Red spot on goldfish?

[hetisArjE]

I've had my 2 fancy goldfish for just under a year and have recently noticed a red spot near the gill of one of them and I'm not sure what it could be. They tend to gulp at the surface of the tank a lot. They have not been off their food at all. I do regular water changes and there is plenty of oxygen in the tank. The other one has a faint red spot in the fin that is barely visible. A few of the scales on the fish in the picture I post below seem to be missing or damaged aswell. Pls help

[Aiken Drum]

Can you give some more details on the tank please.

What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.

How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?

What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of*gph*if known.

5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?

When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?

Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?

What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?

[hetisArjE]

Hi, I use the tetra 6 in 1 test strips (not sure how accurate they are) and everything came back clear in the safe zone except No3- which was very high (around the 100 bracket). The fish aren't showing any immediate signs of distress but are seem to have less energy than they did this morning. Temp is at 20'C. The is about 60l with two fancy goldfish both about 10cm (i know the tank is very small, pets at home gave me some wrong advice and we are planning on buying a bigger tank as they grow) I've had the tank set up for about 10 months now. I have a fluval elite stingray 15 underwater filter ( A-144)
I last did a water change and gravel clean about 3 days ago and normally do it on a weekly to every two weeks basis. I normally do about a third of the water. I changed some of the decor recently with a water change and also recently a small amount of the aqua care general tonic to see how they would react because I noticed a change in their behaviour and they seemed slightly unwell but I couldn't narrow it down. Afyer I added the tonic they perked up a bit and seemed to be doing better. Their diet hasn't changed at all and I have always fed them fish pellets. The original filter with the tank stopped working after about 4 months and only a little but of water came out and we rinsed and unclogged it and it still didn't work so I was advised by the pets at home people to just buy a new one and contact the company. Im not if this affects the water quality as it is built into the tank and I can't remove it. When I first got the fish they gulped at the surface a lot and I was advised to oxygenate the tank more which made them happier but they have started doing it again more recently and I constantly change the filter angle to give more oxygen but it doesn't seem to be helping.

[Aiken Drum]

It is entirely possible that your your issues are being caused by poor water conditions. At the very least it will be contributing.

As you have pointed out 60 litres isnt enough for 2 goldfish. It isnt really enough for 1 goldfish, and i would be looking for something around 120 litres, and a filter rated for 240 litres. I feel your fish have already outgrown your tank, and poor health is a consequence of this.

You are already seeing the outcome of your set up with the very high nitrate. Your 6 in 1 test strips dont measure ammonia, and this is quite possibly the root cause of your redness on the fish. Your filter isnt sufficient to process out all the waste, so ammonia could well be building up. High nitrate is a symptom of high ammonia, and your water changes arent sufficient to remove this nitrate quick enough given the small volume of water.

In the short term i would recommend water changes. 25% as soon as you are able. Another 25% the following day. Then 50% every day until your nitrate is down around 20ppm. Then 50% water changes whenever your nitrate gets up to 40ppm.

Try to get something that tests for ammonia and make sure that doesnt elevate. The water changes suggested should keep ammonia in check until you are able to test for it.

Your water temp is a little high for goldfish, but thats probably your room temperature and not something you can control. Too warm water will increase the fishes metabolism, increase waste, increased risk. But probably not much you can do about it.

Longer term plan for a bigger tank and a much bigger filter.

[hetisArjE]

Thank you!! I had no idea about the filter which again was recommended by the pets at home people after my filter broke. Currently looking into a bigger tank aswell. Would adding aquarium first aid salt help at all? Also how often would you recommend cleaning the filter and filter media.

[Aiken Drum]

Personally i would get the water parameters in a better position first and monitor. If things dont improve then consider aquarium salt, but i dont like treating in a main display tank. A small amount, 1 tablespoon per 20 litres wont hurt anything as a preventative measure, double this to treat serious infection.

As to filters, your filter is rated for your size of tank, but goldfish are very messy and you need to look at filters rated for double the tank size for them.

Pets at Home have a fish point system. They assign a tank a number of points, i think they also add extra points if the tank has a better filter (im not sure on that). And fish have a number of points also. If a tank holds 20 points, and a tetra is 1 point, your tank can accomodate 20 tetras. If a goldfish is 10 points, your tank can hold 2 goldfish. This is similar to the 1 inch of fish per gallon rule of thumb and works well with small fish, but fails with big fish in small tanks. A 100 point tank may well hold 10 goldfish, but a 10 point tank wont be big enough for 1 goldfish, if you get my point. The employee is only doing what they are told, they probably know less about keeping fish than you do.

[Aiken Drum]

I try and clean filters every month. Really though, clean it as infrequently as you can get away with, over cleaning can crash your cycle. Rinse mechanical media (sponge) and biological media (ceramic rings) either with water taken from your tank or dechlorinated water every month or 2. Polishing floss toss out every month or so and replace. Chemical media replace every 2 to 4 weeks.

I took a look at an unboxing video on your filter. Im not impressed with it. Just a bit of sponge and 2 carbon/zeolite cartridges. No biological media. If it where my filter i would toss those cartridges in the trash and pack something like seachem matrix or fluval biomax in the space the cartridges occupy.

[hetisArjE]

Yeah. I have different filter media in the filter already but still not sure. Would you be able to recommend and better filter and media?

[Aiken Drum]

If i was going down the Pets at Home route, and given your comment about considering a tank upgrade too, i would look at the Fluval Roma 125 tank.

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...re-7139497p--1

Put the filter it comes with into storage as an emergency backup. Get a Fluval 207 or 307 canister. 207 would be good, you could add a 3rd goldfish with a 307.

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...riums?size=307

The light and heater that come with the tank are fine.

I have a similar set up, with the bigger 200 litre tank and a 406 (the older version of the 407) filter. Very happy with it.