Well my daughter has 2 gold fish that are well looked after but goldie has developed fin rot he has red sore fins which i have treated with Fin rot and fungus control, will this cure him ? as she will be devastated if he dies we have only had the 2 for about 3 months ive treated the tank, when i was young i won a gold fish from the fair,(30 years ago ) he didn't have the care my daughter gives hers, he lived for very many years and he never had a problem,any ideas would be appreciated.

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If you don't have a test kit, you need to take a sample of the aquarium water (in a clean jar or plastic tub, preferably one that hasn't been used previously) to an aquatic store for testing. Ask for the full results for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate however don't be coaxed into buying anything in case the water quality is slightly off. If you can however, buy your own test kit, which should cost around £15-20.

You need the full results for pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Poor water quality is characterized by levels of ammonia and nitrite above 0ppm on the test scales.

Ammonia is a highly toxic nitrogenous (that is, it contains nitrogen, just like the other waste substances I've mentioned below) waste substance produced directly by fish metabolism (very much like our own metabolism, where ammonia is found in our urine) and also from decomposing organic matter such as faeces, uneaten food and decaying plant matter.

Nitrite is also a highly toxic waste substance that's produced when bacteria in the aquarium's filter break down the ammonia. The bacteria continue to break down the nitrite into other less harmful susbtances such as nitrate, phosphate and at the end of the nitrogen cycle, nitrogen gas.

Chemical medications themselves won't necessarily cure fish of disease, especially so if you haven't identified and dealt with the root cause, which in 85% of cases involving aquatic diseases is poor water quality. Prevention is always better than a cure.

Then again, something has to be causing the poor water quality (if this is indeed to blame) so you also have to find the root cause of this. How big is the tank and does it have a cycled filter? When are water changes carried out and how much water is changed? How often do you feed the fish?

The more info we have, the better the position we'll be in to advise.