LIttle Red Spots on my Goldfish.HELP!!!

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kamo87

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
48
Location
Brooklyn, NY
Hi everyone, I have 2(2 inch) Goldfish in a 10 gallon tank. I've had them for 6 months already and they were doing quite well. I do 50% water changes every week but still cannot manage to clean the tank perfectly. I treated them for ich 2 months ago. Yeasterday I noticed that one of them has many little red spots on his belly and a little cotton like dot on its fin(just one). The fish still swims and eats normally but I'm concern about the red spots. I did some research and saw a disease called specimecia in which the fish has these spots but I'm not sure if this is the case. The other goldfish is doing good and looks healthy. Please help me guys, I don't wanna lose my little fat baby. Should I add some salt or should I treat them with meds?

Thanks in advance, Kamen!
 
Red spots, do they look like blood under the scales?

If it looks like patches of blood under the skin, esp. if it is under the chin area ... it might be Costia - a parasite. Salt dip &/or high temp treatment *may* help (same as for treating ich). External anti-parasitics (like quick cure) or better yet - an antiparasitic food are options.

The other possiblity is bacteria infection. Little point like hemorrhages under the scales are more likely bacteria infection, as are red veins in the fins. <The cottony wool spot also points to bacterial source.> An anti-biotic containing food is suggested. Bacterial infection may progress to septicemia, but the fish will also be lethargic & act sick at that point.

Before you do anything, however, I would suggest checking your water parameters - NH3 & NO2 as a minimum. 2 2 inchers in a ten is crowded & usu. they get sick from poor water conditions. Getting them into clean water is far more important that meds.

If you elect to treat with meds, note that almost all anti-biotics used in the water have been render ineffective in goldies due to development of resistance. (Plus there is a risk to your bio-filter.) Kanamycin is the only exception (so far ....) However, it is still suggested that you use antibiotic containing food if the fish is eating. <Don't dump kanamycin into the water if you don't have to, we don't want to lose the last efective anti-biotic.>
 
Red spots, do they look like blood under the scales?

If it looks like patches of blood under the skin, esp. if it is under the chin area ... it might be Costia - a parasite. Salt dip &/or high temp treatment *may* help (same as for treating ich). External anti-parasitics (like quick cure) or better yet - an antiparasitic food are options.

The other possiblity is bacteria infection. Little point like hemorrhages under the scales are more likely bacteria infection, as are red veins in the fins. <The cottony wool spot also points to bacterial source.> An anti-biotic containing food is suggested. Bacterial infection may progress to septicemia, but the fish will also be lethargic & act sick at that point.

Before you do anything, however, I would suggest checking your water parameters - NH3 & NO2 as a minimum. 2 2 inchers in a ten is crowded & usu. they get sick from poor water conditions. Getting them into clean water is far more important that meds.

If you elect to treat with meds, note that almost all anti-biotics used in the water have been render ineffective in goldies due to development of resistance. (Plus there is a risk to your bio-filter.) Kanamycin is the only exception (so far ....) However, it is still suggested that you use antibiotic containing food if the fish is eating. <Don't dump kanamycin into the water if you don't have to, we don't want to lose the last efective anti-biotic.>


Low, thanks a lot for the very detailed explanation. I'm not sure if it looks like patches but to try to be more precise imagine ich white spots but instead of white they are red(very tiny little red spots mostly concentrated at the belly area + a patch on one of the fins). I've just done a 50 % water change and I'll do one every day. I also added salt to the tank. My question is if i keep cleaning the tank and the water parameters perfect, my goldy will get cured or I need to get meds. Again excuse me for the dummy questions but I don't have much experience with diseases (except Ich). I'll try to get a bigger tank for these quys as quickly as possible, but first I want to make my little friend feel better.
Thanks again, and I hope to here from you soon!
 
I tend go slow on the meds. As long as the fish is acting normal <no lethargy, breathing fine, active, eating, no clamped fins>, I would tend to give it a few days & see if the fish gets better on its own with just clean water.

I would start treating if the fish is acting ill, or if the condition is getting worse. Salt is a good start ... although you need to get up to at least 0.3% to be effective as treatment.
 
Hello again, the goldy started looking lethargic but keep eating. I bought Melafix and started the treatment yesterday. There is no result yet but I hope the situation will get better. I also did 3 - 50% water changes for the last 3 days and added salt. If you have other suggestions don't hasitate to share them:)))
THANKS AGAIN!!!
 
I have no great suggestion at this point ... except to keep my fingers crossed.

If the melafix doesn't work, I would escalate treatment to an anti-biotic containing food next.
 
Hi again. The things with my baby are not getting better with the Melafix so I went to my LFSs(3) and looked for food containing tetraciclyn but they don't have it. My question is if I buy the antibiotic seperately can I mix it with regular food and if YES how do I mix it???? Thanks in advance!
 
You might want to phone around for Romet B (common one used for pond fish), or Jungle's anti-bacterial food (I found that at PetSmart.) Also Gel-Tek medicated foods are usu. available in US.

If you want to make your own anti-bacterial food, this is the recipe:
Goldfish and Aquarium Board Article-Medicated Gel Food

If you must, you can use an antibiotic in the water. Kanamycin (Kanaplex) is the recommended one here, as it is well absorbed from the water. A second choice is Maracyn I & II. You do risk killing your biofilter with anti-biotics, so it is better to treat in a hosp. tank, & you will need close monitoring of your water parameters.
 
Thank you so much for the detailed advice! I'm on my way to Pet Smart and will let you know if everything is fine.
 
Out of interest, how much algae is there in the tank and what did you treat the ich with? It's vaguely possible that if it was a copper compound used to treat, algae sucked it all up. When the algae died off, it'd release a bunch of copper back into the tank and maybe cause copper burn (which would look like little red sores); water changes and time would fix that, though, so I doubt it's the case here. Just throwing it out there as a possibility!
 
Out of interest, how much algae is there in the tank and what did you treat the ich with? It's vaguely possible that if it was a copper compound used to treat, algae sucked it all up. When the algae died off, it'd release a bunch of copper back into the tank and maybe cause copper burn (which would look like little red sores); water changes and time would fix that, though, so I doubt it's the case here. Just throwing it out there as a possibility!

Actually, I treat the Ich with Quick Cure wich I think does not contain copper so may be that's not the case and I also do my best to keep the tank free of algae. Unfortunatelly I looked for foods containing antibiotic but couldn't find them in my area so I bought Tetracyclin and started the treatment yesterday in a hospital tank. I will let you know if there is any progress .
Thanks for the response!
 
Hello. I know this Thread is rather old. But. I'm finding that. I'm also having this problem with my Goldfish. And I was wondering what Anti-Bacterial Food you gave your Goldfish. And did it work for him =o /.
 
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