Help With Consistent Finrot

[stuarty]

Hi...
I have 3 goldfish and a golden orf. The fish have had finrot on and off for a few months now and before i got the gold orf i was treating the water with anti fungus and finrot stuff(not that it seemd to be having much effect) but after treating the water when i got the gold orf it immediatly went belly-up and i've had to take it out the water to save it. Having an air pump, a powerful filter and (i dont think) any agressive fish or bullies i cant understand why the finrot wont go away.

One of the goldfish's tails has got the streaky red lines and seems to be getting worse...Does anyone know of any alternative ways to get rid of the disease or reasons for it still persisting?

Thanks!

 

[black angel]

Need to know more about the set up, sizes, size of tank, filtration, what you have for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.
How often you do water changes and how much, how long youve had the fish and new arrivals, how long has the tank been running for and how you clean out the filter.

Red streaking is a sign of septiceamia or ammonia.

 

[stuarty]

um ok its 8.37 gallon tank, one goldfish ive had ayear and is about 4-5 inches long the other 3 fish are about 3 inches long each... its a regular fluval filter i have and i havent done any tests for ammonia etc ..didnt know i needed to do that thing for goldfish until i saw everyone else talking about it online.
Ive had one goldfish a year, the other two for about 6 months and the orf for a month. the tank is brand new i had to replace an old one with a leak and i change the water 1/2 every 2 weeks i guess. filter sponge i clean in water from the tank seperately and the plastic bit of the filter in normal water.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I'm afraid the tank is too small for the fish you have even if you have powerful filtration, the crampt conditions is causing them stress which is most likely why they are having re-occuring health problems.
Orfe's are really suited to pond life due to their size (they can grow to 18inches+ given the right conditions), goldfish on the other hand vary a lot in how big they grow or whta tank size they need as it depends on the type of goldfish.
You buy an accurate kit which gives the exact stats for ammonia, nitrItes and nitrAtes- one of the problems in overstocked tanks is that water quality problems are more likely to occur, which stress the fish and can evntually kill them.

Regardless of what you treat the fish with, as you have experienced the desease has been an on-going one, and will not get any better until something is done about their environment. A tank upgrade would be the best thing to do as the fishes ills revolve around not having enough space to grow or excercise in.
The orfe is best rehomed to a pond (can can keep them in tanks, but we are talking about hundreds of gallons here) of at least 3ft depth.
Do you know what types of goldfish you have ?

 

[stuarty]

Dont know what types of goldfish i have... the only difference i can tell (as i dont know how to tell) is that my biggest one has a short tail and my other 2 have longer tails
heres some pics of them:

really dont want to rehome my fish plus i dont know anyone to do that with and cant really accomidate for a giant tank (or afford it) what do you reckon in the minimum size tank for the goldfish to be ok?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The shorter tailed one is most likely a common goldfish, the longer tailed ones are most likely comet goldfish. Unfortunately these are pretty big goldfish to cater for as both types can easily grow to over 10inches (some have been known to get to almost 2ft long)- check out this thread on goldfish tanks;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...ze++tank++comet

You are most likely looking at a 75gallon for the three goldfish, i would wait for other people's opinion on this, but i would say this is the bare minimum amount of gallons for these goldfish .

Here's a thread on people's pics of their goldfish tanks, it may give you some inspiration ;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=140130

 

[black angel]

Oh dear. I wouldnt keep an Orfe inside at all, its only suited to a pond as Tokis has mentioned. If you dont do something soon then you will have three dead goldfish as well as the orfe.
To be honest I dont think goldfish are tank fish and should only be kept in ponds. I have a 55 gallon and wouldnt even put one in there.
If you do go for something bigger then you are going to be continually upgrading im afraid. I cant even suggest a minimum for the 4 you have now as filtration will need to be pretty damn good as well.

50 gallons would see you through to next year maybe but after that I dont know.

You are looking at fish that can grow as big as an oscar, so look to those for tank size comparisons.

Oh, and the pic there you have of Bruce the oranda Tokis, is a fish fed on growth hormones and lives in a huge pond. Tank bred oranda wont get that big

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Oh, and the pic there you have of Bruce the oranda Tokis, is a fish fed on growth hormones and lives in a huge pond. Tank bred oranda wont get that big

Ah i did not know that, i have seen some pretty big oranda's which definately havn't had growth hormones so i assumed it would have been posible for one to grow that size. Seems a bit harsh though forcing the oranda to grow beyond its natural size with growth hormones, i suppose it would be like being obese or something.