fin rot or something else? please help

[jimmay]

hi all, from melbourne australia

I have had my bubble eye in a 40 litre (10 gallon) tank for about 6 weeks now with another shubunkin. About a week ago I introduced 4 Black (gold) widows into the tank. Things seemed to be going very well, it was receiving the occasional bullying from the shubunkin with nipping to the fins and cheeks occasionally. Last night I noticed that his fins had started to shred and were deteriorating, I got up at about 6am this morning to go to work and the fins didnt seem much worse however when i got today one of his bubbles had popped and the other one didnt looks so. I am only new to the hobby but from what I can tell it doesnt look like what i have been told fin rot should, the fins arent slimey and there arent any blood streaks through them. I also havent noticed the widows (tetras) attacking at all however to me this seems like the only explination. He is not looking very good at all now

I have divided the tank in half with some gutter guard so that the bubble eye is separate from the rest and added 1 teaspoon of melafix to the tank. I have been told that adding some salt may also help but how much and what sort of salt do i add.

Is there anything else i can do, I also have the problem that because its so close to xmas now and all the aquariums are closed. I am also going away tomorrow morning for 2 nights!!! AAAARGGGHHH! Should i up the amount of melafix to the solution and add some salt??? Will normal supermarket salt be OK until i can get to an aquarium and get some salt from there?

Please help.

Here is a pic, the other side of his face has a popped bubble.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h144/jimmay6969/fin-rot.jpg

[kimmers318]

To begin with a 10 gal is way too small for those poor guys...they may be smaller now but will soon outgrow that tank unfortunately for you. And since you have issues with nipping it is probably because they are crowded (overstocked) which will cause bickering amongst your fish. I am not sure how big the widows get, but I believe goldfish of any type need 30gal for one, with an added 10 for each after. Another thing to remember is goldfish are coldwater, tropical fish are not, making their living arrangements incompatible. You can take steps to heal your beat up buddy, but it will probably keep happening, especially as your fish seem to be nippy to him. You are on the right track with the melafix for healing, follow the directions on the bottle. You can also add some stresscoat (which you can find at walmart, so should be able to find at just about any dept. store that carries fish supplies) which I have had success with helping my fish to feel better and heal.
Another concern is that you probably added too many fish too quickly. Your tank should have had (if it finished cycling) enough bacteria to handle the 1 fish, when you added a group last week you increase the bio load and a week probably wasn't enough time to allow the good bacteria to catch up, so now you have overloaded the tank. If you have test kits I would recommend testing your water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates....toxins can cause your fish to have alot of different issues. If you don't have test kits, I suggest you look into buying one.
Ultimately, though, you probably won't be able to keep the fish together in this tank, so find a new home for it, either at your home in a new tank, or somewhere else. I know they probably look like there is plenty of room for them right now, but they really do need more space to be happy and thrive.
Good luck