Fin Rot and cloudy water

no i just dipped it in the tap water and the betta tank, I'll air out some tap water tomorrow b4 i test it.
I was looking at the api test kit but petsmart girl told me to get the api 5 in 1 (dip) and the ammonia (not-dip)tests >_< they added up to about the same in cost n i cant afford to buy the other one just now.

My 1 large goldie is acting perfectly normal again and swimming around again :) yay
1 goldie had white over his scales on one side. hes at the bottom of the tank but once in a while swims around looking for food.
The 2 smaller goldies have just been lying on the bottom unmoving

I added the prime yesterday but (didnt add prime today cuz the nitrates and nitrites and ammonia werent super high)
Did a 50% water change today usign a gravel - vac and used stress coat
added in salt to the tank (7tsp for 35 gallons)
added melafix and pimafix because I noticed a lot of the white stuff on the 1 goldie

took out the carbon filter pads but just let the filter run without them to circulate the water. air bubble is left on. temp is at 72
 
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all dip strip tests are inaccurate. the girl at the pet store doesn't know squat, IMO.

get the liquid kit.
 
ammonia one is not a dip stick thing but its showing 0.25, is that high?
my tap water has always been hard but i always heard that's fine for goldfish.
DO i just have to watch out for the nitrates and nitrites? is the tank redoing the nitrogen cycle?
 
the petco near me has really knowledgeable fish staff but not much in terms of test kits or medication so i went to the petsmart but all i got was this lil girl who talked big and sold me a bunch stuff :( i feel like a sucker
 
anything over zero for ammonia is toxic to fish. do a large water change and use Prime.

nitrites - anything over zero is toxic. do a large water change and use 5x the normal dose of Prime.

nitrates - not toxic, unless your levels are really high. generally, 40 ppm and under is considered ok.


pet store employees are trained to sell stuff, not to educate you. they all try to make you believe you need this, that, and the other thing to keep your tank healthy. the KISS method is what i follow, and less is better when it comes to my tanks. Prime is the only thing that goes in unless my fish are sick (which is very rare). if they are sick, i research the symptoms here on the forum and get the medication that other dedicated fishkeepers recommend.
 
so i added 3 cap-fulls of prime yesterday and did a 50% water change today. how much prime should i add today?

should i do 3 cap-fills for the treatment dose of 35 gallons or some i just do 1.5 capfulls for treatment dose of 17 gallons?
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ok, just to clarify - you put in 3 capfuls of Prime yesterday and did a water change of 50% today without adding any more Prime when you did the water change? if so, immediately put in 5x the normal amount of Prime for your size tank. it is never a good idea to do a water change without using dechlorinator, unless your water source is a well that does not have chlorine or chloramine in it.

when i have issues with a tank that has ammonia or nitrites, i do water changes every day of at least 50 to 75%, and use 5x the normal dose of Prime with each water change.
 
i use a dechlorinator + stress coat to treat the water before i add it in
I just added in 3 caps of prime

thank you so much for your help!! my fish are moving around a bit more, the one is swimming all over the place so i hope im not jumping the gun and getting happy too early but... yaaaay!
 
you don't need to use anything other than Prime when doing water changes. Prime is dechlorinator. using the stress coat and the other dechlorinator as well as using Prime just means you are dumping more crud into your tank than you need to.
 
i usually use the stresscoat dechlorinator when adding in water, i only added in the prime yesterday to lower the levels but when i do the water change tomorrow i will just use the prime.

new: i notice all the fish have a hazy whiteness all over their skin now :(
 
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