Bristlenose Unwell

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stu646

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
3
Location
Manchester, England
Help with Bristlenose

Hi, I recently lost 2 of my fancy goldfish to whitespot, this was over a week ago now. My loach is the only fish that survived this but I noticed a white patch on its stomach, which was not there before this outbreak. Could anyone give me some advice? Many Thanks.
 

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There is no way anyone can tell you what the white patch is on your loach. But the title of the thread is "Bristlenose Unwell". SO of course that leads to some confusion. It is good that you posted a picture, but it isn't helpful in diagnosing the problem. Perhaps if you could tell the forum more about your tank, it's size, how long it has been set up, your maintenance routine, how long you had the goldfish in there before they got sick, how big they were, see? You have to provide alot more information, or paint a picture for us as it were before anyone can guide you in a constructive way. Bill
 
Does it appear fuzzy? How did you treat the whitespot? I know plecos. catfish and loaches sometimes don't do well with certain treatments. To me it looks like an injury.
 
I have had the tank set up for around 18 months now, it is 80 litres, which is 18 gallons. After the water had cycled, I do a 15/20% water change weekly. The ph levels are good. I had the other goldfish from the first day and from them getting white spot, they died within 12 days. I treated the whitespot with Protozin and also raised the temp to 82f. The patch on the loach doesn`t look to fuzzy , no.
 
The patch in the picture looks like a scrape or injury to me. I would maintain good water quality and not buy any new fish for awhile. Just watch the wound and see if it is healing or getting worse. Treating the tank with more chemicals may not be appropriate in this case. If you start to see fuzzy hair like growth on the wound then it would be a good idea to treat it, but topically as opposed to environmentally. An 18 gallon tank is too small for more goldfish. I would start looking at some tropical fish that would be more suited to that tank size.

I know that you had the goldfish in there for quite a while. Many people do not understand when someone says the tank is too small, how could that be if you had them in there so long? Goldfish should grow large quickly if kept in good water conditions and fed properly. As they grow they produce more waste. Once they reach a certain size the water quality is going to suffer, even with weekly water changes in a tank too small. Eventually, as you found out, they succomb to diseases and infestations of parasites. If you decide to go with goldfish again you may want to start putting pennies away for a larger tank so that once they do grow out you can move them after they get some size on them.
 
Thanks for your advice. We are saving up for a bigger tank now, and not buying any new fish before we purchase the new tank. Thanks again.
 
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