Goldfish problems

A friend of mine has a water garden shop, and has several containers
of goldfish and koi.

One tank, with fantail goldfish, got into trouble somehow, the fish
were in obvious distress, some floating at the top, some dying. He
moved the worst ones to another container, where they continued to
deteriorate. He had dosed, and maybe overdosed, them with salt and
melafix, and was concerned about disease.

I brought two home, put them into an aquarium that was setting idle,
and within minutes they were much recovered. I went back and got the
rest, divided them between tanks and they all seem almost normal.

We tested the water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, all were okay.
He is on a well, so we didn't have a city water event. fish in his
other containers all seem okay, no evidence of distress.

The fish I have here now, some of them have black markings on the fins
and a few black scales, which I associate with ammonia burns. some
also have small ulcers, which I am guessing are a result of whatever
went wrong with the container the fish were in at the shop.

The container at the shop is a 200 gallon round plastic tank, about
half filled with water. It has a PF-1 pond filter and a separate air
stone. Water is changed every two days, so the filter is there mainly
for mechanical filtration and aeriation.

I treated some of the fish with Myacin, the gram positive kind, chosen
because that is what I had available. I can get maracyn or mracyn-two
locally, should I use either, both, or neither? The antibiotic would
be to protect the fish while they heal.

I believe the problem was water quality related, not a disease, due to
the rapid recovery, but I have no idea what it might have been, and
would welcome any speculation.

Thanks



--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

I know this idiot whom bought some GF with black markings on the fins
because they looked prettier.

Charles wrote:

The fish I have here now, some of them have black markings on the fins
and a few black scales, which I associate with ammonia burns.

Charles, what was the PH? Temperature kept static? Did he try removing
all the water and replacing?

Way back in the begining, we had "Stinker" who had a nice black fin...

It went away rather quickly after bringing him home and keeping him as
per the methods espoused by this group. :-)

Idiocy? Guilty as charged your honor...

-D

Sean Dinh wrote:

I know this idiot whom bought some GF with black markings on the fins
because they looked prettier.

Charles wrote:

The fish I have here now, some of them have black markings on the
fins and a few black scales, which I associate with ammonia burns.

--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright

I wonder if the LFS have fish sitting so that we could send our GF back to
bring back the black.

Donald K wrote:

Way back in the begining, we had "Stinker" who had a nice black fin...

It went away rather quickly after bringing him home and keeping him as
per the methods espoused by this group. :-)

Idiocy? Guilty as charged your honor...

Sean Dinh wrote:

I wonder if the LFS have fish sitting so that we could send our GF
back to bring back the black.


LOL!
--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright

In message , Donald K
writes
Sean Dinh wrote:

I wonder if the LFS have fish sitting so that we could send our GF
back to bring back the black.


LOL!

could you reassure an idiot that calico fish are supposed to have black
spots on their fins? ;-)
--
sophie
suddenly paranoid

On Tue, 11 May 2004 23:14:18 +0100, sophie
wrote:

In message , Donald K
writes
Sean Dinh wrote:

I wonder if the LFS have fish sitting so that we could send our GF
back to bring back the black.


LOL!

could you reassure an idiot that calico fish are supposed to have black
spots on their fins? ;-)


Yes they are, black can be a normal part of their color pattern.

I got excited by a fish that started having red streaks in its tail.
That is an indicator of a few problems, I treated for them to no
effect. I put the fish in the pond to let nature do its thing, the
fish was growing a red tail, and has been fine ever since.
--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

OK, that might explain why my terribly pretty bronze GF and its mostly black
and cream friend went a rich gold after a few weeks in my tank, might it??
(They maintained their previous colouration out in the pond, only changed
when I brought them in)

eek...

"Charles" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 May 2004 23:14:18 +0100, sophie
wrote:

In message , Donald K
writes
Sean Dinh wrote:

I wonder if the LFS have fish sitting so that we could send our GF
back to bring back the black.


LOL!

could you reassure an idiot that calico fish are supposed to have black
spots on their fins? ;-)


Yes they are, black can be a normal part of their color pattern.

I got excited by a fish that started having red streaks in its tail.
That is an indicator of a few problems, I treated for them to no
effect. I put the fish in the pond to let nature do its thing, the
fish was growing a red tail, and has been fine ever since.
--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others

Lily wrote:

OK, that might explain why my terribly pretty bronze GF and its mostly
black and cream friend went a rich gold after a few weeks in my tank,
might it?? (They maintained their previous colouration out in the
pond, only changed when I brought them in)

Also some of the color enhancing food might cause this...

-D
--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort." -Herm Albright