I have had a fantail goldfish for about 2 weeks in a 7 gallon tank. The tank is still in its cycling stages, again roughly 2 weeks, and is showing traces of ammonia (about 0.5ppm) All other levels are fine. She has recently started to develop black streaking in all of her fin tips. Her behaviour seems normal, she's a very chirpy fish and her eating habits are normal. She is not sluggish in any way and is swimming well. I think it may be 'Black Smudge' or ammonia burns and have read many articles about it, but I can't seem to find a way of getting rid of it, any ideas?
Fantail problem, HELP!!
- Thread starter ubermod
- Start date
Thanks for the suggestion, its proving very difficult at the moment to find out if the low traces of ammonia are due to the cycling process or another factor. She is now showing signs of the black marks along here back and above her left eye 
can anyone suggest anything i can add to the water to help either the conditions or poor 'wanda'?
can anyone suggest anything i can add to the water to help either the conditions or poor 'wanda'?
Dangerdoll
Global Moderator
The major issue here is the reason why the ammonia will always be a problem in this tank, the tank is just way too small for the goldie. You would need to either perform water changes on that tank at a more constant level, bringing the ammonia level down to zero sooner than you are, return the fish to the store, or get a bigger tank, my suggestion would be anything bigger than a 20 gallon.
Agreed DangerDoll. The tank is too small. I know someone with a 10 gallon tank stocked with a 5"coy and two 3" comets. There is no way that tank will ever be clear OR clean and I am FRUSTRATED UP TO MY GILLS explaining and offering suggestions about them getting a larger tank. They are basically just watching their fish die.
well thanks for the tips, I've had some advice from an expert and my fish is getting back to her normal self. I've been doing 20% water changes every two days, added aquarium salt and to help heal her i've been using melafix. She is happier now and since the first stage of the water cycling process is over there is no ammonia present 
Glad your fish is doing better
When cycling a tank with fish in water changes should be done whenever you are detecting ammonia especially at levels over .25 ppm and not in accordance with some pre-determined schedule...so 20% every two days might not be enough to prevent damage to the fish.
I'm curious as to what the expert said about the size of the tank ?
When cycling a tank with fish in water changes should be done whenever you are detecting ammonia especially at levels over .25 ppm and not in accordance with some pre-determined schedule...so 20% every two days might not be enough to prevent damage to the fish.
I'm curious as to what the expert said about the size of the tank ?