Fin Rot Advice Needed!

[bangit]

Hi, i have a 30 litre aqaurium, i havent had it mre than a few months, gradually introduced 2 fancy goldfish of about 1.5 inches each and a sarasa comet of the same size. They have been fine for a month, however i have cleaned the gravel too thoroughly and have obviously reduced the number of "good" bacteria etc..... anyway as a result of the stress caused by the huge leves of nitrite etc.... the sarasa comet now has finrot.

I did a partial water change, about 20% and put some "safe water" (by king british) treatment in the tank.

Dont no what to do now as the fish is only gettng worse, the other 2 seem fine though and ive acted on the poor water quality.

Dont no whether to treat the aqaurium with a fin rot medicine, dont want to disturb the biological filters regeneration though.

Help!!

 

[black angel]

Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph? If so what are the readings.

What filtration do you have?

How often and how much have you been doing water changes?

I doubt you have taken much beneficial bacteria out as most live in the filter media. How often do you clean this out and how?

30 litres isnt much room for the fish unless you plan on upgrading really soon. Fancy goldfish need a minimum of 10 gallons each and single tailed goldfish 20. So you can see your fish are crowded.

Can you get a tub to put the sarasa in to?
You will need something that holds around 20-25 gallons with a good filter and airstone.
Add aquarium salt pre dissolved at a leverl of 1 level teaspoon per gallon to give you .1% and again 12 hours later to give you .2%.
This helps with the levels of stress caused by nitrites and eases the gills.
It will also start to help the fin rot which may be happening.
Do regular water changes of 30% each day and calculate how much salt you need to add, but dont add salt if you are topping up.

Sarasa comets are pond fish and will eventually in the late spring need to be rehomed into a pond. I got two in summer and they have grown 3 inches in a couple of months.

Any more questions then please ask

 

[bangit]

Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph? If so what are the readings.

What filtration do you have?

How often and how much have you been doing water changes?

I doubt you have taken much beneficial bacteria out as most live in the filter media. How often do you clean this out and how?

30 litres isnt much room for the fish unless you plan on upgrading really soon. Fancy goldfish need a minimum of 10 gallons each and single tailed goldfish 20. So you can see your fish are crowded.

Can you get a tub to put the sarasa in to?
You will need something that holds around 20-25 gallons with a good filter and airstone.
Add aquarium salt pre dissolved at a leverl of 1 level teaspoon per gallon to give you .1% and again 12 hours later to give you .2%.
This helps with the levels of stress caused by nitrites and eases the gills.
It will also start to help the fin rot which may be happening.
Do regular water changes of 30% each day and calculate how much salt you need to add, but dont add salt if you are topping up.

Sarasa comets are pond fish and will eventually in the late spring need to be rehomed into a pond. I got two in summer and they have grown 3 inches in a couple of months.

Any more questions then please ask

Thanks a lot, god i had no idea that fancy goldfish needed that much room!!!! youd have thought the people at the shop would have mentioned that the aqaurium wasnt appropriate, anayway!

Right i did ammonia: 0.1: Nitrite, 0.4: Nitrate 100: ph, 8.

I did these yesterday, then changed the water, aprox 25%, treated it for chlorine then added some "safe water" ammonia and nitrite degrader, as advised by a person at the fish shop.

Since then (24 hour ago) i have done nothing. The 2 small fancy goldfish seem fine, the finrot on the sarasa is getting worse and it is motionles on the bottom of the tank.

I am new to this aqaurium business and am learning al the time!! The filter is "aqau flow 1" provided with the aquarium when i bought it. I rinse the sponge once a week or so in aqaurium water, as directed again by the person at the fish place.

On saturady i cleaned the gravel with a vacuum, the filter, and did a 15% water change. The problems started to occur on sunday evening, the sarasa comet was bahaving starngely, sitting on the bottom of the tank etc... then i noticed the finrot and tested the water, finding the readings a little startling.

I never feed a daft amount, probably 5 flakes of small goldfish food a day, theres never any left over.

Ill have to see about getting a larger aqaurium in the near future. (any ideas of where to get a good dealon a large aqaurium???)

Ill do the salt treatment tomorrow. Would i have to get special salt form an aqautics store

Thanks for your help.

 

[black angel]

Theres very few pet stores that really care about the welfare of goldfish in general so your story is sadly very common.
Sounds like the sarasa is really poorly now, so try and get it into a bigger container on its own.
Your filter cant cope with the waste being produced so it takes longer and longer to process the waste.
Generally, you are looking at a filter that has a lot of media in it to deal with all the ammonia.

Nitrates are high as well, so I would do 80% water changes every day to bring everything back down to a more stable level.
Test the nitrates from the tap and see where your tank level should be.
Dont add anything to the water apart from decdhlorinator and the salt.
Aquarium salt is the best to get or you could get sea salt or pickling salt.

So basically, the smaller the aquarium, the harder it is to keep stable when over stocked.

 

[bangit]

Theres very few pet stores that really care about the welfare of goldfish in general so your story is sadly very common.
Sounds like the sarasa is really poorly now, so try and get it into a bigger container on its own.
Your filter cant cope with the waste being produced so it takes longer and longer to process the waste.
Generally, you are looking at a filter that has a lot of media in it to deal with all the ammonia.

Nitrates are high as well, so I would do 80% water changes every day to bring everything back down to a more stable level.
Test the nitrates from the tap and see where your tank level should be.
Dont add anything to the water apart from decdhlorinator and the salt.
Aquarium salt is the best to get or you could get sea salt or pickling salt.

So basically, the smaller the aquarium, the harder it is to keep stable when over stocked.

Thanks for your help, will do all i can!

 

[black angel]

Ok, let us know how it goes or you need more help