freshwater desiese

Question
hi im sorry im asking you about fresh water but you were the closest to it, I have a 30litre (6 gallon) tank with two sucking catfish (about the size of a guppy) and a koi fish and a commet goldfish recently i have noticed that the koi and the commet have white specs all over there tale and the commet goldfish's tale has started to tatter is this fin rot or what? also if this is finrot how do i cure it?

Thanks  

Answer
Hi Matt. No problem. The problem you are having is a combination of things going on. First of all that size tank is way too small for all those fish. Koi and comets are very messy and the waste they produce is more than enough to pollute your tank very quickly.(besides that both of these fish get very large!) Check your water quality and especially check to see where your ammonia is. I can bet it is pretty high. This will cause a fish to become distressed and this stress will lower their immune system and make them more likely to come down with parasites and different diseases. The white spots you are seeing is most likely ick. Ick is a parasite and must be treated with a copper based medication to kill it. However copper is also slightly toxic to fish and if your water has high levels of ammonia in it, it may be even more toxic to your fish. First you must fix your water by doing frequent partial water changes of up to 2 gallons daily, then treat for disease. The other thing you are seeing may very well be fin rot. That you would want to treat with a antibacterial fish medication. You will want to remove any activated carbon you may have before you start treatment and replace it with fresh carbon after the course of treatment is finished. Also make sure you follow all the manufacturers instructions when using these medications and make sure they can be used together. Even after doing all this you may still have fish that will start to show signs of illness. The tank they are in is way too small and this kind of an outbreak may be reoccurring because of it.