Little help with a spot on a belly please

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TryingMyBest

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 29, 2011
Messages
12
Location
Texas
Hello all. I hope it's not stepping on any toes being new and jumping right in and asking for help. In the last couple days I've noticed a red spot on my goldfish's belly, I got a pretty good picture of it which should show up below.

img_1617423_0_711ffe1660f7dc98403ae36ce8ae1cd6.jpg


I've tried search engines but they're a little imprecise, if anyone has any thoughts or referrals please don't hesitate to respond.
 
How are your water parameters? How long have you had him? How big is his tank (other fish)? Did you add any new fish in past few weeks? Is he acting/eating/swimming normally? Im just trying to get a better picture of whats going on in his environment and with him to try to help figure this out.
 
I've had him in the current tank for over a year, he's in there with a smaller goldfish. It's a 10 gallon tank but I watch the ammonia levels and do 1/4 water changes at least once every other week whether needed or not. I've mentioned more details about the tank and also posted a picture in my introduction post linked below:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...any-and-all-advice-is-appreciated-176250.html

As for any recent changes, I did recently add some rocks to border my plant in the tank so the fish don't dig it out. I took them from a couple of rocks sitting in the dirt in my mother's garden outside, and in doing some research I've read that this could add parasites to the tank, even though I washed them and soaked them in rubbing alcohol to prepare them. Anyone know if this spot could be representative of a parasite infection?

I'd say not acting out of the ordinary, no rubbing against thing or spending more time resting than swimming.
 
Thats an awfully small tank for one goldfish, let alone mutiple goldfish. The general rule of thumb is 20 gallons for the first fish, an additional 10 gallons for each fish there after. This is the minimum rule & generally only applies to fancies because comets grow to be 12-18inches in length very quickly (they need to be in a pond realistically). I have to question your water parameters here (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate) and really need to know what those numbers are and how you are testing those levels (strip or liquid)because i suspect something is amiss with your water quality and your fish is showing signs of disease due to being stressed by his conditions. Please let us know how these numbers look and how you are testing and we will try to figure this out!
 
Unfortunately you're not telling me anything I don't already know. I'm saving up for a 20 gallon tank but money's a little hard to come by right now. I test for ammonia with strips, which seemed to be good indicators at first but as of late don't seem to be accurate.

But back to the topic; the spot has mysteriously cleared up! Could my fish have simply scraped itself against something in the tank? It does like to try and squeeze through the only two tight spots in the tank, maybe I will try spacing the decor out a bit.
 
Im glad its cleared up on its own! He def could have scraped himself. Just please keep up with lots of pwcs & consider getting an API test to monitor your water parameters. Perhaps you can check out craigslist for a cheap larger tank.
 
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