Fin rot on my fish that is 2 days here with me?

Question

I just got my fish a fancy gold fish for my son. As soon as I had it showed signs of the fin rot. I went to the pet store that we got the fish at and he gave me some meds for it. It is only a gallon tank so he told me to cut the pill into 8. I did this. Should I put one of the little tiny things in it for 5 days? or 8 days to make it a full tablet? I hope my fish is going to be okay, if it's not I give up and I am not having any more fish.
Any other suggestions?
THanks.

Answer 1

Honestly, I would return the fish. Especially if you just got it. Pet stores are supposed to take back any animal that is "defective" meaning sick or otherwise.

When you get your money back (make sure to get cash) go to another pet store because all the tanks share the water which means the paracite for that disease is in ALL of the tanks.

If there are no other stores around, the only other thing to do is wait 14 weeks, go back and see if there are other fish in the ENTIRE store with signs, becasuse chances are, if one fish has it, they ALL have it.

Answer 2

That tank is too small for a goldfish. Take it back and get a betta instead. Even if you could cure the fin rot, the goldfish is only going to live a couple of months in that tank anyway, if that. Goldfish live upwards or 20 years if taken care of properly, and keeping it in a 1 gallon tank causes it to suffer. Here is what I always post to tell people about fish stunting:

You need at least 20 gallons to keep 1 fancy goldfish healthy, and about 50 for 1 comet. What is happens is that the fish are becomming stunted from being in too small of a tank. When a fish stunts it will become deformed. Deformities include the symptoms of internal organs growing inside the body even though the body is not growing. Soon the organs will grow too large and either 1) 1 or more organs will burst open inside the fish causing a massively painful death for the fish, or 2) An organ will grow too large for the body to be able to supply energy to and the fish will die of some sort of organ failure, usually a slow death over a day or to. Other symptoms of stunting are sculliosis, which can get to the point where the fish can barely move, and does cause severe spinal pain for the fish. So either get a 40 gallon tank or get different fish.

Answer 3

First of all, I have to say that you are going to have more problems than just the finrot. 1 gallon is WAY too small for a goldfish. Even fancy goldfish can grow VERY large. The stress caused from stunting it's growth will make it more prone to all sorts of illness like ich, fin rot, velvet... and so on.

If the package says to medicate for 5 days, then I would only do it for 5 days.

I would suggest a beta as a more appropriate fish for the gallon tank. If you do lose your goldfish...