Rare goldfish ailment?

[FishyMandy 6,286]

I'd use the kosher salt rather than the aquarium salt you have

[sarah91 2]

Ok I'll do that, should I add the same amount? The kosher salt grains are much smaller.

[koko 14,366]

3 hours ago, sarah91 said:

Ok I'll do that, should I add the same amount? The kosher salt grains are much smaller.

Do you have a scale? 

[sarah91 2]

Yes I have some kitchen scales, do you think the salt will weight the same? I'm sorry if it's a silly question I just don't want to make any mistakes. 

[koko 14,366]

25 minutes ago, sarah91 said:

Yes I have some kitchen scales, do you think the salt will weight the same? I'm sorry if it's a silly question I just don't want to make any mistakes. 

Great article about salt. I use it all the time

 

[sarah91 2]

Thank you

[sarah91 2]

When should I stop using the salt and doing the daily water changes? He seems to be healing well so far.

[sarah91 2]

I've just noticed his top fin has split, it must have only just happened. How could it have happened? Does this change anything? I've included a picture so you can see how his tail is healing as well. 

[sarah91 2]

His tail fin has torn now, i'm getting really worried. What could this be and how do I treat it? 

[Arctic Mama 3,643]

The splitting could be from stress or just his immune system weakening.  Sometimes catching on tank ornamentation.  It’s a symptom, not a separate issue, and not a major one.  That tail is looking a LOT better.  Was the bleeding new or only on one side? You showed two pictures and the latter, where there is just scarring in the tail, looks very good.  

[Arctic Mama 3,643]

On 8/10/2018 at 9:28 AM, sarah91 said:

When should I stop using the salt and doing the daily water changes? He seems to be healing well so far.

Use the salt and daily water changes as long as he is in quarantine, which should be at LEAST two weeks.  We want him fully healed before we put him back in the main tank and resolve whatever issue caused the injury to begin with, okay?

[sarah91 2]

2 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

The splitting could be from stress or just his immune system weakening.  Sometimes catching on tank ornamentation.  It’s a symptom, not a separate issue, and not a major one.  That tail is looking a LOT better.  Was the bleeding new or only on one side? You showed two pictures and the latter, where there is just scarring in the tail, looks very good.  

There are no ornaments left in the tank that he could catch himself on and shouldn't his immune system be getting stronger because I've been doing water changes daily? The bleeding was on both sides, the image in which his tail is bleeding was taken when he broke his tail. The other images were taken more recently ( about a week later ). 

I will continue to do the water changes and add the salt then. I read that you shouldn't use it for too long, how long is too long? A month? 

I've just taken some more recent pictures so you can see how badly his fins are fraying.

Thank you for your help

[mjfromga 1,785]

I see the tail fraying. Again, don't panic. It is not a huge deal. Within a week or so, the frayed fins should heal as well. Keep up the clean water and salt for a while longer. 

[Arctic Mama 3,643]

Okay, you don’t need to report when it’s been a few hours.  We need at least 24 hours, thanks to different time zones and our schedule, to respond

 

No, the tail fraying would be a lagging indicator of stress and infections - just like a cough or runny nose happens *after* the cold virus has incubated in your body, sometimes by days and days.  The clean water and salt seems to be helping, I wouldn’t jump to any medications at this time.

 

I’m glad to hear the tank is bare, that takes out a variable to worry about.

 

The time issue on salt is people using it prophylactically, or ‘just in case’, with no evidence of illness.  When there are active symptoms present on the body or tail of the animal it is just fine.  Two or three months wouldn’t be unheard of in treating certain parasites and injuries, and will do zero harm.  But you don’t want salt in your main system on an ongoing basis.  Just as a treatment when needed

That tail looks WAY better.  Much less bloody and irritated.  Good job!  If the fraying continues to get worse by Wednesday, we will begin Furan-2, which you can get on Amazon or from the local fish shop, okay?  But I don’t want to begin antibiotics if that is the only symptom and he isn’t actively deteriorating.  He is already sick - hence the injury and ongoing issues - recovery takes time. But you haven’t given us a reason to think he needs more help right now.

 

Have you been able to coax him to eat?

