Comet goldfish suffering from every illness possible!

[PBT]

Hi,
I could use some help with a sickly comet goldfish. I had him in a tank with a ryukin who died so I moved my comet to a different tank thinking that new water would be good for him. He had a small red spot so I treated him with tetracyclin for a few days but then he developed severly clouded eyes and reddening of his tail fins. Based on a recommendation from a local shop I treated with melafix/primafix and they slowly got better. Then last weekend I thought he was surely going to die because he was floating at the top on his side and having a lot of trouble moving around. But then that subsided and he started swimming around again towards the middle of the week. Around the same time (Wednesday) the tank become covered with some kind of white fungs/algae/growth (?) and my comet's fins started to rot. I raised the temp in the tank, did a partial water change, added aquarium salt and am still treating with melafix (stopped the primafix as a result of a consultation with someone at the local shop). Now I have noticed the top of his head "molting" going from his normal orange to white over the past two days. The fish hasn't eaten in days. He will suck up a pea but spit it right out and continuously repeat this. He must be hungry because he keeps looking through the gravel but he will not come to the surface and keeps spitting out peas.

The tank is 10 gallons for this one fish. Sadly, I am not sure of the water conditions so I took a sample to the local shop yesterday. He said everything was fine except nitrites may be a little high but nothing significant. I do partial water changes once a week.

Thanks in advance; this poor fish has had just about every issue!!

 

[jlk]

Hi, Pbt, and welcome to AA!!! You have quite a few issues going on here. Water quality is the first. Do you have a good water conditioner/dechlorinator? If so, start doing daily 50% water changes with temperature-matched water (match temp of new water to your tank water) & water conditioner dosed to the size of your tank. In the meantime, please go invest in an API freshwater master test kit. If you are going to keep fish, this really is a must have to monitor your water conditions.
Second, you are overstocked trying to keep a goldfish (or mutiple goldfish) in a 10gal tank. Fancies (such as your deceased ryukin) need 20gallons for the first fish, 10gals for each fish after. Comets/commons do not belong in aquarium unless you have a huge tank (50gal per fish) as they are pond fish that can grow to be 18inches long. I really would consider returning your comet & stocking with something more appropriate for a 10gal. In the meantime, daily water changes with conditioned, temp-matched water are the best thing you can do for him. Please read up on 'fish-in cycling' so you can understand what is happening in your tank- toxic levels of ammonia and/or nitrite are what is causing your fish to be sick. Please dont hesitate to ask questions- we are here to help!!!

 

[KMARIEBARNES]

I feel for u, I have one that should have died forever ago. He is now 10. All the same your saying. Cloud eye, now totally blind for 5+ yrs. Started gold now white. Lives through everything. BUT he is one of two goldfish in a 80 gal tank since he got sick. He was in my pond and got sick when I brought them in for winter.I had too many comets in too small of tank. Comets need to be in larger tank than 10 gal. It cause a lot of stress on them. I agree with all of the last post. Good luck, hope all goes well.

 

[Koikid88]

I'm a 3rd for jlks answer. Water quality is most likely your problem by the sounds of it.
Like jlk asked, do you use water conditioner (to rid the water of chlorines and chloramines) on your tap water before putting the fish in?
Does your city's tap water contain ammonia as well as chlorine?
Be aware that some conditioners don't detoxify ammonia, be sure to get one for all 3, chlorine/chloramine/ammonia.

You may also be dealing with toxic levels of nitrite too if you haven't cycled the filter media.
Once you have a master test kit, test for ammonia and nitrites first. If you have ANY nitrites, buy a bottle of nitrite detoxifier too, and dose accordingly. NH3/NH4 should be 0 too of course. Nitrates 5-20ppm
Keep up with water changes.
If you have dirty water, no medication will work on the fish.

and when you raised the temp, how high is it, and how did you raise it?

Being a coldwater fish, if the water is too warm, unlike tropical fish it will have an adverse affect and lower the fishes immune system. I hope you slowly raised the temp too, like 1C each hour or so.

Please keep in mind, that a comet will never be 100% healthy in 10g.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Hi! Please read these!
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/artic...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/guide-to-starting-a-freshwater-aquarium-186089.html