Help! What are black spots on gf brought in from pond?

A month ago, I brought my two shubunkin goldfish in from my outdoor
pond, and installed them in a 10 gallon fish tank. (The fish are
about 2-1/2 inches long and looked *much* smaller outside!) Aside
from looking like giants in the tank, they seemed very happy and have
been doing fine. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of the
scales along the top and back of one of them were looking black. The
black discoloration has spread and grown more pronounced since then,
and there are black areas on the edges of his fins now too. He is
eating and swimming and acting just fine, but I am worried sick about
him. Today I noticed that the other one now has a patch of black on
the fringe of his top fin too. I have spent days surfing the net
searching for a clue to what ails them, and how to fix it, but no
luck. Does anyone have any idea? I am very attached to these
adorable fish-children that had the good grace to live through my
first summer of pond-keeping!
Thank you --
Karen

Did you monitor and/or treat for ammonia spike when you first brought them
in, or was the filter already cycled with previous fish?

The black could be ammonia burnt tissue. Since a month has gone by you've
already pass the point of easing the fish thru the filter cycling points.
Test the water for ammonia and nitrite. If no ammonia, do a 20% water
change, at least twice a month. If some nitrite is showing, add salt to
0.1%. ~ jan


On 12 Nov 2004 21:47:41 -0800, (Karen) wrote:

A month ago, I brought my two shubunkin goldfish in from my outdoor
pond, and installed them in a 10 gallon fish tank. (The fish are
about 2-1/2 inches long and looked *much* smaller outside!) Aside
from looking like giants in the tank, they seemed very happy and have
been doing fine. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of the
scales along the top and back of one of them were looking black. The
black discoloration has spread and grown more pronounced since then,
and there are black areas on the edges of his fins now too. He is
eating and swimming and acting just fine, but I am worried sick about
him. Today I noticed that the other one now has a patch of black on
the fringe of his top fin too. I have spent days surfing the net
searching for a clue to what ails them, and how to fix it, but no
luck. Does anyone have any idea? I am very attached to these
adorable fish-children that had the good grace to live through my
first summer of pond-keeping!
Thank you --
Karen

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~


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like Jan said... ammonia burns. start changing water 50% per day, Add 1 teaspoon of
salt per 5 gallons. This can be increased to 3 teas. per 5 over a few days. Use rock
salt with no additives. and then you are going to need a nitrate test and keep
nitrates at or below 20 ppm with water changes.
no gravel works better for keeping nitrate levels low, as does small amounts of high
protein, high quality food. and I do mean small amounts.
try http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/home.html for GF in aquarium problems
join the puregold list http://list.lovemyoldhome.com/puregold/
Ingrid

(Karen) wrote:

A month ago, I brought my two shubunkin goldfish in from my outdoor
pond, and installed them in a 10 gallon fish tank. (The fish are
about 2-1/2 inches long and looked *much* smaller outside!) Aside
from looking like giants in the tank, they seemed very happy and have
been doing fine. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of the
scales along the top and back of one of them were looking black. The
black discoloration has spread and grown more pronounced since then,
and there are black areas on the edges of his fins now too. He is
eating and swimming and acting just fine, but I am worried sick about
him. Today I noticed that the other one now has a patch of black on
the fringe of his top fin too. I have spent days surfing the net
searching for a clue to what ails them, and how to fix it, but no
luck. Does anyone have any idea? I am very attached to these
adorable fish-children that had the good grace to live through my
first summer of pond-keeping!
Thank you --
Karen



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
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Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Thanks Jan -- I didn't know anything about ammonia spike.... I will
test the water today. I did a partial water change several days ago
but will do another today after I test. If the spots are ammonia
burn, is there anything I can do to help those heal up? Thank you for
your advice! Karen

On 13 Nov 2004 09:14:33 -0800, (Karen) wrote:

Thanks Jan -- I didn't know anything about ammonia spike.... I will
test the water today. I did a partial water change several days ago
but will do another today after I test. If the spots are ammonia
burn, is there anything I can do to help those heal up? Thank you for
your advice! Karen

As Ingrid mentioned, salt the water, the fish will heal themselves over
time. Do test for ammonia, nitrite & pH. If you have ammonia showing still,
and pH is lower than new water, treat the ammonia (Amquell or equavalent)
before doing a water change. As a higher pH will make the ammonia more
toxic.

In case your news reader hasn't put her message up, here it is in its
entirety: ~ jan )

like Jan said... ammonia burns. start changing water 50% per day, Add 1 teaspoon of
salt per 5 gallons. This can be increased to 3 teas. per 5 over a few days. Use rock
salt with no additives. and then you are going to need a nitrate test and keep
nitrates at or below 20 ppm with water changes.
no gravel works better for keeping nitrate levels low, as does small amounts of high
protein, high quality food. and I do mean small amounts.
try http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/home.html for GF in aquarium problems
join the puregold list http://list.lovemyoldhome.com/puregold/
Ingrid


~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~


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