Great Article-I have to try it next time. This can save $ on tetracycline and probly less stressful to fish! Although I am confused-I caught fish with my hands for years-then a petstore expert told me never to do that. I now use a net-and well they seem to loose scales that way.  With my hands I broke a couple of top fins.

On Animal Planet I saw some one do goldfish surgery on a black moor with a large carbuncle on its side.  The "doc" wore rubber gloves.  They placed the patient on a clean wet yellow kitchen sponge in a dish.  The "nurse" dripped water from an eyedropper on the patients gills.  After zapping the giant zit with a mini scalpel, they dabbed the area w a peroxide q tip til clean and bleeding stoped.  Then they put blacky in his own tiny recovery tank where he could rest and other fishes wont bite his wound.I guess he recovered.

I had a large fantail w/ a carbuncle-I held her in my hand ,she broke her top fin after stuggling-her body was as large as and orange.  My wife did not want me to take a blade to the zit,so I popped it with my thumbnail-a scale fell off then.  All I had was a bottle of hydrogen peroxide for gum infection I think was 10%. I treated the sore and the broken fin w the 10%. The wound did heal well-it left a scar and no scale grew back-at the time I did not relize how corrosive HP was. It looked like a burn scar,  The broken top fin kept moving and twisting around and stayed bloody looking for a week.It was only the first bone on the top fin. I snipped it even to the fishes back and the membrane to the next bone.  It healed well and the snipped off bone grew back in about 3 months!

She lived 4 years and was as big as a grapefruit and her entire length with tail was 12 inches.  With all my goofs and blunders.She died after a water change.

I am having problems w my fish-I dont understand this ammonia or bacteria thing I have kept fish for 20 years-sometimes they live years, other yimes only weeks.I do weekly full water changes,but I am reading up on things in this forum.  I also posted in another section  on my problems and question I would appriciate any feedback!