Fancy Goldfish Is Sick?

[maddi7777]

Hi all,

I need some help with my black moor goldfish Kovu. He has had cloudy eye for quite some time and I attempted to use API Furan-2 to clear it, but it has been persistent. Also, he has developed white film spots all over his body. He also has some small dot wounds on his tail and body. His tail looks to be much more ragged than it used to be as well. I really am not sure what to do and am worried about him. Usually, I test the water to see if I can identify any triggers but I lost my water testing kit and am leaving for vacation tomorrow. If I find it tonight, I will update this thread with his water parameters. In the past, his water parameters looked good. I do have some basic API Super Ick Cure, should I try this? I do not think he has ick but not entirely sure.

Alongside all this, I am looking for suggestions for goldfish food or tank set-up or really just anything that will make him happier and healthier. He is constantly riddled with illnesses and diseases and I feel largely at fault. Thanks for any and all help.

Attached are some pictures of him and the white film on his body.

 

[Naughts]

No it's not ich.

If the fish is often sick it will be due to environmental stress. What is the tank size? What tank mates are there? How much water do you change and how often?

Change 75% of the water, match the temperature of the new water and make sure it is dechlorinated.

Add aquarium salt (or rock salt, pool filter salt -not table salt) at the rate of 1tablespoon per 5 gallons and leave it there for 2 weeks. When you do a water change, replace the appropriate amount of salt.
We can increase this to 2tbsp/5 gallons if there is no significant improvement in 2 weeks. Let us know.

 

[maddi7777]

No it's not ich.

If the fish is often sick it will be due to environmental stress. What is the tank size? What tank mates are there? How much water do you change and how often?

Change 75% of the water, match the temperature of the new water and make sure it is dechlorinated.

Add aquarium salt (or rock salt, pool filter salt -not table salt) at the rate of 1tablespoon per 5 gallons and leave it there for 2 weeks. When you do a water change, replace the appropriate amount of salt.
We can increase this to 2tbsp/gall if there is no significant improvement in 2 weeks. Let us know.

Thank you for the reply! His tank is 20 gallons and he has no tank mates. I change 90% of the water once every 2 weeks. I am leaving for vacation today and won’t be back for a week, but I will buy and add the aquarium salt when I get back. Thanks again and I will keep you updated.

 

[Finn6419]

Hi everyone;

If your goldfish becomes sick then you have to change the water once a weekend, give low food to the fish.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish is covered in excess mucous (the cream/ white patches on the body and tail). This is normally caused by something in the water irritating the fish. It can be from ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, low pH, chemical medications, or external protozoan parasites like Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina.

The white dots on the fish could be sand that is stuck to the mucous.

The cloudy eyes are common in goldfish kept in acid water (pH below 7.0), or in poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite or high nitrate).

------------------------
Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.

Fiind out what the pH, GH and KH are. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Goldfish want a pH above 7.0 and a GH around 200ppm, at the least it should be above 150ppm.
If the pH is below 7.0, add some shells, dead coral rubble, or limestone rocks to the tank to help raise the pH.


------------------------
WHAT TO DO NOW?
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week, then do it once a week after that. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).


------------------------
SALT
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium. Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks. This should kill off any external protozoan parasites.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.


------------------------
DIET
Make sure the fish gets plenty of plant matter in its diet. Duckweed is a small floating plant that most goldfish eat. You can also keep live aquarium plants in the tank for the fish to eat.

Add some frozen or live foods to the fish's diet. I used marine mix (prawn, fish & squid blended up and frozen into cubes), as well as brineshrimp, bloodworms, daphnia and mysis shrimp. These can all be bought from most pet shops. You can also buy frozen prawn/ shrimp from most supermarkets in the seafood section.

If you want to feed prawn, take one out of the freezer and defrost it. Remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in body) and throw these bits in the bin. Use a pair of scissors to cut te ramining prawn tail into small pieces and offer a few bits at a time. Let the fish eat until full and then put the remaining prawn in the fridge and use the following day.

Offer the fish a few different types of gildfish food too, or use a goldfish food and a vegetable flake/ pellet for them.

