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Black spots on golfish

9K views 12 replies 3 participants last post by  Muskeh 
#1 ·
Hi, recently one of my goldfish has been getting black spots around the head, and my other goldfish has been getting some black areas around their fins; is this some medical problem or a disease? Thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
check your tank parameters, specifically ammonia and nitrite. I've heard that some goldfish will actually change coloration somewhat with age but a lot of times black spots are actually areas that were burned from ammonia, scraped from something in the tank or picked on from another fish. Most common cause I have heard is from ammonia burn. Not much is known about this though but the good news is that it can go away as long as water quality is maintained. Can you get your water tested and let us know what it shows?
 
#3 ·
mHeinitz57 said:
check your tank parameters, specifically ammonia and nitrite. I've heard that some goldfish will actually change coloration somewhat with age but a lot of times black spots are actually areas that were burned from ammonia, scraped from something in the tank or picked on from another fish. Most common cause I have heard is from ammonia burn. Not much is known about this though but the good news is that it can go away as long as water quality is maintained. Can you get your water tested and let us know what it shows?
Yesterday I did a 75% water change, because I was adding a new carbon filter bag to my filter, after I let the filter work for around an hour, I checked the ammonia levels and it read around 0.5 PPM, I think before I did the water change it was about 1 PPM.

My Nitrite levels are still 0, since I recently got my tank and it has no done a complete cycle yet. I bought a Bio-Bag Filter Bag to speed up the creation of beneficial bacteria...one question, the "Activated Carbon" is not advertised to remove ammonia, but it says it cleans the water of impurifications and odors, I'm wondering if the beneficial bacteria will be enough to change the ammonia into nitrite (I have a thirty gallon tank with an Aquaclear 110 (designed for tanks up to 110 gallons). Thanks!
 
#4 ·
overall, you will rely on your beneficial bacteria to take care of ammonia and nitrite in the tank but carbon can help. AquaClear also sells Zeolite, a white rock that specifically helps to remove ammonia) for their filters. You can also buy a mesh bag or use a nylon stocking and purchase a carbon/zeolite mixture. The bags are nice because you can empty them out and refill them as needed and in the long run tends to be cheaper. What filter media do you have in your aquaclear? You should have the foam filter on the bottom, zeolite/carbon in the middle, and then Aquaclear's Biomax media on top. The biomax in that large of a filter should be enough for your tank. Now when you say you bought a biobag, where did you put it? Biobags are the cartridges used in Whisper and Topfin filters. Did you put a whole new filter on? They wont do anything to speed up your cycle process though. You will want a biological supplement such as Bio-Spira, Stability or Cycle to do that. Make sure you have biomax media in your aquaclear though as that is the area where the beneficial bacteria will grow. May I ask how many goldfish you have in there? Goldfish can cause ammonia to spike surprisingly fast and a measure of 1ppm could actually cause possible ammonia burn.
 
#5 ·
mHeinitz57 said:
overall, you will rely on your beneficial bacteria to take care of ammonia and nitrite in the tank but carbon can help. AquaClear also sells Zeolite, a white rock that specifically helps to remove ammonia) for their filters. You can also buy a mesh bag or use a nylon stocking and purchase a carbon/zeolite mixture. The bags are nice because you can empty them out and refill them as needed and in the long run tends to be cheaper. What filter media do you have in your aquaclear? You should have the foam filter on the bottom, zeolite/carbon in the middle, and then Aquaclear's Biomax media on top. The biomax in that large of a filter should be enough for your tank. Now when you say you bought a biobag, where did you put it? Biobags are the cartridges used in Whisper and Topfin filters. Did you put a whole new filter on? They wont do anything to speed up your cycle process though. You will want a biological supplement such as Bio-Spira, Stability or Cycle to do that. Make sure you have biomax media in your aquaclear though as that is the area where the beneficial bacteria will grow. May I ask how many goldfish you have in there? Goldfish can cause ammonia to spike surprisingly fast and a measure of 1ppm could actually cause possible ammonia burn.
Thanks for the reply! To answer your questions, I have the foam on the bottom, the activated carbon in the middle, and the BioMax on top. I did not put a whole new filter on, but I did put a new filter on about a week or two back (I originally had a 30 gallon filter and it wasn't that sufficient, so my teacher gave me his filter :). )

I have four goldfish in the tank, and I have a question. How many days/weeks does it take before you see Nitrite readings? Because I haven't seen one nitrite reading ever since I got my tank (I think I will see one soon though, as before I had no biological filter bag for my 30 gallon filter). Thanks again.
 
