Hmmm well I did my second 50% water change today, thoroughly cleaned the heck out of everything in the tank and used Prime, so I'm going to test tomorrow and see what's happening.

When you say it tested quite high, I assume you're talking about the ammonia still? What was the result?
Are the frayed fins still quite clean cut? No secondary infections lurking? i.e pinky-white edge on fins, blood in the fin tissue.

It's odd that it's getting worse after a water change? Are the PH in your tap and tank the same? That might be something to just double check. Perhaps it's the PH fluctuating?

I can understand the confusion, I'm not sure either

Apart from gasping like a nut earlier today, she's doing okay.

I'm beginning to wonder if there's a connection between her eating and gasping, as just after feeding her she went on a gasping/foraging spree, which she stopped doing and calmed down once I'd done a water change.
It's strange, I fed her brocolli the other day and she spent forever eating it and nibbling at things, not going to the surface once. But feeding her a pea today and as I said she went up and down like a yo yo.

It's almost like, if she's distracted with something she doesn't bother to gasp. Like after the water change today she was far too busy eating algae and I didn't see her near the top at all after that XD
She is certainly a weird fish.

It's odd that Prime would make the ammonia worse?
Water changes will only be helping alleviate the ammonia level. Perhaps double check your tap water?
I tested mine and it looked like 0ppm, but I re-tested it again with my tank water at the same time and they were both the same colour, so it was still around 0.25ppm. I even cleaned the test tubes (soaked them in warm water) and tested again just to be sure, had the same results.

I was wondering if fin rot would appear. I believe there's a thread about treating fin rot with Hydrogen Peroxide, so if the salt doesn't help, perhaps try that?

Hi Cdale,

It turns out her gasping IS related to food as I suspected.
I did a little experiment and the results were this;

Thursday 29th - Fed brocolli attached to a seaweed clip (Observed 10am - 11.30am)
Times Gasped: Once - very quick/nothing much at all

Sunday 1st - Hand fed half a pea (Observed 10.20am - 11.00am)
Times Gasped: x41 (Often gasping multiple times, or for a prolonged period)

Monday 2nd - Hand fed 2 or 3 pinches of soaked flakes (Observed 10.10am - 10.50am)
Times Gasped: x53 (Often gasping multiple times, or for a prolonged period)

Tuesday 3rd - Fed nothing, but was observed eating algae/plants (Observed 10.35am - 11.15am)
Times Gasped: None

So yeah.... interestingly someone on another forum has suggested this could mean Lucky is allergic to pea's and flakes. I never knew fish could be allergic, but it's certainly interesting. I suppose if she does it with certain items, it could indicate that. So looks like more investigating!

As for the ammonia, still holding out at 0.25ppm. I really don't know what else I can do about it now XD

Well given at the moment, I no longer see Lucky gasping, I assume it's the food and not the ammonia.
She gasps after eating and then usually after a few hours has stopped and is busy eating the algae like a machine.
Honestly so far today all I've seen her doing is eat algae XD She loves the stuff.

I'm going to look into fish having allergies and ask on another forum if they have the same issue of eating/gasping.
But you also make a good point, if she's going to the surface looking for the hand of food. Although the fact she can see me sat on the bed and no where near the tank, maybe she's just being hopeful? 
She does swim up and 'gasp' when I'm filling test tubes, so you may have a point there.

But either way, it's just a relief to have a cause behind it and it's not that I've deformed her gills or something with the st*pid ammonia.

Again with the ammonia, I am wondering if our tests are picking up the safe form of ammonia that Prime converts it into. But I'm not too sure on that theory, that's me hoping I don't have to keep doing 2 - 3 water changes all this time!

Just so everyone can see what colour my test comes out at every time I test it is this type of green...
Never seen yellow! 

This has been posted in the FB group as well, but wanted it here too; (Link is not visible to guests. Please register to view.)
Check out the second question Some one on another forum directed me to it, so thought it might help explain both our situations.
As I'm not sure how long you've been cycling for, but I've had this tank set up for over 2 months now.
The person on the forum told me that if the ammonia stays at 0.25ppm or less, then it should be okay. Seachem do mention a specific ammonia test that goes with their conditioner (good marketing strategy!) so I might look into it. The API ammonia test does nothing but annoy me anyway XD

I see what you mean about Carlos' fins. Is there anything, anywhere in the tank he could be catching his fins on? I ask because once Lucky had a red mark on the periscope part of her dorsal fin, it went away fine and I assumed it was because she had at some point caught it somewhere.
I did read a story on here somewhere of someone's goldfish fin randomly getting split.... and they used hydrogen peroxide to heal it... will try and find the thread now...

Seachem states "A: A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime®... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime®). A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away."

Not sure what strip tests fall under?

A small amount of ammonia, is not good, particularly over a prolonged period of time as when the fish survives, you're never quite sure if and how the ammonia has affected them. Carlos hasn't been 'exposed' as it were to ammonia for that long and I know you're on top of water changes and cleaning.

As for Prime, yes I add it per bucket. I usually aim to do 0.3ml per 8 litres of water -which is 1.5x the normal dosage because of the **** ammonia in the tap water. Sometimes I accidentally add a little more, but this is never a huge problem as the other day for example I used my jug to top up the last 4 litres in the tank, but didn't bother to treat it. I figured as I'd over dosed, accidentally putting 0.5ml in 2 buckets, it would be fine. Lucky certainly hasn't been bothered.
I find the syringe a little annoying and often I get drips through the bottle adapter or air bubbles in the syringe, I eventually get there! Sorry it's late at night and I realise I'm rambling slightly!

I hear people say all the time, strip tests aren't as accurate as liquid tests. One day I'll look into the reasons why, because it's a very intriguing argument I hear, but no one actually explains the evidence. Maybe I'll go ask in another forum now actually.....

Interesting idea on the vents, perhaps watch him for 20 minutes at certain times of the day and see if he does anything?
I have been known to sit on my bed opposite the tank with my laptop (before it broke) and I would do stuff on that and then occasionally glance up at Lucky, see what she was up to. It was handy when I had to do things, but wanted to keep an eye on her at the same time. Especially when I had the hypochondriac phase of thinking everything was wrong with her lol XD

Rambling done now....

Just to let you know Skwishee I have tested the tap water for ammonia and there isnt any for sure...Hmmmmm! 
Im about to do a water change I wont clean the filter and I think I am going to do another does of hydrogen peroxide but only on one fin as I am not sure if I can apply to everywhere?! Seems a bit much...

Yeah I was thinking that to be honest, thanks for being concerned Skwishee!
I will do the water changes but only put the poo up and not properly hoover and see what happens? He is a big fish so maybe he just produces too much waste for the bacteria?!
Yeah when I add prime I still have the darker colour of green in my ammonia test so could be prime doing it? That post makes sense, was useful thanks!

Before leaving it for 5 mins?
Yeah I tested nearly straight after my water change, would it be different if I left it?

When using Prime, the FAQ on Seachems website suggests checking the colour straight away,

"A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime®... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime®). A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away."

If you leave it too long, as the quote states, the ammonia-Prime complex will break down and give a false reading.
I'm hoping to test mine today and check the colour straight away, but I'm still considering getting Seachems actual ammonia test kit later on. I might look into it a little first. Only because I find it hard enough to read the API ammonia one XD Let alone read it when the results are being messed with  

I personally never test after a water change. I feel that the water change will have done it's job, so I don't test it.
If I'm concerned about anything then I test it the next day