goldfish are turning black

[liz502]

I aquired a 29g tank with fish in it over a month ago. It has 4 goldfish (range from about 1.5-2.5 in.). The ph is 7.8, nitrites are 0, nitrates are under 20, and my ammonia is over 8. I have been doing 40% water changes everyday for the past two weeks and using ammo lock every other day (for the first week ) but I can't get the ammonia levels to drop. Yesterday I started to notice that my goldfish are turning black. It looks like they were rolled in dirt their bodies and fins are turning it seems to start around their mouth and the top of their head. Has anyone heard of this? I have yet to read anything about it. Is it because they are slowly being poisoned to death because I can't lower the ammonia?

 

[Alien_spawn]

Unfortunetly it sounds like the goldfish have "ammonia burns", I would continue the water changes, and get some ammonia chips to put in on a temp bases until the ammonia drops down to 0ppm. this will help absorb the ammonia in the water

 

[phoenix]

Alien is right on the mark its ammonia burns.

 

[liz502]

I'm not exactly sure what they are but, there is also a few little fish (they look like neons but without the color). What I don't get is why they are not turning black. You would think that because they are smaller it would bother them more.

I went out today and bought some ammonia chips. I am also happy to report that, even though the ammonia level has not dropped, after last nights water change they are not spending time gulping at the top of the tank anymore. They are also a lot more active today.

 

[Opcn]

The little fish are probably white cloud mountain minnows and they are second only to the Betta in how hardy they are.

Opcn

 

[liz502]

The ammonia is finally starting to drop it is at 5 right now. All the goldfish have turned back to normal only one still has a small black spot. I don't know why but I thought ammonia burns would last longer or be permanent. Is it normal for them to go away so fast?



Thanks Opcn I'll check into that I have been going crazy trying to figure out what they are

 

[Alien_spawn]

Glad to hear that the ammonia is dropping, I've never had a case of ammonia burn marks on fishes, but I guess they must heal up rather than be permanent, unless really bad, you might have caught it at just the right time.

I would keep water changing and checking the ammonia levels. I would try to avoid using ammo lock as this is known the give false readings when testing levels