Ammonia or Finrot?!! Help

[fancygoldfish]

I'm confused...i noticed my 3 fancy goldfishes tails were looking ragged and disappearing! one had a blood streak on the tail and was inactive just laying on the bottom...so i thought they had finrot and have been doing water changes everyday for the past couple days and treating the water with Lifeguard all-in-one-treatment. now based on things ive read i think the problem might be from high ammonia not finrot...

Could the problem be ammonia if im not actually seeing black spots or something that looks like a burn? One side of one of the fishes tail is almost completely gone...i dont know what to do...should i continue the lifeguard treatment? should i do a large water change?

Some info....they are in a 10g tank (i know its small im looking into getting a bigger one)...i normally do water changes weekly

 

[jsoong]

Yes, that can be ammonia burn .... You will not see black spots until after the fin heals ... so you will not be seeing that until the water parameters are fixed.

Acute ammonia poisoning can certainly present with red streaks in the fins, and the stress can easily bring on fin rot & other infections.

It is imperative to fix the water before any treatment. You must test your water parameters ... esp. in a small tank. If that tank is not properly cycled, you may need to do 50% + pwc daily or even twice daily to keep things in control.

 

[fancygoldfish]

Thanks for the reply. I am doing the 50%+ PWC at least once a day (i have well water so the pet store recommended we use drinking water from the store for the tank so its kinda hard to do more then once) I have noticed more blood streaks on all the fishes fins but on one i think there is a few black spots so hopefully its getting better.
I did have a couple more questions...First you said that the water needed to be fixed before using any treatments but i had already been using this Lifeguard for a few days and im just concerned because one side of one of the fishes back fins is almost completely gone..and i read if its finrot and it gets to the body it will die...so i didnt know if i waited if it would b too late? Second do you know if Lifeguard is a good treatment to use? Third i have had the filter out because that was the directions for the Lifeguard treatment and i was just wondering if that might be making the ammonia worse? And fourth is it true that the stips used for testing the water are not really accurate?
Thanks so much for your help!

 

[jsoong]

Depending on the quality of the well water, it is possible to use that for your fish .... you prob should have it professionally tested for heavy metals, agricultural runoffs & other nasties before using tho.

If there is ammonia or nitrites in the tank, the fish will not respond to any treatment .... no matter how good. Life guard is OK for external ailments, but prob no better than clean water & a bit of salt.

The instruction in Lifeguard is to remove the *filter carbon* ... NOT the filter itself ... Because carbon absorbs meds, you need to remove that before adding meds. However, you should leave the rest of the filter pad in. Most people just cut a hole in the filter pad & remove the carbon & reuse the filter pad (so you don't kill the biofilter), or substitute coarse filter foam for the carbon filter. If you have removed the entire filter pad, you would have set back your cycle .... prob all the way to start ... In that case pwc's are even more important.

Test stripes are notorious for being inaccurate <pH is prob OK, but the rest is hit & miss> .... you need liquid test kits for meaningful results .....

 

[saa5886]

Thanks for the reply. I am doing the 50%+ PWC at least once a day (i have well water so the pet store recommended we use drinking water from the store for the tank so its kinda hard to do more then once) I have noticed more blood streaks on all the fishes fins but on one i think there is a few black spots so hopefully its getting better.
I did have a couple more questions...First you said that the water needed to be fixed before using any treatments but i had already been using this Lifeguard for a few days and im just concerned because one side of one of the fishes back fins is almost completely gone..and i read if its finrot and it gets to the body it will die...so i didnt know if i waited if it would b too late? Second do you know if Lifeguard is a good treatment to use? Third i have had the filter out because that was the directions for the Lifeguard treatment and i was just wondering if that might be making the ammonia worse? And fourth is it true that the stips used for testing the water are not really accurate?
Thanks so much for your help!

I know I'm not nearly as experienced as others on here, but I actually have experience with LifeGuard first hand, and I'm convinced its the only reason my fish are still alive.
I had a horrible ich outbreak, finrot and all, and since using the LifeGuard all 5 days, they are completely healed. I also used it in conjunction with some aquarium salt. I did nothing with heat. They are all doing well now. Another thing I want to stress is, my water parameters remained the same through all this. And they werent good! When something like this happens, frankly, you dont have time to get your water perfect first. All you can do is what you can do right now, and right now, use the meds. Do partial water changes daily before you put in the next batch of meds. And remember to add more salt. Oh! Another thing! I also added a little extra water conditioner (which is aloe vera in a bottle basically) to assist in the healing process. Aloe is not just great for our skin, but fish too! When I say a little I mean, a few drops.
Make sure to completely finish all the meds, and make sure to return the carbon to the tank when you're done