Lumpy Goldfish

[Keefaz]

Hi, all.

Went back home to my parents for the first time in a while and noticed one of our goldfish has a problem. He has a few worrying lumps at the base of his tail and also odd-looking spots and 'veins' on his tail. He shares the tank with his lifelong friend who seems to be fine. Any ideas?

 

[Dominus_XVIII]

Im not fimiliar witht this type of disease, but I did do some research and nodular disease came up. The disease causes open sore and blistering like those appearent on your goldfish. The main cause of this disease is uaually the lack of water changes which cause bacteria to over develope. There are a few medications which can be bought at your LFS or LPS, that help deal with this type of disease. I usually just treat with with aquarium salt for a week or two and do regular water changes, but if the salt does not solve the problem I would stat treating with MEALFIX or other medications. Hoped I help, good luck.

 

[fluttermoth]

Could be anoher case of carp pox; have a google and see if it looks the same.

 

[loraxchick]

Could be anoher case of carp pox; have a google and see if it looks the same.

First thing that came to my mind too. In which case its viral and nothing you can do.
all the best
cheers

 

[fluttermoth]

At least it's not harmful; a bit like warts in people.

I guess we should ask the standard questions to rule out anything else; how big is the tank, what's the filtration and maintenance regime? Have you tested the water?

 

[Keefaz]

At least it's not harmful; a bit like warts in people.

I guess we should ask the standard questions to rule out anything else; how big is the tank, what's the filtration and maintenance regime? Have you tested the water?

Can't get any test results at the moment as I'm several hundred miles away. There is no heating and the tank isn't in direct sunlight--certainly not terribly cold, though. The tank itself is a Juwel Rekord 600 (65 litres?) with the filter that comes with it.

AFAIK, the folks are doing a half water change every couple of weeks. The tank has two goldfish in it and they're about 9 years old and pretty big: Rudolph (the problem fish) is about 9"-10" long with his big tail making up a fair portion of that. Tap safe and (possibly) fin rot medication added with each water change.

 

[fluttermoth]

The best advice I can give is to keep an eye on it and post again if it changes/worsens.

I should point out that 60l is far too small for goldies of that size (in fact they really ought to be at least twice that size, and would be if they had been kept in a suitable tank); they need at least 120l and weekly 50% wc, if their lives are not to be considerably shortened.

No medication should be given as a matter of course; all it does it allow med-resistant strains to spread, so dosing with fin rot meds needs to stop.

Sorry to sound so harsh, but those goldies are not getting a fair deal they way they are being kept atm.