Edited August 12, 2018 by Arctic Mama

[sarah91 2]

Sorry I was panicking because I thought it was a sign he was really sick. Thank you that has cleared up the worries I had about using it for too long. He has been continuing to eat with no problems and it seems absolutely crazy to me but his top fin has almost fully healed. I'll let you know if he gets any worse, thanks for your help!

[mjfromga 1,785]

He looks much better! It is nice to see someone care so much about their fishy and follow advice. 

[FishyMandy 6,286]

He look great! As Myra said, it's nice to see someone care about their fish so much

[sarah91 2]

Well it's great to have so much fantastic advice to follow Thank you all so much, he seems to be healing really well, i'm so relieved!  

[DawnMichele 6,045]

Glad he is doing well!!! Great job!!! 

[Arctic Mama 3,643]

Things still looking okay? How are the fins?

Edited August 16, 2018 by Arctic Mama

[sarah91 2]

Yes he's still looking good and his fins are still healing well. His new tank finally arrived yesterday so I got him in it as soon as I could. It says on the manual that I should only do 25% water changes, should I just do two of them a day? 

[koko 14,366]

On 8/17/2018 at 9:20 AM, sarah91 said:

Yes he's still looking good and his fins are still healing well. His new tank finally arrived yesterday so I got him in it as soon as I could. It says on the manual that I should only do 25% water changes, should I just do two of them a day? 

Thats mostly for tropical fish. Goldfish I think need more than that.  

[shakaho 6,312]

On 8/17/2018 at 12:20 PM, sarah91 said:

Yes he's still looking good and his fins are still healing well. His new tank finally arrived yesterday so I got him in it as soon as I could. It says on the manual that I should only do 25% water changes, should I just do two of them a day? 

As Koko pointed out, those recommendations work for little tropicals.   If you move the filter from the old tank to the new,  you should have instant cycling, and those water changes will work fine on a daily basis.  We need your parameters to be sure your fish is OK.

[sarah91 2]

I've been doing 25% water changes twice daily, what i'm worried about is that it might put too much stress on the tank if I take out 50% all at once. In the manual it specifically says ONLY change 25% of the water. It doesn't say why. I've never had an acrylic tank before (i'm assuming it's acrylic - it's not glass) so I don't know that much about it. I'm guessing it could crack or weaken over time if I took 50% out all at once. 

I moved the filter to the new tank when I moved him so all is well with the bacteria. My parameters are as follows: 

PH 7.0          Ammo 0          Nitrite 0          Nitrate 0 - 5       KH 17.9     GH 35.8

KH and GH still confuse me, when adding the KH drops the water was yellow from the first drop, never blue. And the GH was only a tiny bit orange on the first drop and then green on the second drop. What do these readings mean, and should I add anything to the water to fix it because I know they are both way too low.

His broken fin is still on the mend but a few veins have been showing up, they won't show up well on camera but i've included a picture and circled where they are. I'm a little worried that the same thing that happened to his tail has started happening on his anal fin, a vein became visible and at the end of it is a lump that sticks out. 

 

And here's one of him cheerfully swimming around in his new home

[shakaho 6,312]

I don't know what fish those instructions might be for, but they would not be healthy for goldfish.  Replacing the filter cartridge equals eliminating perhaps half of your nitrifiers, setting the cycle back.  If you dump the water from the filter and take out all of the medium weekly, rise the biomedium in water removed from the tank, and vigorously clean the cartridge, one cartridge will last for a couple of years.  The company that sells these cartridges won't make as much money that way and they don't care if your fish get a dose of ammonia/nitrite after you insert a new cartridge.

Your tank has cycled (zero ammonia zero nitrite) so you don't need to change 25% daily, but you certainly can do so.  Most people here change 50% or more weekly as in our guidelines.   You can maintain the same average water quality changing 10% daily as 50% weekly.

You can increase your KH by adding baking soda.  I suggest you add baking soda to the new water when you do a water change.  Add small measured amounts of baking soda to the tap water, checking the pH after each addition until the pH reaches ~7.5.  Once you know how much baking soda it takes to get to that pH, you can just add that much to the tap water each time you change water.

Goldfish don't care about GH.  They do well in hard, soft or in between water.