Golden Orfe Spitting Food Out

[mark4785]

One of my golden orfe pond fish has recently started taking in pellets and spitting them out. It swims with the rest of the shoal but is about 50% slower and likes to swim at the lower depths as it isn't coming to the surface for food as much.
 
I have inspected it's skin and there is no excess mucus production, no skin abrasions, gill rate is normal and it is not flashing. However, it is spending a bit of time in the fast flowing water areas as though it is trying to dislodge something from it's skin.
 
Three of the goldfish in the pond have white spot. I have treated the pond for white spot using WaterLife Protozin. Could it be that the Orfe has the white spot parasite but the typical white spots have just not become visible yet?
 
Note: about 1 month ago I lost one of my other golden orfe to an extremely bad fungal infection. Could it be that this was attacked by white spot and the fungal infection was a secondary infection growing in the wounds caused by the white spot?
 
 
Pond Water Stats
 
Test was performed on 25/5/2013
 
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
PH: 8.0
KH: 6 dH
GH: 7 dH
 
 
Does anybody know how long I'd need to treat the pond with Protozin P? I know the white spot parasite's life cycle length is dependent on temperature. The temperature is varying from 22 degrees C in the day and 13-14 degrees C at night here.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

I think you are supposed to treat the white spot for one week after the spots have gone. Unless you definitely know that it is white spot, don't treat it unless you have a positive ID.

 

[mark4785]

I think you are supposed to treat the white spot for one week after the spots have gone. Unless you definitely know that it is white spot, don't treat it unless you have a positive ID.

 
Well the three goldfish I mentioned have salt grain sized white spots on their operculum so I have a positive ID for their disease. But the Orfe is just acting strange. It has no real outward signs of illness other than spitting out food and coming across as more sluggish than the others.
 
The orfe always spit their pellet food out over the winter months but never at this time of year when temperatures are high.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

not sure then sorry

 

[mark4785]

Well the fish is still spitting pellets out. It does this with Medikoi Beauty, Growth, Health and Garlic 3mm pellets.
 
Strangely though, it will eat garden peas, sweetcorn, freeze dried krill and silkworm of which are all natural, rather than man-made, foods.
 
I can't get my head around this one!!

 

[fluttermoth]

Sorry to be so late to your thread, mark!
 
I don't think your goldies have whitespot; it sounds like breeding tubercles to me; if it's only on their gill covers and pectoral fins, that'll be what they are.
 
Nor sure about what's going on with your orfe though; could just be that the weather's not yet warm enough for him to want to eat much.

 

[mark4785]

Sorry to be so late to your thread, mark!
 
I don't think your goldies have whitespot; it sounds like breeding tubercles to me; if it's only on their gill covers and pectoral fins, that'll be what they are.
 
Nor sure about what's going on with your orfe though; could just be that the weather's not yet warm enough for him to want to eat much.

 
Hey Fluttermoth,
 
They are indeed on the gill cover AND pectoral fins. A golden rudd also has the same symptom. All of the fish with these symptoms (2 common goldfish and 1x golden rudd) were chasing a female comet goldfish quite frantically just a few days ago. This makes sense after having just read that tubercles appear in response to peaks in testosterone during breeding behaviours.
 
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
 
With regards to the Golden Orfe, there are two of them. One is eating and one is not. Usually, when the temperature increases all of them eat pellets and when it decreases all of them stop eating pellets. The third Orfe died over a month ago from a severe fungal infection (couldn't see the fungus sadly due to the green water of which has now been made crystal clear); could it be that the Orfe with no appetite is missing the deceased one?
 
I should imagine their are hierarchies in shoals. Perhaps the sick orfe would have mimicked or looked for cues in the 3rd in some way?
Edit: the deceased one was the largest at about 35cm in length.

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't think that your orfe is 'missing' the dead one, but it could be that the hierarchy has changed and the other one is now bullying it. I'm not really 'up' on orfe, tbh.
 
Glad I could help your goldies though

 

[mark4785]

I don't think that your orfe is 'missing' the dead one, but it could be that the hierarchy has changed and the other one is now bullying it. I'm not really 'up' on orfe, tbh.
 
Glad I could help your goldies though

 
No, i'm not "up" on Orfe either, hence this thread!
 
Thanks for your help though. I think I'll stop treating for white spot now since it turns out it isn't, in fact, white spot