Goldfish's fins.

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madijoh

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Feb 27, 2011
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Portland, OR
About 4 days ago I noticed my goldfish's fins fraying. They've done this a couple times when the tank was first cycling, and a quick water change would fix it. The tank is fully cycled, the water is perfect, but his fins are still fraying. :/

He acts completely normal, still eats and hangs out with his buddy. I started to treat him will Melafix about 3 days ago, but I'm seeing no improvement on his fins. I'm going to keep treating him and then do a 25% water change like the bottle says, but i'm wondering if there is something else I could do to help his fins heal?
 

hage0245

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Dec 8, 2010
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Shane
Answering some of these questions would really help! What type of goldfish, what size tank, what are you running for filtration, what's the temp at, does the goldy have any tankmates? When you say your water is perfect, what levels are you talking about. Also, if possible, a pic would really help.
 

madijoh

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Feb 27, 2011
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Portland, OR
29 gallon tank, nitrite is at 0, nitrate is below 20, pH is 7.1 We have an undergravel filter as well as a Tetra Whisper 20. There is a smaller blue oranda in there, but she doesn't nip at him. He's also an oranda. The temp stays between 74-76 degrees. I'll try and get a pic, but he gets really excited when I come up to the tank and doesn't stay still. :p I haven't noticed any rotting or anything.
 

hage0245

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Dec 8, 2010
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That temperature is definitely on the high end for goldfish, I would lower it slowly (a degree or less an hour) to about 70. I am not too knowledgeable about under gravel filters, but I don't think the two filters you have now are adequate for two goldfish. They are very messy and, even though you are keeping your nitrates low, fluctuations can easily occur, and Oranda's are quite sensitive to nitrate spikes.

Couple more questions....are you testing your water with strips or a liquid kit? If you can't get a pic, can you describe the fin a little better (is it discolored, does it appear to be rotting away, etc.)?

You said this occurred when the tank was cycling, that was probably caused by ammonia burn. If it looks the same as it did then your tank may not be completely cycled. You never mentioned your ammonia levels, are you testing for that?

Do you change your water on a regular basis and do you use a water dechlorinator?
 

madijoh

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Feb 27, 2011
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Portland, OR
Our tank has been fully cycled for 2 months now. I do weekly 10% water changes and a 30-40% water change once a month.

I do use a test strip, I also brought in our water to our local aquarium store and everything was normal. I did however read a post saying that Portland treats it's water with chloramine, but I figured the ammonia neutralizer would get rid of that?

I use an ammonia neutralizer every time I change the water as well as StressCoat.

His fins look like they're splitting, there isn't any discoloration and they don't appear to be rotting. Our blue oranda's fins have always been fine and have never done this before.
 

madijoh

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Feb 27, 2011
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Portland, OR
I think I am going to switch to Seachem "Prime" as a water conditioner. I'm not sure if our water conditioner is completely getting rid of the ammonia. :/
 

hage0245

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Dec 8, 2010
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I think I am going to switch to Seachem "Prime" as a water conditioner. I'm not sure if our water conditioner is completely getting rid of the ammonia. :/
I think everyone on this forum would be happy about this! Prime is the most highly suggested water conditioner by far.

For dealing with this specific issue, I would quit the Melafix and other meds and just use Prime. Try ~25% water changes every day and double dose Prime. The best way to use Prime is to just add the appropriate amount into the volume of water being changed directly, not just dumping it into the tank. Do daily water changes for a week or so. Then I would bump up your weekly water changes to 50%. Smaller water changes in between the weekly changes won't hurt either. Two goldfish produce a large amount of waste and large, regular water changes with gravel vacuuming should help keep up with what your filtration lacks.

A larger filter is something you should look into. aqadvisor.com is a great site to calculate filtration and stocking.

If regular water changes and Prime doesn't help, start looking into medications again.
 
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