Help! Sick Goldfish

[hanni0907]

I have a 35 litre tank which has been set up for just under a week. The nitrates are medium, not in the lethal reading, ph is 7.5 - 8, filter is bubbling away nicely. We added 2 small goldfish 5 days ago, and 1 seems to be looking very sad alternating between sitting at the bottom of the tank and right at the top (although not gasping much). I noticed today that the sad one has one inflamed gill, and I think I can see 2 tiny threads coming out of the gill. I have tried to look for answers and have come up with a couple of possibilies, 1 being gill flukes and the other being a fungal infection. Has anyone any advice, as even though the tank is in the cycling stage, I really don't want any casualties!

Thanks in advance

Hannah

 

[Colin_T]

My guess is water quality. Probably high ammonia levels. This will cause the fish to produce excess mucous and damage the gills causing them to become red and inflamed.
Cut the feeding back to a small amount once every couple of days and do daily partial (40-50%) water changes using dechlorinated water.
Ammonia is produced by fish food and waste breaking down in the water. It is not a big issue in tanks with a PH below 7.0 but in alkaline water (PH above 7.0) it becomes very toxic. Ammonia will be broken down by an established filter but it takes about a month for the filter to become established. During this month the levels can fluctuate and cause a lot of stress to the fish in the tank. The daily water changes help to dilute any ammonia in the water and help the fish survive this stressful period.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I have a 35 litre tank which has been set up for just under a week. The nitrates are medium, not in the lethal reading, ph is 7.5 - 8, filter is bubbling away nicely. We added 2 small goldfish 5 days ago, and 1 seems to be looking very sad alternating between sitting at the bottom of the tank and right at the top (although not gasping much). I noticed today that the sad one has one inflamed gill, and I think I can see 2 tiny threads coming out of the gill. I have tried to look for answers and have come up with a couple of possibilies, 1 being gill flukes and the other being a fungal infection. Has anyone any advice, as even though the tank is in the cycling stage, I really don't want any casualties!

Thanks in advance

Hannah

Inflamed gills with stuff come out of them is probably parasites. Did you test the tank for ammonia and nitrites and what nitrate reading did you get exactly?

 

[hanni0907]

I have a 35 litre tank which has been set up for just under a week. The nitrates are medium, not in the lethal reading, ph is 7.5 - 8, filter is bubbling away nicely. We added 2 small goldfish 5 days ago, and 1 seems to be looking very sad alternating between sitting at the bottom of the tank and right at the top (although not gasping much). I noticed today that the sad one has one inflamed gill, and I think I can see 2 tiny threads coming out of the gill. I have tried to look for answers and have come up with a couple of possibilies, 1 being gill flukes and the other being a fungal infection. Has anyone any advice, as even though the tank is in the cycling stage, I really don't want any casualties!

Thanks in advance

Hannah

Inflamed gills with stuff come out of them is probably parasites. Did you test the tank for ammonia and nitrites and what nitrate reading did you get exactly?

I haven't an exact nitrate reading as the test just has a 5 coloured test strip with low, 2 mediums and 2 high readings- mine was the medium reading- sorry I can't be more precise. I will definitely be buying better tester kits tomorrow.