Regular Member tehminion Posted October 11, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 [*]Ammonia Level - less than .25 [*]Nitrite Level - 0 [*]Nitrate level - 5 [*]Ph Level, Tank (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines)- 7.4 [*]Ph Level, Tap (If possible, KH, GH and chloramines)- 7.4 [*]Brand of test-kit used and whether strips or drops - api drops [*]Water temperature - 72 [*]Tank size (how many gals.) and how long has it been running - 55g [*]What is the name and size of the filter(s)- 2x Penguin 1x200 1x350 [*]How often do you change the water and how much - 20% every 2-3 days [*]How many fish in the tank and their size - 5, all around 4 inches long [*]What kind of water additives or conditioners NovAqua+ water conditioner [*]What do you feed your fish and how often - ProGold pellets once every 2 days [*]Any new fish added to the tank - No [*]Any medications added to the tank - No [*]Any unusual findings on the fish such as "grains of salt," bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus - Discolored scales in a line down his stomach. Bloated stomach. [*]Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating, etc. - Bottom sitting, fast breathing. About a week ago I noticed the scales on my comet to be changing, a dark line going straight across his stomach. At first the changing scales didn't worry me but now he has become bloated so I know something is up. At first I wasn't sure if it was dropsy because he hasn't started pine coning but as I looked at him while I am writing this it looks like he has started. Originally I was just going to treat by putting him in my Q-tank and keep the water fresh with multiple water changes with salt added but now that I see it may be dropsy. From what I read I should pick up some Epsom salt? I take it my API aquarium salt won't do the trick. Dropsy is bacterial right? I have melafix currently(although I am hesitant to use it) would this be enough or should I order some better meds? This fish also suffered fin rot of his lower lip 3 months ago that has not fully healed so he has trouble eating so I am unsure if he will eat medicated food. Any help is greatly appreciated Thanks http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af275/tehminion/DSCF1950.jpg quick pic to see what he looks like. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Lupin Posted October 11, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 (edited) That doesn't look like dropsy to me. It's very difficult to say with singletails until they pinecone. How does its poop look? I'd do another water change until ammonia is back to zero. Scrap Melafix. It's not going to help. The black discoloration is ammonia burns. Edited October 11, 2010 by Lupin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tehminion Posted October 11, 2010 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 The poop is transparent. Ammonia burns really, did not know that. Thanks for the info. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Lupin Posted October 11, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 Transparent as in white and stringy? Try fasting for the next 24 hours and then start feeding green peas and chopped shrimps after 24 hours. See if that helps. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trinket Posted October 11, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 I agree not melafix. Water change..new food.. You say he had a rotting lower lip? Has this healed? Also..you only feed every two days? Always the same pellet food? I wonder how old the food is as vitamin C deficiency can creep up fast with underfeeding or commercial food that has been opened a while. Just a thought.. The swollen belly..is it just one side? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tehminion Posted October 11, 2010 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 The food is pretty new, ordered it 2 months ago from the goldfish connection. No the lower lip is not completely healed. I switched from feeding once every day to once every other day to help with the cycling of my tank because it still is not cycled. It looks like both sides are swollen/bloated. And yes, by transparent I meant white and stringy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trinket Posted October 11, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 okiedokies. Food sounds fine. Would still try peas and variety of fresh food or gelfood for all. If he has trouble eating try the epsom which may reduce the swelling and help him gain appetite. How are the other fish in the tank? Behaving normally? Cycling stress hits hard on every fish, some however much more than others. Ammonia kills the fishes basic immune protection by burning the slimecoat where most of the white cells protecting him are. It cannot be underestimated as a cause of the bottom sitting and breathlessness here. Mouth rot is a symptom of several things and can be parasitic. Did you say how long you have had these fish and if they were ever treated for flukes? That needs ruling out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tehminion Posted October 11, 2010 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 11, 2010 Alright I will try feeding him some peas tomorrow. Any suggestions on better fresh food to try? I'd hate to end up trying something that would be bad for him. Honestly back when I was treating the mouth rot he was still eating through everything that was going on but now it seems hes having a harder time. It hasn't really changed(the lower lip) since the initially healing occurred which has me worried. The other fish in the tank are all doing well, acting normal. They all seem to be doing fine. Yeah I think the cycling has me stressed more then the fish right now cause its been doing on for 6 months now. I guess I'll have to bump up my amount of water changes to help keep that ammonia down. I have had this fish for 5 months now and they have never been treated for flukes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trinket Posted October 12, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 12, 2010 I would see how you go for a few days with that plan. More water changes and maybe try peas and/or tiny pieces of brocolli or veggie that sinks down near him. If he is still swollen, not eating after a day or two of this I would set up a QT tank. Be prepared to do 80% water changes (matched for pH and temp) twice daily minimum if you do this...and treat him with epsom and swab his mouth once with hydrogen peroxide. No external red spots of marks? Finrot? Can you post back with an update? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tehminion Posted October 12, 2010 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 12, 2010 Of course I picked up some epsom salt today and have him in his own little tank now. The correct dosage is 1/8th teaspoon per 5 gallons right? He's lost his appetite as he ignored the shrimp I tried to feed him so hopefully the salt will help. Also got some peas so I will try them out tomorrow, hopefully have some luck with that. He also completely ignored the lettuce I tried giving him, but all of my fish ignored it so maybe it might be the lettuce I think I found out the reason for the ammonia burns though because the P.H. of my tank was always around an 8.2-8.0 since I set it up but now all the sudden its dropped down to the 7.4 which is unusual for me. I looked at that ammonia toxicity chart and it said the lower P.h. makes the ammonia more toxic so I was thinking that drastic change had this effect on the fish. Although he is the only fish showing signs of this so I dunno maybe I'm wrong. I will also start to swab his mouth with hydrogen peroxide. Do you mean once as in only once, or like once daily? As i can see there are no external red spots or any fin rot. His rapid breathing has also stopped so that's good at least. So I will keep up the large/frequent water changes with the epsom salt, try to feed him some peas/shrimp, swab his mouth with some peroxide and see how he does. Thank you for all the help Trinket. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Captain Findus Goldfish Posted October 12, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted October 12, 2010 hey there Just to answer your question on the HP. It is best to do it once only, make sure you get all the places of rot. Then you let it be. This is because the HP will take away the first layer of skin, so if you keep repeating it, it will prevent new skin from forming As for the ammonia, I also have pH of 8.2 - in this high pH one can really just let the ammonia climb up to 0.25 MAX (which is a struggle in cycling). Actually, the lower the pH, the safer the ammonia gets. This is also true for temp (the lower the safer). Do you have any idea why your pH suddenly dropped? That could certainly have been a stress trigger for the fish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member tehminion Posted October 12, 2010 Author Regular Member Share Posted October 12, 2010 Hello Captain and thank you for the information, I will remember that in the future. But it looks like I made a bad judgment call last night as I chose to leave him in the q-tank which had the epsom salt. When I said earlier about his breathing getting better I was either mistaken, or putting him into that tank after swabbing with the peroxide caused him start breathing rapidly again like earlier. It freaked me out so I put him back in the main tank to see if he would be able to breath better but it looked like he was still having a hard time so I ultimately decided that he would be better in the salted water then the non salted. I had a gut feeling that it was a bad idea to do so but I did anyway, which turned out to be for the worst as he passed last night. It seems that there was a problem with some water being discolored around my area so the water company did something to fix that problem and in the process lowered the Ph of the water in my area. At least that is what I am thinking because my water used to come out of the tap used to be 8.0-8.2 and now it is straight 7.4. Thanks for all the help you guys, I just wish it could have turned out better in the end. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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