Fancy goldfish dying? please help

[FishyFish94]

Hello,
I have a fancy goldfish for like 2 years or more. Yesterday I discovered some shedding of the scales near the gill of my fish. At least that's what I think is happening.. I'm not sure myself if it's shedding or if she's injured. I don't know what is happening to her. She's swimming normally, eating like nothing is wrong. Just when I'm not around her she sits on the bottom of the tank.

My tank is 20L with light, filtration and there's also a bubble rock for oxygen. The water was checked (with Prodac equipment) yesterday and changed 25% of it then checked again and nothing is wrong with the water from what I saw. The food I give to my fancy fish is these sinking pellets from Saki Hikari and I occasionally used to give her a bit of boiled lettuce too since I read on the Internet that it's good.

Today I went to see an aquarist who understands goldfishes well. He was recommended to me from a friend of mine. The guy told me that my fish doesn't have long and that I'm late with saving her life. He diagnosed that she has parasites on the outside and probably on the inside too. He also assumed that there might be some organ like liver for example which may stop working too in time and slowly just die.

What he recommended me getting was some antibiotic called "metronidazol" and something else called baktopur direct. Even if I use these he said I'd just make her agony last a bit longer and that there's very little chance that I can save her.

If anyone can help or suggest anything that I could do to save my fish's life, I would be very grateful

I hope the attachments worked

If you look closely you can see how near her gill there's something happening to her scales. Also on one of the pictures where her face is not quite visible you can see something white to be popping/standing out or something a bit. What I assume is that what is happening on one side is now happening on the other too.

 

[toolman]

Very possible what your goldfish guru said is true. I am not very knowledgeable on fish illnesses (wish I was) but many here have that knowledge and will be able to add more. Sorry about your fish but sounds like parasites with my limited knowledge.

 

[Potluck]

That's not true, you can treat parasites very easily, does the fish swim okay? If you look at the scales from the top do they look like a pine cone? What are your water parameters ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph? If you don't have a liquid test kit your lfs might test water with one (make sure it's the liquid test kit not strips) we need to find out what type of parasite it is, if that's what it is which it does look like one, salt bath dips work very well on external parasites and bacterial infections but you have to be extremely careful as salt baths are stressful and can kill the fish if you don't watch the fish like a hawk for signs of labored breathing, unconsciousness etc etc, for internal parasites there's medicine you mix with their food

Test water
Do a 30% water change
Do salt bath dips for this you will need 2 big bowls from the fish tank (do this after the water change) one bowl will have nothing in it but straight tank water called a rescue bowl the other bowl will have

Salt dip:

2 tablespoons per gallon water. ANY salt so long as there are no anti-clog additives. Iodised salt is safe, cooking salt is cheaper.

Mix in a clean bucket with water of the same temp or from the tank. Net fish and place into bucket. After 30 mins remove back to clean water,*BUT*if the fish rolls over before the 30 minutes is up then remove it straight away to clean water.

I normally give the tank a good clean through when doing this or put them into a newly setup tank, but not everyone has the tankage.

The dip can be repeated daily (even twice daily) if needed for as long as necessary (well easily 2 weeks).

Do not do it for 30 minutes I'd say 10 min max any sign of the fish laboring or stressing even if it's 30 seconds remove immediately and put into the rescue bowl net the fish from rescue bowl and put back into the tank DO NOT PUT THAT WATER BACK INTO THE TANK as the parasite(S) could have fallen off into the bowls of water and you don't want to put it back into your tank, as it states it can be done twice a day.

If you don't feel comfortable doing this PLEASE DON'T TRY IT because you can kill the fish if you're not extremely careful

 

[FishyFish94]

Hello again,
Thank you Rick for giving me hope that there is a chance me to save my fish's life.
The scales from top don't look like a pine cone. I tested my water today and there's nothing to be wrong with it from the looks of it.
Here are some pictures

Even though the water is fine should I do the 30% water change?

