About / Disclaimer

What this site is

Happy Lucky Fish Club publishes a hobbyist reference for freshwater keepers (goldfish-heavy, with notes where tropicals differ). Content is synthesized from product labels, published textbooks and hobby manuals, parasite ID charts (the skin-parasite chart is adapted from Scott P.W. (1985) in Manual of Exotic Pets, revised edition, BSAVA Publications), and experienced keepers’ protocols. Tone is dry and blunt on purpose. Professional enough to host; not soft enough to hide risk.

What this site is not

• Not a veterinary diagnosis, prescription, or treatment plan for your fish.
• Not a substitute for an aquatic veterinarian, diagnostic lab, or current product label.
• Not a promise that any protocol will work for every species, age, or water chemistry.
• Not a place for folk remedies. We do not recommend floating garlic, “energy” cures, or superstitions like “floating food makes fish float.” Floating after dry floating pellets is usually gulped air / constipation / other listed causes — see the floating card.

Salt: use a kitchen scale

Teaspoon measures of aquarium salt vary with crystal size. Weigh salt. Teaspoons are a last resort when you have no scale.

• True supportive 0.1% ≈ 1 ppt = 1000 ppm ≈ 3.8 g per US gallon (~¾ tsp only if your salt is ~5 g/tsp).
• The hobby line “1 tsp/gal ≈ 0.1%” overshoots (~0.13–0.15%). This site follows the mass-based table.
• Never confuse ppm and ppt (1 ppt = 1000 ppm). A target of 0.1% is not 0.1 ppm.

Full cheat sheet: Treatments → Salinity.

When to escalate

• Multiple deaths after corrected water and a completed, appropriate course
• Chronic wasting / clean scrapes / mycobacteria on the differential (zoonotic caution; gloves; no reliable OTC cure)
• Need for injectables, culture/sensitivity, or necropsy
• Prescription / restricted drugs in your jurisdiction
• Unsure of species-specific salt or heat tolerance (scaleless fish, some koi lines, etc.)

Gaps & honesty

• Named products on this site (Quick Cure, Romet-type foods, Dimilin, injectables, etc.) may be unavailable, renamed, restricted, or vet-only. Prefer current labels + vet guidance.
• Heat protocols (~84–86°F) and harsh oxidizers (e.g. potassium permanganate) are high-risk; parasites first; oxygenate heavily.
• Formalin + malachite green products: toxic, oxygen-robbing; never mix with PP.
• This site is goldfish-centric. Do not copy goldfish salt/heat ceilings onto every tropical.
• Re-check before treating: verify against current labels and vet guidance.

Privacy

Public pages exclude personal names, addresses, lab branding, necropsy case details, prices from private reports, and private tank IDs. Do not upload private diagnostic PDFs to this site.

The site sets no cookies. It uses Cloudflare Web Analytics for anonymous, aggregate visit counts.

Optional app notes

A compact symptom decision tree (for a future troubleshooting tool) lives at symptom-decision.md. Same disclaimer applies.