Has my fish got ammonia burns? and if so why?

Okay some of you might remember that one of my 4year old comets turned on his side, refused food and died.
This has left me with his mate of the same age who yesterday also decided to do the lying on his side thing. I immediately fed him some soft cooked peas and he stopped lying on his side and started swimming normally. I took the water for testing and was told that it was perfect (have test kit but wanted to be sure). I have a power head filter, a box filter and an undergravel filter running there is also a seachem ammonia alarm in the tank and I am using 1g of aquarium salt per litre as well as dechlorinator etcin a 10 gallon tank and doing 2 weekly water changes. So what is his problem? Looking at him today he seems to have black smudges on his body and the bottom of his lower fins which are discribed on the Goldfish Sanctuary as ammonia burns. I have done a partial water change and will continue to do this every day for the next couple of weeks but why has he got these does anyone know?[/b]

 

That sounds similar to ammonia burn. Usually I know ammonia burns as being brown smudges, but I guess they could be black. When ever you go to the lfs for your water readings never take, "it is fine" as an answer. You should demand to have the readings written down for you to make your own judgements. Ammonia burn is caused by high concentrations of ammonia in your fish water, to remedy this I would do daily water changes until I get the ammonia to zero or close enough. I would also buy a testing kit for myself just to be sure.

 

How big is he? If hes anything over 4 inches i wouldnt be suprised if hes sick cuz hes in only 10 gallon, comets get somewhere around 2 feet long. So dont go comets in 10.

 

Hi Thanks for the advice unfortunately Fergul passed on yesterday. I understand that comets get to big for a 10 gallon tank but they were an unwanted gift from a friend. I tried to get them a bigger home as I hadn't got room for a bigger tank myself but nobody wanted them.

 

Well, sry to hear about the fish dying.

 

Yes we have all lost a fish and its not fun but if any of your future fish or other fish get that i would go for Ammonia Detox by Kent aqaurium company i have used it works great.