Andres98789
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
I will give you the answers to the questions first before I explain the problem.
1~What type of fish is afflicted? comet goldfish almost two years old. He has been floating near the surface of the water or sitting at the bottom of the tank for almost 3 months now. He doesn't swim around and he's also having buoyancy problems as his head is always down and tail up as if the tail end was full of air. Sometimes he seems to be almos vertically trying to swim and the rest of the time he just sits there in a corner very lethargic not swiming around or floating near the surface. About 2 months ago I tried not feeding him for a couple of days and then feeding him peas, but it didn't help so I went back to feeding him flake food. I'm about to try feeding him some peas and zucchini before fasting him for 3 days then try peas for a couple of days as adviced in another forum. His poop is also very thin white and long and it's got air bubbles in it and I've heard this is due to bacterial infections as it will also affect the fish's buoyancy and make him switch from floating at the top of the tank to sitting at the bottom suddenly like mine is doing. The poo problem has been going on for about 2 weeks now (not 3 months like the floating problem) Yesterday a big white fluffy spot apeard on his body near his hear (see pic) it looked like a big dimple but with fluffy cotton. Could this be parasite or could it be due to the bacterial infection that I'm assuming he has? The spot had completely disapeared this morning leaving only a very tiny white mark that is barely visible (I wouldn't know the spot was there if I hadn't seen it) but I noticed a bit of fuzzy fluff aroun his gills (only a little bit and on one side only) but when I had a look an hours later that had disapear too. could this be gone so quickly? What could this be? parasites or bacterial infection? or both maybe? I'm thinking from what I have read that he might have a bacterial infection because of his poo and buoyancy problems but then the spot and the white fungus like fluff that was there this morning seem to be parasites from what I have read so far even though the spot and fluff around his gills have gone as quickly as they apeared. How can treat him so he can go back to swimming happily in the tank like his mate?
2~What are your tank parameters I had the water tested at the pet store 3 weeks ago (before I moved them to the current tank from a smaller one) and I was told the water was fine. It was tested for ammonia levels: nil. Nitrite level: nil. Nitrate levels: were a bit high when it was tested, but did a 40% water change. pH was 8. The water tempreture has been betwen 72 and 80 recently as the weather has been hot, but now it seems to be between 74 and 78. I'm sorry I can not give you exact values as it was tested at the store and my own test kit hasn't arrived in the post yet. The tank was cycled for 3 weeks with some ornaments, gravel and media from the smaller matured tank to help it along and I made sure the water was right for them before transfering them to their new home.
3~ How large is the tank? The tank is 125 litres JUWEL RIO. I was set up 6 weeks ago, cycled for 3 weeks until levels were right and the fish has been there for 3 weeks now.
4~What type of filtration are you using? The filter is the one that came with the tank JUWEL Filter Compact H 230 V - 1 x Pump Set 600 L Per hour
5~How many fish are in the tank? Two fish including the sick one. The other fish is a common goldfish which seems to be perfectly fine with no problems at all and hopefully he'll continue that way.
6~When is the last time you did a water change and vacuum the gravel? The last water change was done today and I do them weekly changing 20% of the water. I trat the water with aquasafe solution. I haven't vacummed the gravle yet in this new tank, but I'm planning to do it next week.
7~How long have you had the fish? I've had the fish for about 19 months and they were in a 30l tank until I read a bit about goldfish and realised that the tank was too small so I transfered them to the new 120l tank 3 weeks ago hoping that it will help his buoyancy problems and stop him form being lethargic.
8~Have you added anything new to the tank--decor, new dechlorinator, new substrate, etc.? Nothing has been added since the tank was set up 6 weeks ago.
9~What kind of food have you been feeding your fish, have you changed their diet recently? I normally feed them goldfish flake food that I soak in tank water for a minute first to make them sink and stop them from comming to the surface and swallowing air, but i recently bought a container of granules that I fed them once (about 1 week ago) I don't think they're a very good quality so I only gave it to them once as they floated all the time even after soaking them for a while. I also tried feeding them peas about 2 months ago which he ate but nothing changed. I'm gonna feed them nice varied good quality food from now on including some veggies.
How can I treat the poor guy and what treatment should I try? I have this bottle of PROTOZIN white spot and fungus treatment that I bought a couple of months ago because I thought the common goldfish has ich, but it turned out he was just going white (he's never had probems and seems very happY) so I never opened the bottle. Another site also recomended Myxazin, but I looked around and there Myxazin P and Myxazin. Which treatment should I give him? I'm currently putting some Fish Tonic (contanins magnesium sulphate 33.33%, sodium chloride 11.11%) in the water that is suppose to help with stress and help them fight infections, I've just started a couple of days ago and it's suppose to be put in the tank every 2 days so I'm about to put some more in today. Should I continue with this?
When I know what treatment to give him, should I be worried about treating him in the same tank with his mate in it? Will the treatment affect him? The other option would be to set up the small tank again and use it as a hospital tank, but it would take weeks to cycle and I want to treat whatever he's got asap. The smaller tank still hasn't been cleaned and still has the old filter media and old water in it.
Sorry for asking so many questions, but I want want the little guy to be happy again. Just to make it easier I have listed the questions below:
-What treatment should I use? Anti bacterial, fungus or both?
-Should I try not feeding them for a three days and then feeding them peas and maybe zucchini? if so, how many peas should i feed them a day?
-Will the treatment (whatever i might be) help with his lethargic mood and his buoyancy?
-Should I treat him in the same tank with his mate?
-Should I continue using the fish tonic?
- Will the fungus like fluff come back?
- Is the spot gone forver now?
Please help! I've never had any problems with the fish before so I might be panicking a bit, but I just want to see him swimming around like he used to instead of just sitting around or floating like that and his gut can't be well if he's got poop like that.
Many thanks,