RTS gold tinted belly

[Mhaworth]

I'm fairly new to fish keeping and fell prey into doing a fish in cycle when I received the fish from the lfs and the guy told me I'd be fine. The rts is about 2 inches long and is currently in a 10 g soon to be upgraded when I get paid. I have been doing water changes everyday and she's seemed fine up until now. I don't have any water tests except for ph cuz that's all the guy told me I needed. Well anyway she's been flashing a bit, not too much but it's starting to get me worried. I put a flashlight up to her and I couldn't see any white specs so I don't think it's ich. But I did notice a bit of a golden tint on her belly. Anybody know what that means?

 

[Oohitsae]

Golden tint usually means that it's velvet, get some good medication for parasites and it should clear up.
By the way, I'm not familiar with the acronym? If I knew what fish it was then I'd be able to help more.

 

[Mhaworth]

She's a red tailed shark. Just a baby.

 

[Mhaworth]

ok so it's definitely velvet disease. i turned all the lights off in the room with the aquarium. pitch black in there. i took a flashlight to it and saw the gold dust in here gills mostly and in patches on her fins. I added some aquarium salt and am raising the temperature right now. my main concern is that it's really late at night and pet stores wont be open for a while so by the time i get medicine tomorrow will it already be too late???? please help me i dont want my Alice to die

 

[Oohitsae]

ok so it's definitely velvet disease. i turned all the lights off in the room with the aquarium. pitch black in there. i took a flashlight to it and saw the gold dust in here gills mostly and in patches on her fins. I added some aquarium salt and am raising the temperature right now. my main concern is that it's really late at night and pet stores wont be open for a while so by the time i get medicine tomorrow will it already be too late???? please help me i dont want my Alice to die

Oh, I should have known that RTS= red tailed shark. Blonde moment! Whoops.
If you wait to get medication till tomorrow that is fine. She didn't get like this overnight, and she won't die overnight unless she's acting really lethargic and has stopped eating, which I don't think she has from the sounds of it.
I'd get Furan-2 or Maracine 1+2 combined, both of those are really effective medications. I prefer Furan 2 because it's cheaper (since you only have to buy 1 package and IME it works really well for very serious ailments like Columnaris, so velvet should be a breeze. If the pet store doesn't have either of those options available just look for something that says it treats velvet. Just avoid anything that says it has copper in it in case you ever decide to get shrimp/snails.

Sorry for taking so long to respond, hopefully you haven't been panicking too much in the mean time.

 

[Mhaworth]

Thanks for the fast response that was amazing. I'm going to go to the petstore i got her at and see how the other fish in her tank look and then get the medicine i need. thanks so much for the advice!

 

[MojoDaRott]

Thanks for the fast response that was amazing. I'm going to go to the petstore i got her at and see how the other fish in her tank look and then get the medicine i need. thanks so much for the advice!

I would recommend you take the fish back until you have at least a 30 gallon tank to start with. Red tail sharks should never be in a 10 gallon tank. Also would not recommend any medications. Water changes are the best medication.

 

[Oohitsae]

I would recommend you take the fish back until you have at least a 30 gallon tank to start with. Red tail sharks should never be in a 10 gallon tank. Also would not recommend any medications. Water changes are the best medication.

Agreed that it should be in atleast a 30, but the OP is upgrading come pay day, which should be fine. Sounds like he's taking extra precautions to make sure these temporary quarters are good.
And sometimes you need to treat, especially for velvet. It can sometimes go away with just some extra care, but it's a much safer bet to get some actual medications. Normally I'd say don't treat if you don't know what it is, but the OP does know exactly what it is and it's up to him to make sure the fish has the best chances at survival, which is with medication.

 

[MojoDaRott]

Also would not listen to anything your fish shop is telling you. You need more test kits, no fish in un cycled tank, no sharks in 10 gallon. And what ever else he told you, forget it. Sorry if I am coming off rude but this is serious advice. Since you are new to hobby, this site will be your best friend. Before you do anything, be sure to ask here first and guaranteed you will be pointed in the right direction.

 

[Mhaworth]

Also would not listen to anything your fish shop is telling you. You need more test kits, no fish in un cycled tank, no sharks in 10 gallon. And what ever else he told you, forget it. Sorry if I am coming off rude but this is serious advice. Since you are new to hobby, this site will be your best friend. Before you do anything, be sure to ask here first and guaranteed you will be pointed in the right direction.

oh i totally understand how serious this whole thing as know you're not trying to be rude but just trying to make sure any fish being cared for is healthy. I know to no longer trust the people at petco. and i'm gonna talk to the employee who gave me that terrible advice and tell him how big of an idiot he is for telling me to do that.

 

[Mhaworth]

Ok so i went to the pet store today to pick up some medicine for my shark. I did a bit of research and settled on coppersafe. I also picked up an API master freshwater test kit and tested my ammonia levels which are at .50 ppm right now. I got a little curious to see how far along my fish in cycle is going so i tested the nitrite in hopes that i would find some. I did. A lot. the nitrite is at 5.0 ppm. Fueled with further curiosity i decided to test for nitrates. Sure enough they're in there and at about 80 ppm. now here's the thing, the aquarium has only been set up for less than a week now. If someone could please read this over and tell me what you think that would be great. Well im gonna go do a water change to get some of that ammonia out and then add some medicine so my baby can start her healing process. poor girl, she's so stressed out right now.

 

[MojoDaRott]

Again, I would recommend taking the shark back until you have a bigger tank. Keeping it in a small tank and un cycled will kill him or shorten his life for sure. If you think you really have to do a fish in cycle then start with 4 or more danios. I also believe RTS is a scaleless fish so I would make sure medicine is safe to use beforehand.

 

[Mhaworth]

Again, I would recommend taking the shark back until you have a bigger tank. Keeping it in a small tank and un cycled will kill him or shorten his life for sure. If you think you really have to do a fish in cycle then start with 4 or more danios. I also believe RTS is a scaleless fish so I would make sure medicine is safe to use beforehand.

I did make sure it was safe to use beforehand. And i'm not taking the fish back. I am able to take care of it and it's much better off with me than it would be at petco. Honestly if i took it back and they put it in that tank then the whole freakin tank would get infected. And as for the tank size, in literally 4 days i will have enough to cash to go buy 500 dollars worth of aquarium. I tolerated you telling me to take it back before simply because you were trying to help and now you're actively just being close minded trying to tell me that the fish is better off at the store where it came from which is simply not true. I think anyone in here would agree that a 10g tank by itself is better than being in a 15g tank with 10+ tankmates and could potentially get them all sick.