After taking her out of the huge outdoor tank and giving Citrine a close examination I concluded that she had dropsy. Her scales were pineconing out on one side and she couldn't swim well or keep food down, so I treated her with epsom salts for about a month, but she showed no improvement. I don't know what it was that caused her dropsy, but she had always struggled with her swim bladder.

Finally I couldn't stand to see her suffer any more so I put her in the freezer. R.I.P. my darling Citrine. 

Thank you, fantailer. She was a sweet little girl and is severely mourned. 

Thank you, Nossie.  I guess now I'm at two fish lost to dropsy as well!  Just when everything was going so well, look what strikes. Dropsy is BY FAR the hardest disease I've tried to treat. Most of the time I just put them down cause I can't stand to see them suffer so  . I even got her 2 comet goldfish to keep her company outside so she wouldn't get lonely, but now it seems they will be the ones to feel forlorn.

Perhaps I'll do an all comet goldfish outdoor tank this summer instead.

I think they're gorgeous when they're small, too.   

We loves us some fishies  I like the comets that have tails as long as their bodies! They look soooo graceful.

What do you know, its the beginning of May and we just got a snowstorm.  Hopefully the little bitties outside will be ok during this freezing cold day. I keep it covered with a lid to help with insulation. Somehow, my water never freezes over  I DID put my ranchu Jade out there the day before the storm because she is in temporary punishment...I shall explain.

I really need some help about this! I have a lovely chocolate oranda named Elsie Amber who was being constantly harassed by my tiny ranchu Jade. Jade kept biting Elsie until Elsie's tail had large gashes in it. I put Jade outside for her bad behavior (bad fish, bad fish, no!) but now Elsie is suffering from a VERY SEVERE case of fin rot. It started out as nothing major, just a bit of white around her tattered fins, so I added a concentration of salt. It began to just get worse and worse, so I put in a fizz tablet by Jungle said to cure "ragged tailfin." Unfortunately I only had one tablet left, so I couldn't give her the next dosage. I figured she'd be fine, but nooooo it's only getting worse and worse!!! Now she has fin rot on her dorsal and ventral fins as well. So yesterday I treated her fins by dabbing them with hydrogen peroxide.  This morning they are even worse than before!

Should I go to the store and get some Melafix? I've heard thats good for fin rot, though I've never used it myslelf - I've always tried to treat everything at home naturallly because meds mess up my tank. Read up on Melafix, but found out it is all natural so it won't mess up my tank! What do you guys think?

I'll post pics as soon as I import them into the computor.

When Horus was harassing my babies I separated him into a bucket of tank water. Next time I put him with his buddies, he was all better He's been very nice to them all ever since So... as evil as it sounds, sometimes you just have to separate the fish! :/

Anyways, the fin rot, it sounds really bad!! But I wouldn't try melafix at this stage, because it isn't helping. The thing is, it'll heal the fishes' first symptoms, but it won't kill any bacteria, in some cases, fish have died because of melafix, it had been nourishing the bacteria. So... I'd go for something stronger, actually something that will kill bacteria, something like bactopur by Sera, I've used it for everything more severe for years now, and everybody have recovered successfully Go have a look at some anti-bacterial medication. You can always take out the filter media during this time and keep it in a bucket of tank water and use some zeolithe. (since that would absorb any ammonia, just don't treat with salt while using that) You would also need to stock up on some beneficial bacteria, I guess, but I bet it'll be just fine It's strange that the hydrogen peroxide didn't work! D8

That's very true, Nossie. I personally think its more cruel to leave a bullying fish to harass the others than it is to separate them.

Thank you for your advice!  I was planning to go to the store to get some bactopur, but I decided to first see if doing a large water change (to get rid of the old med) and adding a concentration of salt, (1 tablespoon per 10 gallons) epsom salt, (1 tablespoon per 10 gallons) and baking soda (1 teaspoon per 10 gallons). I found the concentrations online. Before I added the baking soda I tested the ph to see if it wasn't over a 7.5, because baking soda causes ph to escalate. It was only at a 7, so I had nothing to worry about. And you know what, it worked! Her tail is healing very fast, so I don't think I'll need to use the meds after all! Maybe it was the peroxide working and I didn't know it.  I may want to get some bactopur on hand however, incase another bout of fin rot comes back.

Corn kills fish!  Best thing you could do is stop using corn...It is extremely harmful to the digestive tract and swim bladder...  And is a slow painful bloating death...

Age dependent, goldfish need high proteins which give them the amino acids that they can not produce on their own. Feed smaller doses several times a day... Fish eat all day, and carp graze all day. They need daily balanced diets in small portions several times every day.

Also if you have used salt as a treatment it does cause kidney damage in freshwater fish, which leads to bloating, gasping at the top, and dropsy. 

Algae, Spurlina, blood worms, brine shrimp, daphina, live plants, deshelled peas, spinach, green beans and leafy greens are great additions to your normal goldfish food.

Hope this helps..

GREAT! I'm so happy for you!

As for the salt Jopplin mentioned, I'm pretty sure I read that salt indeed causes kidney damage in fish, but only if they're exposed to it for a long time, as in: people constantly adding salt to the tank. As a treatment, it's been used since FOREVER! So I doubt it'd be bad used as such once in a while

I think you should let her rest up Just give her extra nutritious food (I usually feed mostly live foods and vegetables to my fish if they're sick/in quarantine) and make sure that the water is as good as it can

And yes, it isn't natural for freshwater fish to live in brackish water, for instance And marine fish wouldn't make it in freshwater!
They have a different relationship to the water, and they use the salts in different ways. Needless to say that something would go wrong if they're kept in conditions they weren't designed to

Depends on how long you've had the salt in the tank I usually keep fish in quarantine with a salt treatment for the first week at least, and add more for the fresh water when I change, if necessary. So at most I keep the fish "exposed" to salt for three weeks, but usually less since they most of the time get healthier already after the first week

You've probably noticed that water conditioner I keep bragging about in posts xD That EasyLife one called "fluid bio filter media". I use to add that to the quarantine tank and to the main system in case my fish show any symptoms or if they have torn fins. It's a really good thing to have in stock, so if you find it, it's worth a try

It really is On a domestic online store, I saw a 5 liter canister with it xD Totally worth the money (Didn't buy it though, shipping it would be a b*tch)

Fin rot is a pretty agonizing thing if it goes too far, yes :/ I've had my fair share of it as well, not with the current goldies, but a few years ago in the community tank.

Why not? It's probably more or less the same either way