I've Got A Goldfish

[dwarfgourami]

My friend rang up this morning to say one of the goldfish in the pond was being eaten alive by tadpoles, so they'd rescued it into a bucket and did I have any medications on hand. As her only accommodation was the said bucket and I could at least set up a small hospital tank, we agreed that the fish was to come and live with me for a while. So I set up a 30 ltr tank with a stingray filter, not ideal but the best I can do. The fish is 2-3 inches long so I reckon the tank will do ok for a few weeks.
As I may have mentioned before, I've never been a great fan of goldfish but this little visitor may just win me over. How anyone can look this perky when they've just had half their back eaten up I can't believe, they must be incredibly hardy. And I'm not exaggerating, between the dorsal fin and the tail, the back is pretty well gone, you see a big dent where it was.

Apart from Melafix and daily water changes, can you think of anything else I ought to be doing? Salt? (I haven't got any aquarium salt atm, but could just use table salt.) I did wonder if there was anything else wrong with the fish- I wouldn't have expected those tadpoles to go for, or get at, a healthy fish, but can't see any direct symptoms. I did think of adding Pimafix, but thought I'd better hold off in case I see anything else that needs dealing with in the morning.

 

[GoldLenny]

Medicated foods to further keep down the risk of infection. While there are some good ones out there and even DIY medicated foods, you could also just use the more readily available Jungle Brand AntiBacterial food.

The bigger question is why this fish was being attacked by tadpoles. I can honesly say I've never seen this happen before with any of my ponds.

It could be the fish was already very sick with other issues.

You may also want to consider a treatment of praziquantel for gill flukes and other parasites since gill flukes is very common issue with goldfish. It's very mild compared to some of the other parasiticides out there.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Cheers, Lenny, great advice, I was hoping you would be online! I had the same thought about why the tadpoles were attacking, so I was expecting my friend to bring along a really poorly fish. The fish is looking fairly chirpy so far, eating well, keeping its balance in the water well and swimming well. It's just that pretty well the whole dorsal area is eaten away. Otherwise, I can't see anything obvious, but will medicate as you suggest.


Cheers, Lenny, great advice, I was hoping you would be online! I had the same thought about why the tadpoles were attacking, so I was expecting my friend to bring along a really poorly fish. The fish is looking fairly chirpy so far, eating well, keeping its balance in the water well and swimming well. It's just that pretty well the whole dorsal area is eaten away. Otherwise, I can't see anything obvious, but will medicate as you suggest. Not sure what medicated foods they sell here in the UK, I know they are a lot stricter than in the US about antibiotics, not sure about antibacterials.

 

[GoldLenny]

Can you post a picture? When you say the "whole dorsal area", do you mean the dorsal fin or actually into the flesh of the top of the fish? If it's just the fin, and it was not eaten down to the flesh, the fin should grow back. If it was eaten down to the flesh, then it may not.

Here is a UK goldfish page about medicated foods. That site may have some other info if you look around. I'm sorry that I don't know more about available meds in the UK.
http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/medicatedfood.htm

Here is a page on topical treatments.
http/www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/topical.htm

Until you can find a better treatment course, keep the water clean and fresh and treat with the melafix and possibly even a melafix/pimafix cocktail if you see things getting infected worse or if fungus issues develope.

I also found this PFK article mentioning some medicated foods that "snuck" through the antibiotics ban. Maybe you could find one of them in your LFS. http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...m.php?news=1135

 

[dwarfgourami]