 

[maddi7777]

The fish is covered in excess mucous (the cream/ white patches on the body and tail). This is normally caused by something in the water irritating the fish. It can be from ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, low pH, chemical medications, or external protozoan parasites like Costia, Chilodonella or Trichodina.

The white dots on the fish could be sand that is stuck to the mucous.

The cloudy eyes are common in goldfish kept in acid water (pH below 7.0), or in poor water quality (ammonia, nitrite or high nitrate).

------------------------
Check the water quality for ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.

Fiind out what the pH, GH and KH are. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Goldfish want a pH above 7.0 and a GH around 200ppm, at the least it should be above 150ppm.
If the pH is below 7.0, add some shells, dead coral rubble, or limestone rocks to the tank to help raise the pH.


------------------------
WHAT TO DO NOW?
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. This removes the biofilm on the glass and the biofilm will contain lots of harmful bacteria, fungus, protozoans and various other microscopic life forms.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week, then do it once a week after that. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration to maximise the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Add some salt, (see directions below).


------------------------
SALT
Add 2 heaped tablespoons of rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt) or swimming pool salt to the aquarium. Keep the salt in there for 2 weeks. This should kill off any external protozoan parasites.

The salt will not affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails.

After you use salt and the fish have recovered, you do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh water that has been dechlorinated. Then do a 20% water change each day for a week. Then you can do bigger water changes after that. This dilutes the salt out of the tank slowly so it doesn't harm the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, you need to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This will keep the salt level stable in the tank and minimise stress on the fish.

When you first add salt, add the salt to a small bucket of tank water and dissolve the salt. Then slowly pour the salt water into the tank near the filter outlet. Add the salt over a couple of minutes.


------------------------
DIET
Make sure the fish gets plenty of plant matter in its diet. Duckweed is a small floating plant that most goldfish eat. You can also keep live aquarium plants in the tank for the fish to eat.

Add some frozen or live foods to the fish's diet. I used marine mix (prawn, fish & squid blended up and frozen into cubes), as well as brineshrimp, bloodworms, daphnia and mysis shrimp. These can all be bought from most pet shops. You can also buy frozen prawn/ shrimp from most supermarkets in the seafood section.

If you want to feed prawn, take one out of the freezer and defrost it. Remove the head, shell and gut (thin black tube in body) and throw these bits in the bin. Use a pair of scissors to cut te ramining prawn tail into small pieces and offer a few bits at a time. Let the fish eat until full and then put the remaining prawn in the fridge and use the following day.

Offer the fish a few different types of gildfish food too, or use a goldfish food and a vegetable flake/ pellet for them.

Thank you so much for the rich response! Here are my water parameters:
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5.0ppm

I will work on finding the GH and KH from my water supply. As I wait on this, I will be taking all of your advice. So far, I have just given him a 75% water change and added 2 tablespoons of salt. I plan on giving him a 75% water change every day this week. Should I always add 2 tablespoons of salt after these water changes or a little bit less since i’m only taking out 75% of the water?

As he’s getting better, I’ll be buying more foods to add into his diet. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Lastly, I just wanted to ask you about his tank size. He is in a 20 gallon tall, and I know a 20 gallon long would of been a better tank for him but I didn’t have a choice. Anyway, he is about 7-8 inches long from the front of his head to the tip of his tail. Do you think I need to upgrade him to a larger tank? I feel bad that he is in a 20 gallon, but my parents currently won’t let me buy a larger tank. I plan to upgrade him to at least a 40 gallon and get him a friend as soon as I move out, but I am just curious if you think his current tank size is inhumane or unsuitable? If so, I will try to convince my parents to let me purchase a more suitable tank. Thanks again for all the help!!

 

[Colin_T]

You only add salt to the new water going into the tank.
eg: you remove 20 litres of water, so you treat the new 20 litres with salt before it's added to the tank, and that is it.

If you can post a picture of the entire tank so we can see whether the fish has room to move, then I can comment more on the tank size.

Obviously a bigger tank would be better, however, if the fish has room to turn and not run into things, then it should be ok for a little while.

The big issue is keeping the water clean. Big fish make more mess than small fish so you need to keep the water, filter and gravel clean so the fish remains healthy.