First poor little Goldy... Please help

[unspankable]

Hello everybody,

This is my first post and I'm very new to fish. I really really need help. I love animals very much and my silly girlfriend accepted a small Goldfish as a present knowing nothing about them. We have a Puny 'fluval Chi' 5 Gallon tank and at first everything seemed fine. Our fish got lethargic and started resting on the substrate, but would wake up in the morning. Then I noticed the poor little guy gasping at the top of the tank a couple of days later so I did a 50% water change.
Next day the poor guy was covered in white spots and part of his tail had started to erode, although i didn't know it at the time. I freaked out and read as much as I could as quickly as I could and bought NOX ich to clear the white spots.
The next day he looked way worse. Had clamped fins, rotting tail and white cloudy substance all over his rear half of his body. He looked very very sick.
I went and bought API test kit, API triple sulfa and API Fungus cure aquarium salt and Prime and came home and started a treatment of Triple sulfa and malachite green at 24 hr intervals, Fungus cure at 48 hour intervals and daily 30%-50% water changes with prime. I'm putting in Top Fin Bacterial supplement temporarily to try and help him through this although I know they will not form a sustainable colony.
Every water change i put in about a 1/2 teaspoon of aquarium salt.
Its been 3 days and he still seems very very very rough.

He has white cloudy looking 'mucusy' stuff hanging off of him, and white dots, no tail, all fins clamped. Is floating on the surface. Has a very hard time swimming down.
I don't know what to do.
The cloudy fungus looks worse than it did yesterday.

I know our tank is too small but it is all I can do for at least two more weeks. I need to get him through this with the small tank.

I think this was all caused by stress from Ammonia poisoning and poorly matched temp water changes.

My levels

pH is 7.6
Ammonia is now 0ppm but rises to 0.25 between daily changes
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is 0ppm

I've attached pictures.

He now has black/greyish patches on his gills and face.

Thanks so much for reading. Any help would be a Godsend.

Please click the links for pictures!
http://s12.postimg.org/yjhw8dtbh/ IMG_20130418_194232.jpg

 

[Alyxx]

Poor thing! I think most of the damage is due to ammonia poisoning and general water quality issues, and since your tank is still cycling and it is too small, it's really easy for your parameters to get out of whack. I'm happy to hear you are so dedicated to making things better for the little guy! I would up the water change amounts, maybe 50% twice a day or 75% once a day. Or more! Clean water will really help him heal, possibly more than the medications will. If you can't get him a new tank right away, there are alternatives that can give him more water in the meantime. You can pick up a food safe Rubbermaid tub for like $12 at Walmart that is around 10 or 12 gallons. Or a slightly bigger one for a little more. You can hang a filter on it and the added water volume will keep things from becoming toxic too soon.

Send a message to JLK, she is a member here who knows a whole lot about goldfish and can probably point you to some specific meds and treatments that can help your goldfish.

And welcome to the forum!

 

[unspankable]

Poor thing! I think most of the damage is due to ammonia poisoning and general water quality issues, and since your tank is still cycling and it is too small, it's really easy for your parameters to get out of whack. I'm happy to hear you are so dedicated to making things better for the little guy! I would up the water change amounts, maybe 50% twice a day or 75% once a day. Or more! Clean water will really help him heal, possibly more than the medications will. If you can't get him a new tank right away, there are alternatives that can give him more water in the meantime. You can pick up a food safe Rubbermaid tub for like $12 at Walmart that is around 10 or 12 gallons. Or a slightly bigger one for a little more. You can hang a filter on it and the added water volume will keep things from becoming toxic too soon.

Send a message to JLK, she is a member here who knows a whole lot about goldfish and can probably point you to some specific meds and treatments that can help your goldfish.

And welcome to the forum!

Hey!
Thank you for responding so quickly!
I am doing water changes before and after work now every day.
I have messaged JLK as you suggested. I hope she can help.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Petco is also having a dollar per gallon sale, up to 55 gallons. I'd go pick a tank up there if I were you Hopefully he makes it through.

 

[unspankable]

Petco is also having a dollar per gallon sale, up to 55 gallons. I'd go pick a tank up there if I were you Hopefully he makes it through.

I don't think we have them where I live. (Victoria BC).



