Salt in freshwater

[Newfishie]

Yikes! Ok, so I have a redcap oranda goldfish that I've had for almost 3 months now. About 3 weeks ago I talked to a pet shop owner and he instructed me to put my fish in spring water with 1 tsp of canning and pickling salt per gallon. Then once every week pour out half of the water and put 1/2 tsp in again. with fresh water. I accidently put 1 tsp in the 2nd week but corrected it the 3rd week to 1/2 tsp. Since then my fish has been less active and the back fin has started to turn red, almost bloodly looking. It also looks like part of the fin has been eaten away. Is it possible for the fin to get eaten away from this salt? I changed the water last on Friday and today is Tuesday. Should I change the water completely and start over? I am confused about what to do. Also, how often should I be changing the water? If you could help that would be great!!! Thank you so much!
-Newfishie

[oscarbartoni]

a goldfish needs a lot more room than a one gallon tank. I would say get at least a 20 gallon long tank (bigger would be better for him/her) There is not enough room for bacteria to get rid of amonia/nitrite. I believe that the redness is ammonia poisioning and probably is what is wasting away at the fin(s). As far as water changes I would do daily water changes of 50% with water that is dechlorinated (also make sure that there is no ammonia as in chloramine) and of about the same temp and pH. Yes, one teaspoon of salt per gallon is not bad for the fish as it will help to produce the slime coating on the fish and thereby help to prevent diseases from getting to the fish. But you must get a much bigger tank for the fish if you wish him/her to be happy and grow.

[Newfishie]

I am using spring water as my water source for my fish. Therefore there should not be ammonia in the water. At least as far as I know. I heard that too many water changes can make a fish go retarded. Is this possible? Where would chlorine come into the water as well? I am very confused! I am not using any other kind of water except store bought water. Also I was wondering what causes fish to change color. My fish is white and seems to be slowly turning orange/red. Thank you!
Newfishie

[oscarbartoni]

It is not unusual for goldfish to chang colors. Ammonia is given off by fish as a waste product. In a small tank (or bowl) thereis not enough area for the good bacteria to break down ammonia to nitrite and then other bactera to turn this nitrite to nitrAte. As long as the water is close to the same in temp and pH then there should not be any trouble with large water changes. It is when you do not do water changes for a while and then do them that the pH difference will be great and cause stress to your fish. The more stress you give to your fish the less resistance the fish have to diseases. There are discus breeders that do daily 100% water changes and have some of the healthiest discus around. It is the people that do not do water changes and/or overcrowd their tanks that wind up with stunted fishes and not even know it. Stunting fish is stressfull for fish and will lower their resistance to disease.

[dalmationmolly2]

Newfishie-

Hey, im gonna tell you a secret ok. In my goldfish tank i have kept two goldfish for two years and they are the original goldfish. I had three but after 1.5 years i transferred the other goldfish into a different tank and you know what, my goldfish tank is only 8 gallons.

One gallon is for sure not enough but you can successfully keep fish in ten gal tanks.....
Alot of the people in this forum just kinda take information from magazines and stuff and put it here, and not all of its wrong but i have been doing this for a while now and i know better than to listen when people say my tank is too small for amount of fish. (a 20 gallon tank is not neccasary for one goldfish)

I have always had great success with my fish except for my first two weeks but hey you could keep a goldfish or two in a ten gal tank so i think you should get a ten gallon tank!

Hope i helped
-dalmationmolly-

[Tracy]

I have to say that I agree- although the more space the merrier :) Its like living in a studio apt with 2 really big people. Also, I have found that the bigger the tank, the easier it is to take care of.. especially beginners (being myself one).. just remember the rule people taught me here: filtration is always number one... so if you can only do 10gallon- get 20gallon filtration and water changes. Good luck!

[FantailFan]

Originally posted by dalmationmolly2
Newfishie-

Hey, im gonna tell you a secret ok. In my goldfish tank i have kept two goldfish for two years and they are the original goldfish. I had three but after 1.5 years i transferred the other goldfish into a different tank and you know what, my goldfish tank is only 8 gallons.

One gallon is for sure not enough but you can successfully keep fish in ten gal tanks.....
Alot of the people in this forum just kinda take information from magazines and stuff and put it here, and not all of its wrong but i have been doing this for a while now and i know better than to listen when people say my tank is too small for amount of fish. (a 20 gallon tank is not neccasary for one goldfish)

I have always had great success with my fish except for my first two weeks but hey you could keep a goldfish or two in a ten gal tank so i think you should get a ten gallon tank!

Hope i helped
-dalmationmolly-

Im going to tell you a secret on that i goldfish needs atleast 8-10gals each. 2 goldfish might live in 8gal for a while but alot of stunning goes on and they wont live to their full potential. They shoul live around 20 years if properly taken care of. You wont get no where near that many years w/ a fish that has been stuned.