#6 ·
Generally without water changes and without bacteria supplement you see ammonia being converted into nitrite within 1-2 weeks and around 3 weeks you see nitrite converting to nitrate. This will vary from tank to tank though and the process will have started over again when you put the new filter in. You said you did a 75% water change so this process will take longer. The problem is that the presence of ammonia will attract the needed bacteria but can also harm your fish. To some extent, you have to let nature take its course in the first few weeks and kind of leave the tank alone. If water changes are needed, its better to do 10% changes more often than just doing one large 75% change. You should begin to notice nitrite soon but I would highly suggest a bacteria supplement to speed up the process. Bio-Spira by Marineland is the best known on the market and can cycle tanks extremely fast but I have used Stability by Seachem and it works pretty well too.
Another thing to consider too is how you handle your biomax media when you change/clean your filter media. THe temptation for many people is to rinse out the biomax as debree will collect in there overtime. This can wipe out your bacteria colonies very easily and the chlorine in tap water can kill them off too. I use biomax media in my Rena canister filter actually and when I change my filter media, I place water from my tank in a bucket and move the biomax bags into the bucket. This allows the bacteria to still survive while I am cleaning the rest of the filter and changing media. If there is debris in the biomax then I gently swish the bags back and forth in the bucket to remove the debree while not disturbing the bacteria. Then when the filter is clean I put the biomax back in and its good to go! A lot of people try to "overclean" and they end up cleaning that bacteria colonies from their filtration...then they wonder why their tank goes through the cycle all over again and fish start to die! The one thing I try to press into my customers head is maintaining that bacteria...it is one of the most important elements in your tank. Bacteria supplements are good to have on hand to add to the tank after doing such a cleaning and help replenish any bacteria that died off. Research the heck out of the nitrogen cycle and the bacteria involved and you will be able to solve 90% of the problems you'll ever run into :)
 
#7 ·
mHeinitz57 said:
Generally without water changes and without bacteria supplement you see ammonia being converted into nitrite within 1-2 weeks and around 3 weeks you see nitrite converting to nitrate. This will vary from tank to tank though and the process will have started over again when you put the new filter in. You said you did a 75% water change so this process will take longer. The problem is that the presence of ammonia will attract the needed bacteria but can also harm your fish. To some extent, you have to let nature take its course in the first few weeks and kind of leave the tank alone. If water changes are needed, its better to do 10% changes more often than just doing one large 75% change. You should begin to notice nitrite soon but I would highly suggest a bacteria supplement to speed up the process. Bio-Spira by Marineland is the best known on the market and can cycle tanks extremely fast but I have used Stability by Seachem and it works pretty well too.
Another thing to consider too is how you handle your biomax media when you change/clean your filter media. THe temptation for many people is to rinse out the biomax as debree will collect in there overtime. This can wipe out your bacteria colonies very easily and the chlorine in tap water can kill them off too. I use biomax media in my Rena canister filter actually and when I change my filter media, I place water from my tank in a bucket and move the biomax bags into the bucket. This allows the bacteria to still survive while I am cleaning the rest of the filter and changing media. If there is debris in the biomax then I gently swish the bags back and forth in the bucket to remove the debree while not disturbing the bacteria. Then when the filter is clean I put the biomax back in and its good to go! A lot of people try to "overclean" and they end up cleaning that bacteria colonies from their filtration...then they wonder why their tank goes through the cycle all over again and fish start to die! The one thing I try to press into my customers head is maintaining that bacteria...it is one of the most important elements in your tank. Bacteria supplements are good to have on hand to add to the tank after doing such a cleaning and help replenish any bacteria that died off. Research the heck out of the nitrogen cycle and the bacteria involved and you will be able to solve 90% of the problems you'll ever run into :)
Thanks a lot for the post, it was really helpful. As for the black spots, any clue what it is or are you sure it's ammonia burning?
 
#8 ·
like I said, there is actually little known about black spot disease (sometimes called black smudge disease). I did some research for you though and from my past experience it has often been due to the healing of ammonia burn or a scratch. From what I have heard, the black ill go away with time though. I have also heard of goldfish developing color patterns throughout their life though so it could also be that. I have not heard of it ever killing a fish though but if you do have high ammonia then that could kill a fish. Basically just take extra care of the tank and make sure parameters stay safe and see if it goes away. Keep an eye on any behavioral differences though.
 
#9 ·
mHeinitz57 said:
like I said, there is actually little known about black spot disease (sometimes called black smudge disease). I did some research for you though and from my past experience it has often been due to the healing of ammonia burn or a scratch. From what I have heard, the black ill go away with time though. I have also heard of goldfish developing color patterns throughout their life though so it could also be that. I have not heard of it ever killing a fish though but if you do have high ammonia then that could kill a fish. Basically just take extra care of the tank and make sure parameters stay safe and see if it goes away. Keep an eye on any behavioral differences though.
Will do! Thanks!
 
#12 ·
Muskeh said:
I checked my fishing book because i caught a bluegill with black spots on it, and it sais there is a black spot disease called neascus and its made by tiny paracites that appear on its fins.
I would highly doubt it is neascus. Neascus looks like smaller more defined dots of black...almost like a black version of ich. I highly doubt it is this because of the life cycle of Neascus. It's really interesting...the adult parasites are actually found in birds such as herons and look like little worm things. The parasites eggs are released into the lake from the bird. The parasite eggs actually are consumed by snails where they hatch and break from the snail. THen the newly hatched parasite swims around till it finds a fish and burries into the fish. This causes black dots wherever it burries. Then another bird comes along and eats the fish and the cycle contines. Crazy huh!? I seriously doubt that would all happen in your fishtank though unless you left a window open and a heron flew in and you have freshwater snails. :)
 
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