started the salt yesterday and brought it up today to 0.2% and it seems to have made him pretty happy. How long do I keep the salt at this level? We also started the medicated food and he is eating and pooping normally. His left pectoral fin looks a little better. Maybe I'm just wishful thinking, but I think I'm seeing some improvement there. His right side, however, isn't looking so great. It hasn't gotten worse, but I've noticed a couple more red spots that I didn't see before. There is one spot at the top of the gills and another under his "chin" Neither of these are open sores like the ones at the base of the pectoral fins. They look like reddened areas showing through. I'm not sure if those have been there all along or if they just popped up. I'm thinking they were probably there all along and I was so preoccupied with the sores that I didn't notice or worry about them. Thank you again for the help and I will check back in if there's any change.

The medicated food should take care of the red spots which are probably an opportunistic bacterial infection, fairly fast. These are common.

Any parasites' life cycle will be disturbed by the salt and because sodium chloride (salt) has a "detaching" property many surface pathogens attached to the slime coat of the fish will be abrased off.

Salt also serves another useful purpose of helping the fish to reduce osmotic pressure caused by the puncturing of his skin or gills from bacteria or parasites.

So, everything's been going well with daily 50% water changes and adding back in 20 tsp salt with water changes. I haven't really seen improvement, but nothing's gotten worse either.
Which brings me to today...I did a water change 2 hours ago and rinsed my filter media in the old tank water because it was getting pretty gunky. Well, I walked back by a few minutes ago and there's a bunch of white stuff floating around the tank. I have no idea what this could be. There's stringy white stuff where the water comes out of the filter and it's also starting to cover the intake tube. Is this some sort of fungus? I can't figure out what it could possibly be.
Here are my water parameters that I just finished testing. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5, PH 7.5, KH 6 drops, GH 9 drops.
I am about to head to the store and will buy batteries for my camera. I should be able to get a decent picture of this since it isn't a moving target.

I really don't know what is going on in your tank (white stringy stuff).

Do you age your water? Do you have other pets? Does your filter media have a white bag or anything made out of white mesh/material?

If nothing else this will put you back up on the list for others (more intelegent than myself) to see and hopefully answer.

Thanks for the response. I do have a pug and a toddler. I guess one of them could have gotten something in my buckets. I generally don't age my water because my daughter will not leave a bucket of water alone. The white stringy stuff seems to have resolved itself somehow.

Everything seemed to be going well until today. My little fish has been doing alot of bottom sitting today. When I walk up to the tank, he moves around. He's still eating the jungle antibacterial food and eating well. I just can't figure out what's going on with the low energy today. I tested my water again and the only thing off was the PH went up slightly. It has always measured between 7.5 and 8, but today it was a solid 8.

Any advice? Should I just keep up the 0.2% salt and the medicated food? She (after reading more on sexing, I'm pretty sure I have a female fishy) seems to be hanging on pretty well. I've had 2 others that went from bad to worse to dead within a couple of days. This was my first little fish, before I knew anything about cycling and had 2 in a 5 gallon. I really am quite attached to her and want to thank everyone here for all the advice and information you make available to all of us who come here knowing nothing.

Well, my little fish has been sitting in the bottom corner of the tank for a few days now and only moving to eat really. I have also noticed alot of yawning lately. Does that mean parasites of some sort? Should I run another round of parasite clear? Please help, I don't know what to do.

I wish Trinket was here but since she is not....... I beleive yawning is caused by gill fukes ALSO low oxigen in the water. Do you have an airstone or bubbler in your tank (I don't remember). Salt and meds can reduce the Oxigen level of water....... if you have a bubbler can you turn it up maybe?

For flukes I have been told to use Praziquantanel (sp?). I don't know if Parasite Tabs contain Prazi and I don't know if you can do them in conjunction with the meds and salt.

Wait for Trinket to concure, please.

Good luck with your fish....... I totally understand how attached you can get to them!!

Parasite Clear contains Praziquantel, but I don't believe the strength is enough to get rid of flukes. The best treatment for them is plain Prazi. Most people get this at goldfishconnection.com. I'm not sure where else it can be found. It can be used with salt, also. But I don't think it should be run with other meds - but I'm not certain.

For anything else, I'd wait for someone more knowledgeable.
Best of luck with your fish!

Debbie

Thank you for the quick responses. I do have an aerator in there that's rated for up to 50 gallons. It is not turned up all the way as I didn't know if this would be too much. The only reason I was thinking of the parasite clear is because with all the added expenses of the new tank and accessories, plus having a toddler with a birthday approaching, I really can't afford to pay shipping costs right now. Every cent counts right now. I have also been keeping the water level below the filter output so that there's more surface agitation so I don't think it's low oxygen. I will check with my lfs to see if they have prazi, but I'm guessing that the parasite clear is the best I can do here.

Good news, I managed to find prazipro on ebay for very cheap. Even shipping it I think I'm paying less in the long run than burning through gas to get across town to the pet store and buying something that likely will not work. I just hope she makes it until that gets here.

That's great. How is she doing now ?