Also I have read your solution about the salt bath, I've read about it on the internet as well. I have the API aquarium salt

However I don't feel comfortable, unfortunately, doing this salt bath to my fish. I fear that I might hurt her or even kill her..and I won't be able to forgive myself for it.
So if you have other suggestions what I can do, I would be really grateful.

My fish swims well like I mentioned before in the beginning of my post. She tends to move when I show up or look at her sitting in front of the tank. When I'm gone she just chills on the bottom of the tank. I'm not sure if this information is useful but it's something I noticed since yesterday and also today. There's these long solid poops in the tank which I clean out.. and honestly never seen her poop so often before.

Another question I have towards you is if you think it's a good idea me to use the medicine on my fish which my aquarist guy recommended? Do you think I should buy Melafix? It looks like this

Or is it too late for that? Unfortunately my pet stores don't have Melafix so I had to buy one before from ebay. But if you think it can save my fish's life I'm willing to do so. Unfortunately it may arrive around May which might be too late.

Any other solutions you can offer me to do are welcome but the salt bath sounds extreme for me and I'm just so afraid.

Thank you again in advance for taking your time in helping and reading this.

 

[FishyFish94]

Quick update:

I put half of the baktopur direct dissolving yellow pill in the tank.
I called the same aquarist guy to ask further instructions just in case and clear some misunderstandings. What he told me actually was that the salt bath won't help at all since the parasites are inside my fish not on the outside which makes around the gills get injured like that.
So after putting half of the medicine he told me to wait for 3 days and watch her and after that do a 30% water change and then put 1/4 of the pill again. He explained that this pill is for fighting bacterial infections and parasites and the other thing which I mentioned before "metronidazol" is for boosting her immune system to help her fight back the parasites.

So in this case I think to myself what should I do since the problem is on the inside?

Sorry for the misleading information before

 

[Potluck]

It's okay, there's anti parasite med you mix in with the food I forgot the name of it but it's pretty much the same thing as the med in the Water, try what he's suggesting and see if that helps. Once I wake up enough I'll look up some more things

 

[Toad]

If you've had the goldfish in that size tank for that long it's stunted, which means its immune system is not going to be the greatest anymore. Prazipro works on internal parasites, but you need to keep those wounds from getting infected. Good luck

 

[Potluck]

If you've had the goldfish in that size tank for that long it's stunted, which means its immune system is not going to be the greatest anymore. Prazipro works on internal parasites, but you need to keep those wounds from getting infected. Good luck

It's a fancy goldfish they only need 20 gallons

 

[Potluck]

For fancy goldfish, the general stocking rule of thumb is 20 gallonsfor the first fish, then 10 gallons for each additional fish.

 

[flchamp89]

20 liters not gallons. Op has a 5g.

That goldfish rule imo is not good. Regardless 5g won't work. Sorry

 

[FishyFish94]

I know that she could use more space but it's what I got unfortunately and my aquarist said that if she's alone (which she is) 20 liters should be enough really.
The wounds or infection (I don't know what it is) seem to be the same as they looked 2 days ago but just in case I'll post some "better" taken pictures.

She barely moves now today and usually is laying on the bottom of the tank now :/
She eats but not immediately. I appreciate the help and the solution of using Prazipro however it would take time for the item to be delivered to me (in 2-3 weeks) and I don't think I have that time..

I'm on a mission now for finding an animal pharmacy in my town to get that "metronidazol". I honestly don't know what else I could do..

 

[flchamp89]

If the fish survives. Youll only encounter more issues down the road until tank requirements are met.

Meds can get expensive. Used tanks are not. But a 5g can be a neat nano. Re home if he survives.

I see clamping and red gills. Id check ammonia and trates. Temp too. I guess good thing is you can easily do daily wc.

 

[Potluck]

20 liters not gallons. Op has a 5g.

That goldfish rule imo is not good. Regardless 5g won't work. Sorry

Misread, thought it said 20 gallons I was half asleep lol, yes that's way to small