like Jan said... ammonia burns. start changing water 50% per day, Add 1 teaspoon of
salt per 5 gallons. This can be increased to 3 teas. per 5 over a few days. Use rock
salt with no additives. and then you are going to need a nitrate test and keep
nitrates at or below 20 ppm with water changes.
no gravel works better for keeping nitrate levels low, as does small amounts of high
protein, high quality food. and I do mean small amounts.
try http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/home.html for GF in aquarium problems
join the puregold list http://list.lovemyoldhome.com/puregold/
Ingrid

(Karen) wrote:

A month ago, I brought my two shubunkin goldfish in from my outdoor
pond, and installed them in a 10 gallon fish tank. (The fish are
about 2-1/2 inches long and looked *much* smaller outside!) Aside
from looking like giants in the tank, they seemed very happy and have
been doing fine. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some of the
scales along the top and back of one of them were looking black. The
black discoloration has spread and grown more pronounced since then,
and there are black areas on the edges of his fins now too. He is
eating and swimming and acting just fine, but I am worried sick about
him. Today I noticed that the other one now has a patch of black on
the fringe of his top fin too. I have spent days surfing the net
searching for a clue to what ails them, and how to fix it, but no
luck. Does anyone have any idea? I am very attached to these
adorable fish-children that had the good grace to live through my
first summer of pond-keeping!
Thank you --
Karen



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.