Why Did My Goldfish Die?

fishnoob88 · May 13, 2009

I have a 3000 gal pond outside and I have had this goldfish for about 3-4 years. Well this goldfish got really fat and I didn't think much about it because the sameone got real fat last year around the sametime (spring) I assumed it was a female and just had bunch of eggs . It started sitting on bottom, not eating, well then eventually just died. I took some pictures of it and it looks pretty rough, like a tumor or something? Maybe you can help me, and I hope none of my other goldfish have it, they are all swimming and eating fine.

saltynay · May 13, 2009

Eewww at first I was going to say dropsy but that looks like some form of extreme infection :blink:

perhaps it had a parasite and thats how it exited its host.

fishnoob88 · May 13, 2009

Do you think my other fish are at risk? They have been very active and eating fine during all this.

WILDER · May 14, 2009

Hard to tell in the pic as it gross to look at.
If its hard it could be tumour.

Signs of internal parasites are.
Long stringy white poo or clear mucas poo.
Enlarged anus or red inflamed anus.
Fish will look skinny or bloated.
Fish will sometimes swim on its side.
Sunken in belly.
Bent spine sometimes.

Colin_T · May 14, 2009

if it's a hard lump then it's probably a tumour. Soft and full of fluid is a cyst. But it looks like a tumour to me.

fishnoob88 · May 14, 2009

I was going to cut it open and look myself but it's really sick :sick:

aquila · May 14, 2009

Did anything come out of the wound? If it's firm and fleshy I'd say tumour, if it's soft and fluidy it was probably an abscess that's burst open as a result of chronic infection.

Not much you can do about either and the other fish are unlikely to be affected, unless the abscess was as a result of bad water quality.

saph.st24 · May 14, 2009

hi
if it is hard its more then likely a tumour it could have been caused by egg retention
if a fish is egg bound and doesnt spawn they become compacted and the eggs turn hard which then gets bigger as more eggs are produced unless it is removed in the end it will kill the fish

fishnoob88 · May 15, 2009

saph.st24 said:
hi
if it is hard its more then likely a tumour it could have been caused by egg retention
if a fish is egg bound and doesnt spawn they become compacted and the eggs turn hard which then gets bigger as more eggs are produced unless it is removed in the end it will kill the fish

Interesting you said this. The sametime last year this fish got HUGE and few weeks later I had babies and this same fish was skinny again. That's why I didn't think anything of it when it was fat and sitting on bottom, I figured oh it's spawning :angry:

love4aquatic · May 15, 2009

fishnoob88 said:
saph.st24 said:

hi
if it is hard its more then likely a tumour it could have been caused by egg retention
if a fish is egg bound and doesnt spawn they become compacted and the eggs turn hard which then gets bigger as more eggs are produced unless it is removed in the end it will kill the fish

Click to expand...

Interesting you said this. The sametime last year this fish got HUGE and few weeks later I had babies and this same fish was skinny again. That's why I didn't think anything of it when it was fat and sitting on bottom, I figured oh it's spawning

that looks like dropsy to me, sometimes it can push things out of the area...

.

fishnoob88 · May 15, 2009

love4aquatic said:
fishnoob88 said:

saph.st24 said:

hi
if it is hard its more then likely a tumour it could have been caused by egg retention
if a fish is egg bound and doesnt spawn they become compacted and the eggs turn hard which then gets bigger as more eggs are produced unless it is removed in the end it will kill the fish

Click to expand...

Interesting you said this. The sametime last year this fish got HUGE and few weeks later I had babies and this same fish was skinny again. That's why I didn't think anything of it when it was fat and sitting on bottom, I figured oh it's spawning

Click to expand...

that looks like dropsy to me, sometimes it can push things out of the area... .

is that common in goldfish? anyway to fix it?

saph.st24 · May 15, 2009

hi
you say she spawned last year and went thin, so im not saying its not a tumor but i dought its a tumor caused by the fish being egg bound if it was later in the year or she hadnt spawned last year then yes it could be a tumor caused by old infected eggs

it could be an ulcer caused by and internal infection ulcers develope mainly on the underside or flanks of the fish on the outside of the koi where the internal infection causes an area of scales to redden and raise the infection causes the scales to drop off and this leaves the sensitive skin exposed and unprotected to the water
has your fish been stressed by something like netting or something done in the pond?
how are your water perams?
ulcers can also be caused by damage could she have knocked herself damaging scales?
have you seen signs of spawning as the males can get rough and the girls can get badly hurt or even killed ?
could you have parasites have you added any new fish lately?

fishnoob88 · May 16, 2009

saph.st24 said:
hi
you say she spawned last year and went thin, so im not saying its not a tumor but i dought its a tumor caused by the fish being egg bound if it was later in the year or she hadnt spawned last year then yes it could be a tumor caused by old infected eggs

it could be an ulcer caused by and internal infection ulcers develope mainly on the underside or flanks of the fish on the outside of the koi where the internal infection causes an area of scales to redden and raise the infection causes the scales to drop off and this leaves the sensitive skin exposed and unprotected to the water
has your fish been stressed by something like netting or something done in the pond?
how are your water perams?
ulcers can also be caused by damage could she have knocked herself damaging scales?
have you seen signs of spawning as the males can get rough and the girls can get badly hurt or even killed ?
could you have parasites have you added any new fish lately?

no new fish lately, the other big fish (we only had 2 big goldfish in the pond, the rest were small , from their past breeding)which we believe is the male, has been hanging out with this now dead, we think female fish, for a few weeks before it died. They would both hang out at the bottom together and not eat , but then the last week before it died, the male left her alone and started eating again. The water has been brown and has some green algea in it. But I do water changes weekly and vacuum the rocks weekly. And all the other fish are happier than ever, and the frogs

oh and sametime lastyear it did get this big, and it got smaller, but not SKINNY , it was still fat, actually it's always been much fatter than the "male". All I know is..I wish I knew this was the problem. I would of killed it myself, instead of letting it suffer :angry:

saph.st24 · May 16, 2009

hi

do you get bubbles on the surface that dont pop for a while or foam near your filter return?

females are fatter the males anyway , frogs and toads can carry parasites and some bacteria from pond to pond

i still think it was an ulcer..... caused by what we may never never know
but for future reference
2 pics ,1 of dropsy and eggbound koi which did you goldie look like fat all over or just fat underneath and thinner in top

the only real way to tell if yor koi was eg bound would be to do an autopsy but i would have thought you have got rid of the fish by now so thats not an option
couple of pics of an autopsy on a egg bound koi

fishnoob88 · May 17, 2009

saph.st24 said:
hi

do you get bubbles on the surface that dont pop for a while or foam near your filter return?

females are fatter the males anyway , frogs and toads can carry parasites and some bacteria from pond to pond

i still think it was an ulcer..... caused by what we may never never know
but for future reference
2 pics ,1 of dropsy and eggbound koi which did you goldie look like fat all over or just fat underneath and thinner in top

the only real way to tell if yor koi was eg bound would be to do an autopsy but i would have thought you have got rid of the fish by now so thats not an option
couple of pics of an autopsy on a egg bound koi

Yeah sometimes there are lot of bubbles floating, and I have ton of frogs. Because I have a 50 foot long creek/waterfall that runs into the pond also, and they spawn like crazy in it. And it looks like the 2nd pic, eggbound.

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