Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 4-5 inch comet GF with 2 smaller shubunkins living in a 100 gallon kiddie pool for the winter. It has a pump/filter that will go in the pond also. I have been trying to deal with ammonia levels of .25 without any luck. I have done weekly 25% water changes, tried a filter sponge that would supposedly "suck up the ammonia", have added the "good bacteria", and have now started with ammolock. Well, my comet has a discolored area (pea sized) on each gill cover. They are cream/gray colored with darker brown areas blotched within them. I'm trying to figure out if they are ulcers maybe from the ammonia? Friday I started a .3% salt solution and I haven't noticed any changes. Last night he didn't come readily for his food and looked slightly less active and tended to stay by himself more. I'm worried when I get home today he might be dead. Because he's in a kiddie pool it's hard to get a picture from the side to post. My other water quality #'s are OK. Any suggestions about what this might be? The other 2 fish look OK. A couple of weeks ago one of them had a small "bubble" on one of his gill covers which is now gone. I also have a new pump with mechanical, biological, and UV filtration in it since thursday.

well without pics its going to be hard to tell if the colour isnt a natural pigment coming through. have you tested for the nitrite and nitrate also? nitrite may be the culprit if its high too. any chance of seperating the comet to another tank so you can get a good look at the gills? if not then catch him and try to look under his gill flap and see what colour they are. normal gills should be a healthy cherry red colour. if its a new filter then maybe its going through a cycle and may explain your test results, try doing a 50% water change and 30% each day for a week to see if that helps more.
using aquarium salt (im sure you can get large bags for pond use)as well helps them breathe easier through a spike in nitrite. you will need 1 level tablespoon per 5 gallons and dissolve first and add near the filter. the next day do the same again, as this will take you to a .2% solution. remember to add the salt when you do water changes. so for example if you take out 30 gallons put back 12 tablespoons once you have the solution at 2%.
hope this helps you, good luck.
please post back with what you get with the other results and looking at the gills.
also, as you will be handling the fish you can have a closer look and see if theres anything else wrong with him, such as any red streaks on the fins or body, red blotches that look like bruising under neath the skin. any sign of parasites in or around the gills.

Thanks for the quick response. My nitrites have been 0 and the nitrates are 20-40. The ammonia level has been .25 for a couple months already. Hopefully with the new filter it will eventually come down. I'm also not sure how often I can keep adding the ammo lock. the bottle says I will keep testing positive because it doesn't get rid of the ammonia, just detoxifies it,which makes sense, but what about the ammonia that my fish produce daily? Any good suggestion on how to catch my fish, handle him without damaging his slime coating and most importantly looking inside his gills?

Just a quick update: I did the 50% water change. While I was looking closer at my comet, I noticed that a very fine edge of all of his fins are black. It's a very small part of the edge, I have to be within a foot away to see it. I have an excellent book written by Dr. Erik Johnson, and he states that black edging on fins is not uncommon if there has been a water quality problem. It may actually be a sign of healing of the fish's epidermis. So, the black edges are new and maybe that means that the ammolock is helping with the ammonia (until my pond cycles)and the water quality is getting better. Maybe that is all the spots are on the gill covers too. My fish is eating and swimming very actively again today. Do you think I should still put him through picking him up to look closely or just continue to watch him? I'll continue doing water changes while I wait for my filter to work. My nitrites again today were 0 and my nitrates were 20. Thanks so far for all of your advice!

it does look like the ammonia may have been the culprit and yes the black is the healing from the burns. the spots on his gills sound like breeding tubercles and indicate that your fish is a male. as he seems to be getting better then just watch him closely.
if you ever have to catch him then have a net and a wet towel or face cloth handy. once caught you can wrap him in the towel and then use a finger to gently lift the gill flap to have a look. as the fish wont be too happy to be out of water then have someone to help you and hold him over the pool in case he manages to slip free.
im not a fan of ammolock as yes it does disguise the real readings but as long as your aware of that then thats fine.
if the filter is new then it will be going through a cycle and the ammonia may increase and then turn to nitrites.
keep testing your water for any signs and do water changes if anything climbs.

Thanks so much for the info! I do feel a little better. I'll keep an I on all of them closely.