Torn fin on aquarium decoration how to prevent fin rot from setting in?

Question

i have a 20 gallon aquarium that is planted and two oranda goldfish. the water is near perfect only .25 ppm of amonia everything else is at 0ppm the pH is 7.6 and the temp is 74 degrees. yesterday my golfish ripped the bottom corner of his tail fin off and i would like to know how to keep the ripped part of the fin from developing fin rot. i bought melafix but dont know if that is the right treatment???

Answer 1

.25 ammonia is pretty high. This alone is weakening your fish's immune system. A 20 gal with 2 orandas is a little overstocked - generall, 15-20 gallons is recommended per fish. However, you can make it work by increase filtration and doing 20% water changes twice a week. Keep that ammonia down!

Melafix is kind of useless. Maracyn-2 is much more effective, in my experience. A couple tablespoons of salt will also help - disolved first in warm dechlorinated water.

Answer 2

Your ammonia is a little high. You should do a small 25% water change. If your water quality is stable and your bacteria levels are low, then you should not see bacterial fin and tail rot. However, if you want to treat anyways...

melafix is in my experience fine. It's helped grow back tissue and scales on multiple occasions with my fish. It will not harm the other fish. However, you need to remove your carbon or the medicine will run through it and become inert. Removing your carbon for a long period of time can cause water quality issues, so I would run the water through floss and zeolite (looks like white carbon) instead.

here's the skinny:

25% water change, remove carbon. Run water through floss or zeolite in your filter. dose with melafix and stress coat. Repeat for three days, testing water for increased ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. On fourth day, do a 25% water change and add carbon again.

If your water quality shifts, discontinue preventative care and run the water through the carbon again. The fin should grow back fine.

You should add one tablespoon of Aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water. Whne you do a water change, you only add salt for the new water. Like 25% of your tank is 5 gallons, so every time you do a water change you should add one tablespoon. Test your water weekly since you have orandas. If you see the levels creeping up, do a small water change with a siphon, siphoning from the gravel.

Don't worry, it will be fine:)

Answer 3

Melafix can speed healing however, from what I've read it isn't antibacterial. I don't like adding anything to the water that isn't absolutely necessary, so I wouldn't use it. I'd just keep the water pristine, keep an eye on it and he should be fine.

That level of ammonia isn't toxic with pH at 7.6, however, I'm curious tho... How come you're showing any ammonia?

Here's a good goldfish caresheet:
http://thegab.org/Articles/GoldfishBasics.html

Answer 4

Melafix is good.. you might want to put him in a smaller container maybe without plants/gravel and just give him medicine and change the water frequently until he gets better..

I bought Melafix for my betta's.. next time try buying some silk-plants instead of the plastic ones.. the plastic ones are pretty harsh on fishes fins, they like to rest on them and play in them, so its easily done to their fins....

especially fish with long, fins such as Bettas and so on.

Again, I highly suggest buying silk plants to put in there instead of the plastic ones.. to avoid this happening in the future

Answer 5

it'll heal.. don' worry. goldfish arent that delicate.
just throw in a table spoon of aquarium salt for safe measure.