Fin & Tail Rot on my goldfish

[gautam_mohata]

Hi,

I recently bought a new tank (twice the size of my previous one). Moved the residents of my previous one to this one. Unfortunately the tank sprung a leak a few hours after moving the fish so I had to quickly move all of em back to the smaller one till the this this got fixed. It took a few days and I moved the fish back again. I guess all this movement stressed them out. At present I have:

3 fantailed gold fish
1 Red cap oranda
1 silver shark
1 rainbow shark
2 Iridescent Sharks
After all this movement happened, I started to notice the tails and the top fin on one of my goldfish kinda tearing apart... It also had white patches on its body. I gave all of them a salt bath and put some ick medicine in the tank suspecting it was ick (due to the white patches).

Its been a few days. Though the fins are still kinda torn, the fish look ok and are enjoying their new tank. I'm a bit scared about the disease reappearing.. Any suggestions are welcome..

[gmh]

The symptoms don't suggest ich. More likely a bacterial infection of some sort, maybe brought on by stress. I assume the new tank is cycled and has good water parameters?
I would not add anything to the tank, but would do frequent water changes to help the fish heal.
Glad to hear the fish are improving.

[gautam_mohata]

I have been changing about 20% to 30% of the water weekly... The tank was cycled... I have 2 mechanical filters (one of them has a biological compartment as well.. Plus I have 2 air stones as well... Should I change anything...

[gmh]

How big is the tank? If it's not overstocked and you have 0 ammonia and nitrite readings ,and nitrates well below 40ppm you should be good to go.

[gautam_mohata]

The tank is 4 ft x 1.5 ft x 1 ft.. Capacity is about 150 liters... I do not have a testing kit so not too sure of the ammonia & nitrite levels..

[gmh]

You might have the water tested at the local fish store just to be safe. It's handy to have at least a liquid ammonia test kit.

[Lupin]

Did you remove the ich medicine? Remove it using water changes or place carbon in your filter. Please buy your own API liquid test kit. Not all stores are that reliable when they test your water. Do daily water changes for now until the fins heal up.

On a side note, your tank is 75g volume per the conversion calculator. Your fish are incompatible. Goldfish should not be kept with iridescent sharks, bala sharks and anything else so you have to consider separating the "shark" group from your goldfish. Iridescent sharks are not for tanks at least 200g and below.

[PsychesFate]

In my experience, which has been trial and error. I know that you can't keep any other fish with fancy goldfish successfully(or I never could). I have always ended up regretting it in one way or another. Either by disease, water quality or by fish loss. I have four fancies. Bubba, who is a white oranda with red sprinkles on her wen that is 12 1/2 inches long and 15 1/2 inches around. She is one of my original Goldfish that has survived it all. Besides the removing the sharks to another tank, and making sure the water quality is at it's peak, and if you are sure it is fin and tail rot, then you can add melafix to the water as it is a natural repair without causing havoc like other medications will. Oh and Stress Coat, I keep that stuff around in the gallons, it helps releave the poor fish when they are in distress from illness or water quality issues or pretty much any crisis, plus it helps to repair their slime coat. That is just what I found would work in my cases maybe it can help you too. I Hope it does anyway. ^_^

[gautam_mohata]

Looks like I have some work on hand.. Will surely move the goldfish to a new tank as soon as possible.. For the sharks then can I get some suggestions on any live plants?

[Lupin]

can I get some suggestions on any live plants?
Yup. Here's a thread wherein all compatible plants have been covered. This leaves you open to a very wide shelf of options.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196751

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!:woot:

[Kashta]

Hi,


I recently bought a new tank (twice the size of my previous one). Moved the residents of my previous one to this one. Unfortunately the tank sprung a leak a few hours after moving the fish so I had to quickly move all of em back to the smaller one till the this this got fixed. It took a few days and I moved the fish back again. I guess all this movement stressed them out. At present I have:

3 fantailed gold fish
1 Red cap oranda
1 silver shark
1 rainbow shark
2 Iridescent Sharks
After all this movement happened, I started to notice the tails and the top fin on one of my goldfish kinda tearing apart... It also had white patches on its body. I gave all of them a salt bath and put some ick medicine in the tank suspecting it was ick (due to the white patches).

Its been a few days. Though the fins are still kinda torn, the fish look ok and are enjoying their new tank. I'm a bit scared about the disease reappearing.. Any suggestions are welcome..

Welcome guatam. What a shame what happened with your new tank. Glad to see you'll separate the sharks from the goldfish. Those aren't going to work together as tankmates.


I have been changing about 20% to 30% of the water weekly... The tank was cycled... I have 2 mechanical filters (one of them has a biological compartment as well.. Plus I have 2 air stones as well... Should I change anything...


The tank is 4 ft x 1.5 ft x 1 ft.. Capacity is about 150 liters... I do not have a testing kit so not too sure of the ammonia & nitrite levels..

Getting a liquid test kit is the most important first step no matter what the setup or stocking will be.


On a side note, your tank is 75g volume per the conversion calculator.

Given the dimensions you've stated, gautam, your tank holds 44.9 gallons (169.9 liters). And that's without adding gravel/sand, rocks, and other decor. To accommodate 4 fancy goldfish (by themselves), you are going to need a tank that's 60-75 gallons in size. If you decide to rehome 2 of the goldfish, this tank will still be small even for two fantails.. but a 55 gallon tank would work. The larger size you can set up, the better. Goldfish are very social and bond with each other. It's not a good idea to keep them singly or in pairs on a continual basis. When it comes to filtration, go with 10 times the tank size in gallons per hour. That means, you'd shoot for 550 gph on a 55 gallon tank, 600 ghp for a 60 gallon tank, and so on.

I'm happy to hear the white spots are going away and agree with the others that it doesn't sound as though you were describing ich. A mild bacterial infection is more likely, particularly as they were overcrowded (probably unfiltered), you didn't have a liquid test kit to evaluate the water quality, and they were kept with other incompatible species. We are most happy to help you with this, so please ask whatever questions you may have.

Wish you all the best of luck!

[Lupin]

I must have mistyped the dimensions on the conversion calculator. Thanks for the correction, Kash.