White spots on tail :( Help

[sanasana]

Hey guys,
So I'm super new to this forum as well as fish-keeping.
I recently got some goldfish. Not in a bowl! They're in a fish tank.

So, I noticed some white spots on one of them. I could only see them on the tail. I'll attach the pics.
Yesterday there were more spots, and today there were less. Today it (since I'm not sure if this one's a female or male) was much less active and staying at the bottom. I placed it in a tub to separate (in case it really is ill and it's contagious). Now, in the tub, it is barely moving. I don't know if it's sad because it's alone now, but it's not active :\ Also, some of its poop was black and stringy while the rest was partially black and the rest; normal. Was it constipation?
What could be the problem and please do tell what's the solution. :\
Thanks in advance!


These are yesterday's photos.

This is today, as you can see, the spots are quite less.

Is it possible that it's just a male and there's nothing to worry about? But there weren't any spots on the rest of its body..


[Side question: This one in the pic below is just a male, right? Nothing to worry about? The white spots on its back are just the light, not spots. The one on its gills and front fin are the ones I'm talking about.]

 

[sanasana]

Update! So after posting, I decided to check whether there were any spots. There were none now! I placed her/him back into the tank and it started swimming around again! Wasn't staying at the bottom like before.

Is it fine now? I'll try to keep a close check on him/her still, though.

(Sorry, pics are a little blurry!)

Also, is it possible to know whether this one's a male or a female?

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Your goldfish have whitespot (aka Ich). It is highly contagious and will kill every fish in the tank unless you treat it now.

You need a medication containing Malachite Green.

There is more info on whitespot at the following link. The first post on page 1 is more scientific, the last post on page 2 is more for beginners.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/page-2

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page, which will allow you to convert litres to gallons.

Remove carbon from filter before treating.

Wipe the inside of the glass and do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean before treating.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

--------------------------
The orange goldfish with the black on its back is a male and has white breeding lumps/ spots on its gill covers and pectoral fins. These are normal but the whitespots on the fantail and the parasite whitespot/ ich.

 

[sanasana]

Thank you so much for the welcome and reply! Going to check out the link you shared.

The spots have disappeared now, so is it still ill?

 

[Colin_T]

Part of the whitespot lifecycle is to drop off the fish and multiply in the gravel. After a few days in the gravel there will be hundreds of new parasites that will infect all the fish in the tank. You need to treat the tank asap or it will get much worse.

 

[sanasana]

Just went through the link, got the answer to my last question. This was really informative and helpful. Thank you!

 

[sanasana]

Part of the whitespot lifecycle is to drop off the fish and multiply in the gravel. After a few days in the gravel there will be hundreds of new parasites that will infect all the fish in the tank. You need to treat the tank asap or it will get much worse.

Okay! Will do so! Thank you!