Goldfish Ammonia burn?

[2OutsSoWhat]

Hello. I'm new to the fish hobby. My daughter won a goldfish at a carnival and she loved it, so I decided learning how to care for it would be something fun we could do together. We currently have a 10 gallon tank (I know it will outgrow it but we'll probably get a larger one down the road). We are doing a fish in cycle because we didn't really have a choice, which we've been doing for about a week and a half. We have the API liquid test kit, seachem ammonia alert inside the tank, prime water conditioner, and API quick start. I've found the fish in cycle to be very confusing (i.e. don't change the water until it cycles vs change frequently until it cycles as well as other conflicting information online). Anyways, we did the first water change after about a week and had been monitoring parameters daily. When we did the first water change ammonia was .25, nitrite was .25, and nitrate was 0. A few days after the first water change, the fish began to get black on the edge of its fins and seemed stressed. This started about 3-4 days ago. See attached pictures.

Is this ammonia burn or something else? Our ammonia testing has never gone above .25 and neither has nitrite. The ammonia alert inside the tank has always read safe. I've done water changes everyday since this started happening to hopefully clear out whatever is going on. Another thing to note is I tested my tap water, and it appears to have a slight amount of ammonia in it. Somewhere between 0 and .25. So when I do water changes, the tank never reads 0 ammonia.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Aiken Drum]

If there is nothing else of concern apart from the fishes colour changing I wouldn't worry about it. Goldfish sometimes turn black.

If the ammonia has never been above 0.25ppm and the patch has said its safe, then we can rule out ammonia. I'd trust the patch above the test. Not wanting to get too technical, but the test is testing for free ammonia + ammonium, while the patch is testing just for free ammonia. It's only free ammonia that is harmful. So even if the test says high ammonia, but the patch says safe, trust the patch.

It could be chemical burns. Are you 100% sure you used Prime with every water change?

Stress. That's a possibility. Fish won't have been kept in ideal conditions, and then got moved to a new home. Hopefully your goldfish will settle into its new home.

Infection. Disease and parasitic infection is likely in fairground goldfish, but with no other symptoms I'd just keep an eye on things.

 

[2OutsSoWhat]

If there is nothing else of concern apart from the fishes colour changing I wouldn't worry about it. Goldfish sometimes turn black.

If the ammonia has never been above 0.25ppm and the patch has said its safe, then we can rule out ammonia. I'd trust the patch above the test. Not wanting to get too technical, but the test is testing for free ammonia + ammonium, while the patch is testing just for free ammonia. It's only free ammonia that is harmful. So even if the test says high ammonia, but the patch says safe, trust the patch.

It could be chemical burns. Are you 100% sure you used Prime with every water change?

Stress. That's a possibility. Fish won't have been kept in ideal conditions, and then got moved to a new home. Hopefully your goldfish will settle into its new home.

Infection. Disease and parasitic infection is likely in fairground goldfish, but with no other symptoms I'd just keep an eye on things.

The only other thing I can think of is my first water change I put 10 drops of prime in but I believe I should’ve put 20. I used the python to do a quick water change but realized the next day if you do that you should put enough drops in for the entire tank. I put more prime in the next day.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Water conditioner is over strength. You would probably be OK, especially if it wasn't for long. Might have caused some issue if you have higher than normal chlorine/ chloramine in your tapwater. You didn't need to do a water change, just redose the Prime.

Might be worth looking up if your water is treated with chlorine or chloramine.

 

[2OutsSoWhat]

Water conditioner is over strength. You would probably be OK, especially if it wasn't for long. Might have caused some issue if you have higher than normal chlorine/ chloramine in your tapwater. You didn't need to do a water change, just redose the Prime.

Might be worth looking up if your water is treated with chlorine or chloramine.

My water is treated with chlorine. How often would you recommend water changes during fish in cycle? Or just do water change when ammonia/nitrites get above a certain level?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Take your ammonia test and nitrite test and add them together. If the combined total is more than 0.5ppm change enough water to bring it below that 0.5ppm target. Change water weekly regardless.

 

[Andy Sager]

The black is a typical response to a burn. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it happened at your tank. It could have occurred at the carnival and the timing or reaction just happened to occur at your place. There's no real " medicine" for ammonia burns past clean ammonia free water which puts you in an awkward position since the tank is not cycled yet. You will need to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels low so as to not cause any infection but that means your cycling process is probably going to take a long time.
What you can do is add a little extra PRIME when you do water changes since it has properties that increase the fish's body slime. PRIME advertises that it's safe up to 5 times the suggested dosage but I wouldn't do more than double the suggested dose. The rest is going to take time.
Be aware of the black areas turning bloody or get a white fuzz on them. These will be secondary infections and need to be treated if the fish is to survive. If even under these conditions the fish acts stressed and is not eating, there is a strong possibility that the gills were burned and survival then becomes questionable. As long as the fish is eating, things are looking up.

 

[2OutsSoWhat]

Thanks. Fish was not moving much and not really eating the first couple days. But now seems to be doing better, swimming and eating more.

 

[Andy Sager]

That's a good sign.