I'm relatively new to the hobby and have been learning quite a lot. One of the issues I've been having is my chocolate oranda seems to be floating at the surface with his tail higher than his head (he does seem to be able to swim down to the bottom to grab sinking food but when he's resting he's not swimming and floating at the top). I did some research and know that this is a swim bladder thing. I felt like I may have overfed or fed food that didn't agree with him, so I held food for 2 days, and slowly started adding shelled peas and soft gel repashy food on day 3. He seems more active but still floating. I noticed that his poop seemed a little mucus-y, like more white and stringy than it should be. I also noticed a lesion on his head. I swabbed the lesion with a hydrogen peroxide q-tip and it seems to be healing well. I put him in a quarantine tank and put the temp up to 76, added aquarium salt, removed any lights that could burn his back, ran a uv light, took out the activated carbon from the filter and started melafix. I'm on day 3 of that right now. I bought metroplex to treat what I thought might be hole in the head disease. Now I know that seems crazy, and that usually you can fix everything with great water changes as good clean water is the best cure-all... but everything together (the unresolved swim bladder issue, the stringy poop, the lesion on his head) made me feel like he might need something more. The metroplex is arriving tonight.
The tank I have is a 55 gallon, with 4 fish. One 5 inch ranchu, one 5 inch oranda, the 5 inch oranda I mentioned above, and the 4 inch ranchu I just recently ordered. I think my problem originally was underestimating the water change schedule I would have to adopt. I now plan to do a 25% water change daily with a 50% water change once a week, I've heard that the small water changes help with body growth and the large water changes help with wen size (although that could be bogus haha). I also was mostly measuring the ammonia and not the nitrates, thinking my previous water change schedule was adequate (25% water change every 3rd day). When I measured the ammonia it was in the 80ppm range. I think it might have been enough to stress the fish so it couldnt fight off infection... especially since I'm still adding special blend bacteria to the tank water to finish establishing the biofilter.
So going forward I plan to give metroplex and melafix per their label instructions over the next 2 weeks, after that transfer back to the main tank and with my new water change schedule in place, and start feeding more soft gel foods and presoaked pellets than the adding the pellets dry while cutting back the frequency of bloodworm feedings to lessen the chance of constipation.
SOOOOOOO that was a lot... haha sorry. But now you're caught up to where I am.
I guess my questions are:
1) Do you agree with my care plan above?
2) Is there something you do to treat swim bladder disease that I haven't done?
3) What food do you recommend, how much per inch of fish and what frequency? (I just ordered Azayaka sinking pellets and hikari purple to replace the pellets I was using)
4) Do you think the metaplex is needed?
5) Any other maintenance ideas you have are more than welcome.
6) I removed the affected fish and am only treating it in the quarantine tank, should I treat ALL the fish that were in the tank with it that don't seem sick?
I attached a picture of his head (hope I did it right).
It looked like a lesion and not typical new wen growth... however I trust your opinion.
I'm learning as fast as I can and doing everything I can to make these guys healthy!!!
I forgot to add, the filter I have is a canister filter (fluval 360) and I also have an over the back filter (aquareon 50). I'm using prime to keep the water pristine while adding medications as well.
Thanks,
John
1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
Yan Bao Oranda Fancy Goldfish, stringy white poop, floating at surface with head tilted down, ulcer on head.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Ammonia 0, Nitrite ?, Nitrate 20-40, temp ~70, pH 7.0, water hardness: high
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
55 gallon tank, 1.2 months
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Fluval 360 cannister filter
Aqueon 50 over the back filter with activated carbon removed and ammonia filter added
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
Listed above
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
Bare bottom tank, was doing 25% water change every 3 days, now doing 25% daily with 50% once/week.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
About 3 weeks. I bought them from a trusted seller, and as I didn't have a quarantine tank at the time, added them straight to my aquarium (I have a quarantine tank now). Note: I did add a few guppies and a baby oranda I bought from petco straight into the tank (Im barely able to write this for how embarrassing it feels!!!... never again). The guppies are still in the tank. The goldie that I removed is now showing signs of fin rot (Im treating him seperately and blame him completely [not his fault I know...]).