I gave the first dose of prazipro on Saturday and I'm not sure how quickly it should be working. She's still yawning, though not as much as she was. She swims around for a bit and picks at the plants in the tank and then retires back to the bottom corner. She seems to be doing a little better as before she would only swim around a bit during feeding time. The jungle antibacterial food doesn't seem to have done anything for the red spots at the base of her fins. Is there anything else that might help with that? I have stopped feeding it since it wasn't helping and she was fed for longer than the recomended period of time. Right now, I have been giving her more veggies and a bite of fruit here and there to help her immune system out a bit. Should I be doing this? Any recomendations on what I should do next. Also, i'm not sure about the life cycle of flukes. I know I need to repeat the treatment with prazipro, but I'm not sure when to repeat or how many times. The bottle says only 1 treatment is needed, but I thought I had read that flukes are a pain to get rid of and need more than 1 treatment. I apologize if I'm rambling here. Potty training, teething, and sick fish...oh how I wish at least one of these would resolve itself. Thank you again for all your help.

With flukes, one treatment is never enough, no matter what the medicine says. The life cycle of those things are just carried out in a way that the remaining eggs, which are not penetrated by the PraziPro, will hatch a few days afterwards, and if you only do one treatment, the then free swimming flukes will have party time with nothing to protect your fish from a new attack. If I remember right - I am at the library right now - treatments needs to be repeated every 3-4 days to catch any flukes of the second and third generation.

How long have you been feeding the medicated food?

Looks like you got your hands full with a toddler and sick fish - trust me, they won't resolve themselves. However, they definetely will improve and only can get better...

I thought one treatment wouldn't work at all. I'll do a large water change today and add another dose while my daughter is at her grandmother's. That way I won't have her trying to play in my water buckets.
As for the medicated food, it was fed for a little over 3 weeks and it really seemed to be wearing her down rather than really helping. The red at the base of the pectoral fins and the pink tinge under her chin are still there and not even slightly improved. On the bright side of things, if medigold or metromeds would do her any good, my husband has agreed that I should order it if it will help. He's been so supportive of my little finned friend, even though he says I'm spending his fortune $5 at a time since I always seem to need something for them.

The second treatment of PraziPro went in yesterday. She is much more active and the yawning has almost completely stopped so I guess gill flukes were probably the culprit there. She's also growing like a weed. She's doubled in size since moving into her new spacious home and is now around 3 inches long including tail. She seems to be doing great except for the red at the base of her fins. Is there anything else I can try for this? Also, is this kind of internal infection contagious? I got her a tiny friend a few weeks back that has been in quarantine for 4 weeks. He's about 1/3 her size and has gone through salt and parasite clear treatments as he wasn't in the best shape when I got him. Now he seems perfectly healthy and I'd really like to introduce them. Would she benefit from a different medicated food or perhaps a quick hp swab since it seems isolated to her right side?

The redness on her right side (not the redness on the base of the pectoral fin), does that look like its more internal then? I am thinking that if you see her rather down from the one kind of bacterial food, then you should switch to the medicated food from Goldfishconnection.
Which one is the question here - a little reasearch on "redness on the base of pectoral fins" has gotten me to the puregold website, one of the best when it comes to diagnosing diseases by either symptoms of by name. It says there that redness on the base of the pectoral fin might be an early indication of a bacterial aeromonas infection. Now, I can't remember which ones of the Goldfishconnection foods take care of that, so I would just simply ask Rick when you order the food. He'd know best. Or maybe Trinket or Pixiefish can help me out here - they have it down to a dot.

With the seocond treatment of Prazipro going on right now, I wouldn't put the new friend in just yet. Wait until the treatment is complete, maybe think about a third treatment, just to be safe.

Edit: Okey-dokey - Trinket suggests the Metromeds for the pectoral fin issue. Thanks, Imo!

The redness on her right side does look internal. It looks like pink showing through under her chin which is white. I will go ahead and order the metromeds tomorrow morning. I will hold off on adding my new little addition and planned on another dose of prazipro either this evening when my daughter goes to bed or tomorrow afternoon. I want to give her some nice fresh water first and with my daughter throwing up all weekend, have not gotten around to that just yet. Thank you again for all your help. i don't know what I'd do without this forum.

How are things with the little one going, 32Flavors?

I think we've made it through the worst. i don't want to curse myself by saying that though. The red sores at the base of her fins have begun to heal. It seems they're smaller every morning. The other couple of spots seem to be getting much lighter and closer to her normal coloring. She's very energetic the past couple of days, although I do still catch a yawn here and there. My daughter's feeling much better as well. Thank you again for all of your help and hopefully within a few days I can give the good news that she seems 100% better.

That indeed is very good news, 32Flavors! I'll keep the thread here just a couple more days to make sure everything is fine.

I think we're out of the woods now and this thread can be moved. The sores are still there, but much smaller and the red areas are fading as well. Thank you so much for all your help. I was almost ready to give up on goldfish after losing 2. It was getting very depressing. Thanks to everyone here at Kokos for all the information and help and my little fishy thanks you as well.

She's too fast for me to get a picture. My camera is really old so I'm sure that doesn't help. Here is the only picture I could get that kind of shows the red at her fin base. http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p4/sapho666/pic00024.jpg
Oh, and her dorsal fin isn't down, it's kind of deformed.