Thanks a lot for all those helpful links! I'll see what I can do, the big problem is actually getting to the shop. Atm I am treating with a mix of melafix+ pimafix, since I had those at home. And daily water changes.
It is the actual flesh, I have treated finrot in the past so wouldn't have felt thrown by that. It's a big chunk gone out of the body itself, I almost feel I can see down to his spine, but this is maybe a slight exaggeration. Only very slight though. What amazes me is the cheerful attitude of the fish. I've never kept goldfish, but I can't imagine any of the tropical fish I have kept over the years sustaining an injury like that and still being alive, let alone alert and swimming and interested in its surroundings.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The only other time i have ever heard of goldfish been eaten alive by tadpoles was in a very old PFK magazine, where a lady had the same issue with the tadpoles in her pond and her goldfish. But when the pond was closer inspected, it turned out that it was almost completely swamped with pond weed and plants, with very little open or deep spaces left in the pond, so the goldfish were almost constantly living in the heavily planted area's which made it very difficult for them to avoid the tadpoles, which started to eat the goldfishes fins and suck off their slime coats etc.
Have you personally checked out your friends pond- what sort of pond set up are the goldfish in and what size and condition is the pond?
Melafix, StressCoat dechlorinator and clean well-oxygenated water should clear up the goldfishes wounds for now though either way.

 

[GoldLenny]

What amazes me is the cheerful attitude of the fish. I've never kept goldfish, but I can't imagine any of the tropical fish I have kept over the years sustaining an injury like that and still being alive, let alone alert and swimming and interested in its surroundings.

Yep. Goldfish actually have the types of personalities that make them family pets. I know a few tropicals develop this type of personality but ALL goldfish have it. It's why goldfish keepers almost always name their goldfish. They aren't just a "hobby" but more of a family pet to us. I know their personality comes from acting like they are happy to see you because they are begging for food... but it's still cute to see them being so happy to see us... kind of like the family dog is so happy to see us when we get home.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The only other time i have ever heard of goldfish been eaten alive by tadpoles was in a very old PFK magazine, where a lady had the same issue with the tadpoles in her pond and her goldfish. But when the pond was closer inspected, it turned out that it was almost completely swamped with pond weed and plants, with very little open or deep spaces left in the pond, so the goldfish were almost constantly living in the heavily planted area's which made it very difficult for them to avoid the tadpoles, which started to eat the goldfishes fins and suck off their slime coats etc.
Have you personally checked out your friends pond- what sort of pond set up are the goldfish in and what size and condition is the pond?

No, I haven't, but that's an interesting story. I strongly suspect it is getting short of space, as I heard that the goldfish had bred and there were lots of babies in there. I'll make an inspection round at the earliest opportunity.

 

[GoldLenny]

I just thought of something. When I got my first pond about 10+ years ago... I bought a house with 3 small ponds in the backyard... one thing I remember the previous owner telling me is that toads would mate in the ponds and to take a stick and roll up their long egg strings and trash them so the ponds weren't overrun with tadpoles.

Mainly because I didn't want tons of toads in my backyard, but every night during mating season, I would go out after dark and hunt down any croaking toads near the ponds and scoop them up and rehome them to a nearby canal. On occasion, a pair would mate and I would use the stick to roll up as many of the egg strands as I could but some would hatch. Incredibly, the goldfish did not eat the tadpoles. Don't know why... they eat anything else. LOL Now I'm glad I did this because I would have hated to have the problem you are having.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Just thought I'd update. The goldfish is still alive, active and alert and eating well, and I think there may already be signs that the wound is beginning to heal around the edges- though you can actually see the top of the vertebrae sticking out, that's how much flesh came off!
If she's doing that well now, I can't imagine she's going to die from it, as long as I keep her clean, which I am doing religiously.

There has been no sign of gill flukes, haven't seen her flash or show irritation once since we've had her, and not other signs of illness, so I think probably there was some problem in the pond rather than with her.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Just an update. "Freaky" is definitely healing, her silhouette looks almost normal and skin is beginning to grow back over the eaten part of her back. And she has grown! I can't believe how much difference 2 weeks have made. All I've done is daily water changes (pretty well), an initial 7 days treatment with Pimafix and Melafix and a little salt in the water at first. No sign of infection, eats like a horse.

 

[kewskills]

Just an update. "Freaky" is definitely healing, her silhouette looks almost normal and skin is beginning to grow back over the eaten part of her back. And she has grown! I can't believe how much difference 2 weeks have made. All I've done is daily water changes (pretty well), an initial 7 days treatment with Pimafix and Melafix and a little salt in the water at first. No sign of infection, eats like a horse.

thats good to hear hope she keeps making progress