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
I'm on day 3 of melafix. About to add metroplex tonight when it arrives. The only thing in the tank is a java moss wall I inserted as the back drop.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
Aqueon fish pellets dry (not presoaked)... going to stop this food
Repashy solient green
1 bloodworm gumdrop about 5x per week
spinach (that they never eat) pinned on side of tank every now and then
The tank I have is a 55 gallon, with 4 fish. One 5 inch ranchu, one 5 inch oranda, the 5 inch oranda I mentioned above, and the 4 inch ranchu I just recently ordered. I think my problem originally was underestimating the water change schedule I would have to adopt. I now plan to do a 25% water change daily with a 50% water change once a week, I've heard that the small water changes help with body growth and the large water changes help with wen size (although that could be bogus haha). I also was mostly measuring the ammonia and not the nitrates, thinking my previous water change schedule was adequate (25% water change every 3rd day). When I measured the ammonia it was in the 80ppm range. I think it might have been enough to stress the fish so it couldnt fight off infection... especially since I'm still adding special blend bacteria to the tank water to finish establishing the biofilter.
So going forward I plan to give metroplex and melafix per their label instructions over the next 2 weeks, after that transfer back to the main tank and with my new water change schedule in place, and start feeding more soft gel foods and presoaked pellets than the adding the pellets dry while cutting back the frequency of bloodworm feedings to lessen the chance of constipation.
SOOOOOOO that was a lot... haha sorry. But now you're caught up to where I am.
I guess my questions are:
1) Do you agree with my care plan above?
2) Is there something you do to treat swim bladder disease that I haven't done?
3) What food do you recommend, how much per inch of fish and what frequency? (I just ordered Azayaka sinking pellets and hikari purple to replace the pellets I was using)
4) Do you think the metaplex is needed?
5) Any other maintenance ideas you have are more than welcome.
6) I removed the affected fish and am only treating it in the quarantine tank, should I treat ALL the fish that were in the tank with it that don't seem sick?
I attached a picture of his head (hope I did it right).
It looked like a lesion and not typical new wen growth... however I trust your opinion.
I'm learning as fast as I can and doing everything I can to make these guys healthy!!!
I forgot to add, the filter I have is a canister filter (fluval 360) and I also have an over the back filter (aquareon 50). I'm using prime to keep the water pristine while adding medications as well.
Thanks,
John
1~What type of fish is afflicted? In addition, please describe what is wrong with the fish to the best of your ability (i.e. cotton like growth, bloated, etc.).
Yan Bao Oranda Fancy Goldfish, stringy white poop, floating at surface with head tilted down, ulcer on head.
2~What are your tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH)? Please give exact values.
Ammonia 0, Nitrite ?, Nitrate 20-40, temp ~70, pH 7.0, water hardness: high
3~ How large is the tank? How long has the tank been set up?
55 gallon tank, 1.2 months
4~What type of filtration are you using? Please give the name and number (i.e. Fluval 304) and amount of gph if known.
Fluval 360 cannister filter
Aqueon 50 over the back filter with activated carbon removed and ammonia filter added
5~How many fish are in the tank? What kinds of fish are they and what are their current sizes?
Listed above
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? How often do you do this? How much water do you remove at a time?
Bare bottom tank, was doing 25% water change every 3 days, now doing 25% daily with 50% once/week.
7~How long have you had the fish? If the fish is new, how did you acclimate it/them?
About 3 weeks. I bought them from a trusted seller, and as I didn't have a quarantine tank at the time, added them straight to my aquarium (I have a quarantine tank now). Note: I did add a few guppies and a baby oranda I bought from petco straight into the tank (Im barely able to write this for how embarrassing it feels!!!... never again). The guppies are still in the tank. The goldie that I removed is now showing signs of fin rot (Im treating him seperately and blame him completely [not his fault I know...]).
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.?
I'm on day 3 of melafix. About to add metroplex tonight when it arrives. The only thing in the tank is a java moss wall I inserted as the back drop.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently?
Aqueon fish pellets dry (not presoaked)... going to stop this food
Repashy solient green
1 bloodworm gumdrop about 5x per week
spinach (that they never eat) pinned on side of tank every now and then
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