Refractometers need regular checking and keep them clean after every use.
2-3ppt is remedial for Goldfish to help with good health.
Any bacterial signs should lead you to take out affected fish and quarantine the affected stock. Treat them and hold them until they show no signs and have full vitality. Rob

Sorry - unable to help with the fish problem Gemmell, but may be able to help in another area


My 1st thought was that you were set to "American"


Think the date may be a little fast, or old age has caught up with me :sigh:

Oops hehe, I'm hopeless. If I want to know which numbered month August is I have to start from January and count on my fingers.

Anything else I can do to help shake the fin rot?

Are they getting any better Gemmel?

Maybe treat them one by one in a high concentration salt dip....

Dip them for 15-30 seconds in an aerated container with around 12-15ppt salt.... or if they're a bigger fish setup a bath with around 10-12ppt and leave them in for 30-40 mins....

Only other thing I can think of is a dip bath in Formalin.... but it's nasty stuff, make sure you know what you're doing and how to handle it... wear protective clothing....

In silvers gemmell, that blood in the dorsal fin is symptomatic of anchor worm. They attach themselves in between the fins. The red lesion is the attachment site and is itself prone to infection. If you look closely you may see a small thread in the fin. It is the worm.
It won't kill ur fish but they will feed less and lose condition.
NSW DPI recommend a one hour salt bath in 10ppt, daily.
I would be tempted to remove it from the system, it is quite contagious. Chances are, it may have had it when u bought them.

Well I've been ultra conservative - I've taken out two fish which may have infections of some sort. The way I can "tell" is if I can catch it, then it's not healthy i.e. natural selection. The rest of the fish in there at the moment seem fine. I've had my two sick fish in a bucket salted to 3-4 ppt. For 2 days. I'll give them a 12-15ppt salt bath for 30 seconds (airated) as per ropes instructions and then pop them back in.

The one with the red fin got the boot, didn't want to take a risk for a 50c gold fish. Thanks for the info though TT, it's invaluable to know what baddies we're up against.

Also, one of the sites I read about fin rot said that I should make sure my food is not out of date. My food is out of date. They still eat it and there is like a kg left (it's koi food). I think I better get some more food.

Salinity refractometer should come this week. Paid about $50 for it, couldn't get one for ~$35! Water is crystal clear, and was 5 degrees this morn!

A quick update:

I've been setting up a hospital tank to quarantine any further sick fish. I've found this guy:



Anyone know what that is? Doesn't look the same as the fin rot problems - could this be fish attack? Anyway, he's gone into the hospital tank.

I now have a salinity refractometer, so I can tell you the main system is at 3ppt and the hospital is at 6ppt. I'm also working on raising the hardness to help the fish recover. My hospital tank is a laundry tub - it's always in the shade and it gets mighty cold, so I think I'll work something out where I pump it up through some black polypipe on the roof of the shed to get some warmth into it. Otherwise the hospital tank is more likely to be a morgue.

Plant growth is going slow - I think this is due to lack of light and maybe a bit of nutrient deficiency. I am going to get a better reflective surface than the white plastic. It'll also help if I put it on an angle to reflect the light down onto the beds. I dumped in some seasol and a bit of chelated iron, so hopefully the plants will get a kick over the next week or so.

By the way, if anyone is going near Tumut some time soon on their way to Canberra, could they pop in and get some trout for me? =) The guy there is having trouble getting them my way.

Tell to just head north Gemmel.... keep going until he finds a place with lots of roundabouts...

Tehehe.

Anyways. My fish woes continue. The last guy there died, girlfriend turned off the airator in a half setup hospital tank. NOt sure what did him in, Ammonia, O2 or cold, but he's dead. I also noticed yet another fish showing blood - this time on the lips:




Does anyone know what could be causing this? I didn't chuck him in the hospital tank because it's not got such a good recovery rate. I'll have to set it up good and proper before I use it again. So he's swimming around with the rest of 'em in the main tank.

Rex Hunt hasn't been around kissing your fish has he???
looks like he's given them herpes

Couldn't help myself.

Looks like fighting damage Gemmell.

hehe

Yeh, looks like lipstick eh? Maybe it's a transvestite fish....

Well I hope it is caused by fighting, I'll let you know how he goes.

Some progress. Posted on blog, won't repeat it here:
http://athoughtadrift.com/gemmell/2008/ ... i-part-iv/

Patience G, good write up on the blog too