Goldfish Sick

[DancingBetta]

As you can tell, he isn’t looking great.

 

[DancingBetta]

If the fins are ragged that is fin-rot. If they are ragged with redness on the tips that is active fin-rot. Keep doing water changes until you reach 0 ppm for ammonia and nitrite. This will stop the red streaks but you will need an anti-bacterial treatment for the fin rot. The best anti-bacterial treatment that I know of is Waterlife Myxazin.

Sadly that isn’t sold where I live.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish is really unwell. It is covered in fungus (white fluffy stuff) and the tail is rotting away.

Have you been handling the fish?
The fish should stay in the tank water when you clean the tank and should not be handled.

How much salt did you add?
You can increase the salt to 4 heaped tablespoons per 20 litres if you only have goldfish in the tank.

Time for chemicals. Look for a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus and bacteria. Do not get an anti-biotic like Furan, Maracyn or anything other type of anti-biotic. Just look for something that contains formaldehyde/ formalin, acriflavine and methylene blue, or something similar to that.

You can use salt and medication together.

 

[DancingBetta]

No, the fish stays in the tank. It’s 20 gallons, so 8 tablespoons.

 

[Colin_T]

8 heaped tablespoons of salt for 20 gallons, but you can increase it to 16 heaped tablespoons if you only have goldfish in the tank.

At this stage you should look at chemical medications too if you can get them.

 

[DancingBetta]

Time for chemicals. Look for a broad spectrum fish medication that treats fungus and bacteria. Do not get an anti-biotic like Furan, Maracyn or anything other type of anti-biotic. Just look for something that contains formaldehyde/ formalin, acriflavine and methylene blue, or something similar to that.

Any medications you recommend? The only non-antibiotic broad spectrum medications I have found so far are Seachem PolyGuard and Marineland All-In-One Remedy.

 

[Colin_T]

I have never used the marineland one but the info online would suggest it is safer than the seachem medication and it should work. Either product should work, I would try the marineland one just because it doesn't have malachite green in and is safer.

 

[DancingBetta]

Marine land was discontinued 2 years ago but Tetra lifeguard has the same ingredients.

 

[DancingBetta]

The marineland medication, not the brand.

 

[DancingBetta]

He seems to be doing better. He still has some fluff on him. (fluff is fun to say) The red streaks in his tail are gone, and he is very active!

 

[DancingBetta]

Finn passed away last night.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Sorry for the loss.

 

[Guest14017]

The excess redness in his tail along with his behavior were signs of a bacterial infection setting in. Left untreated, it progressed and his tail begun rotting away. Then it spread and killed him. Acriflavine, formalin, methylene blue etc wouldn't have done him any good.

Colin has an extreme aversion to antibiotics and basically seems to believe they should never be used in aquatics. Even in situations like this - where even HE admitted that the fish was very very ill and that the tail was rotting away (things rotting are nearly ALWAYS caused by bacteria), he will not recommend antibiotics and even tells the user to NOT use them.

His views are fine and he is allowed to have them. Where my issue lies is that he seems to be the disease authority here, and that he is supposed to help people save their pets. His ethical issue with antibiotics directly clashes with his ethical duties to try and save these fish.

This fish died and really stood no chance at all with the advice offered. And I've seen that before. If the issue seems bacterial in nature, he offers alternatives or advises the user to euthanize the fish. I really don't agree with that. Imagine if dogs or cats were treated that way. Obvious bacterial issues left to fester because someone didn't agree with the use of antibiotics because the person giving advice/medical care didn't agree with the use of antibiotics on animals.

This fish suffered for no reason. Had the issue been addressed properly when the fish was first presented, there's a good chance the fish may have been able to be saved and wouldn't have ended up rotting away the way he did. This type of thing just really upsets me.

I generally don't say anything and because of Colin's views conflicting with mine - I never even post in the disease section at all... But it just hurt me to see how this turned out.