I will grab a big tub. I need to know whether I should be doing dips or baths or anything. Is there anything else I can do to help him fight the infection/fungus besides keeping the water clean?
It looks pretty dire.

 

[Scottyhorse]

I'm not very experienced in this, but I think salt can help. Sorry if I missed if you are already doing that.

 

[jlk]

Welcome to AA!! I am sorry your having such a rough time here. Great job getting a good test kit and some Prime!! As everyone has suggested, getting him into something larger should be the first step. The rubbermaid bins are an inexpensive alternative to a tank if funds are tight. Any big chain store will have them reasonably.

Ok, can you possibly post a another pic or two of him? In the pic above, he has a bad case of fin rot and what looks like ich (white specs everywhere). I dont see white mucous hanging off or fuzziness but it may be more clear in another pic. Is your ph 7.6 on the regular ph test or the high ph test (or both)? If you havent tested the high range test, run this as well and let us know what it reads.

If he is having slime coat issues, its likely due to a bad mix of too many meds. For the moment, just stick to water changes and the triple sulfa. As soon as he can be moved to something larger (really needs to be done asap), Ill walk you through ich treatment using salt only. I would also look into a better antibiotic- I am not positive on what is available to you but theres more options online than in a store. See if kanamycin is available anywhere (such as ebay or an aquatic supplier). That would be my first choice as its skin-absorbed. I would also check your local fish store for methylene blue- a small bottle usually only costs about $4 and this can be used for bathes/dips. Keep us posted!!

 

[unspankable]

Welcome to AA!! I am sorry your having such a rough time here. Great job getting a good test kit and some Prime!! As everyone has suggested, getting him into something larger should be the first step. The rubbermaid bins are an inexpensive alternative to a tank if funds are tight. Any big chain store will have them reasonably.

Ok, can you possibly post a another pic or two of him? In the pic above, he has a bad case of fin rot and what looks like ich (white specs everywhere). I dont see white mucous hanging off or fuzziness but it may be more clear in another pic. Is your ph 7.6 on the regular ph test or the high ph test (or both)? If you havent tested the high range test, run this as well and let us know what it reads.

If he is having slime coat issues, its likely due to a bad mix of too many meds. For the moment, just stick to water changes and the triple sulfa. As soon as he can be moved to something larger (really needs to be done asap), Ill walk you through ich treatment using salt only. I would also look into a better antibiotic- I am not positive on what is available to you but theres more options online than in a store. See if kanamycin is available anywhere (such as ebay or an aquatic supplier). That would be my first choice as its skin-absorbed. I would also check your local fish store for methylene blue- a small bottle usually only costs about $4 and this can be used for bathes/dips. Keep us posted!!

Thank you for adding to this thread JLK

pH is 7.6 Low and between 7.4 and 7.8 high so 7.6 seems accurate.
I am transferring the little guy over to the biggest rubbermaid i have around.
I have added a few more pictures. I don't know if this is ich. The dots are almost yellow?
he cant even swim now. he just floats on top of the tank.
I have Kanaplex, Furan and Metranidazole on order but it will be here in a week.
I hope he makes it that long but I dont think its likely. I dont know when to start thinking about euthanization.... sigh.
His black patches on hi front are more widespread and darker.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Aww, your poor goldie. I hope he pulls through for you. As Jlk said, just do lots of water changes with prime and get him into a bigger rubbermaid asap.
I am currently battling a case of fin rot with one of my 2 goldies right now too. No fun

 

[unspankable]

Aww, your poor goldie. I hope he pulls through for you. As Jlk said, just do lots of water changes with prime and get him into a bigger rubbermaid asap.
I am currently battling a case of fin rot with one of my 2 goldies right now too. No fun

He died last night.

But for anyone who gets into this mess, Tetra Parasite guard cleared the parasites on his body.
I miss the little guy.

 

[jlk]

I am very sorry

 

[Alyxx]

I'm really sorry to hear this.

 

[Quinn]

Yah know, it may be better this way... He doesn't have to go through mess or healing. Idk

 

[Sillyfishies]

On the brightside, you have an awesome fluval spec open. You could probably do red cherry shrimp.

I am really sorry about the little guy. I can tell you really care about your fish and there's few people like that in this hobby. I see people all the time shove goldfish in tiny tanks and say "they will only grow to the size of the tank".