Red Streaks on Goldfish

[ord]

Hello! Just joined this forum I’ve been apart of fishlore (another forum) for over 5 years but this disease i’ve been dealing with has everyone stumped. 20g, 1 common goldfish, no other tank mates. She’s over 6 years old. 20g tank has been cycled and set up for years. I do weekly or biweekly 25% water changes with Seachem Prime to dechlorinate. Water levels are good. Nitrate was 5ppm a couple days ago before I did a weekly water change.
The issue-
Since December of 2021 she has had red streaks show up on her upper tail fin. At first I increased water changes. A red spot showed up weeks later on her abdomen and then disappeared over night. More red streaks sometimes appear on lower half of her tail fin but not too often and again, will disappear overnight or within 48 hours. The red streaks on the upper tail fin have not disappeared and after dealing with this for so long, I’m not sure if it is permanent. We obviously suspected hemorrhagic septicemia at first. Treated with Kanaplex in the tank and then when that didn’t work did medicated food w Kanaplex for a couple weeks. Didn’t notice too much change. No new spots appeared. It’s been over 7 months and hemorrhagic septicemia, from what I’ve read, kills quickly. Next we suspected Nitrate poisoning but I had already increased water changes… problem didn’t go away. I noticed the upper tail fin streaks get brighter kind of which happens sometimes so I went back to the forum and decided to do a methylene blue bath. She sat in a solution of 1/4 tsp methylene blue with 2 gallons of water for 30 minutes. Didn’t do anything or improve condition but, it really stressed her out with the netting and everything that she’s been nervous/scared around me ever since. I’m just giving her time so she knows I don’t plan on doing it again.
So, if not hemorrhagic septicemia or nitrate/ammonia/nitrite poisoning… any ideas what this could be?
BTW I’ve also added aquarium salt various times and that did nothing.
Here is a picture from the very beginning.

 

[Aiken Drum]

How big is the fish?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Ive had a read through your thread on fishlore (i think it was your thread anyway) and my opinion is you almost got there when you was discussing the size of your fish, size of tanks and stunting, but never really followed it through to a conclusion.

A 6 year old goldfish should be fully grown, you say yours is 3 or 4". That certainly qualifies as stunted. Internal organs outgrowing its body will be causing all sorts of health issues, and the symptoms you are seeing could either be caused directly by this or be a secondary infection.

It looks like you have tried pretty much every treatment under the sun, but unfortunately if its a case of organ failure nothing is going to achieve very much. Personally, if the fish is able to swim relatively OK, eats OK and doesnt otherwise appear to be suffering I would stop with all the medications which will be stressful and let your fish live out its life. If it is suffering and not responding to treatment then euthanising the fish would be a humane treatment.

 

[ord]

How big is the fish?

Pretty small, about 3 inches.

 

[ord]

Ive had a read through your thread on fishlore (i think it was your thread anyway) and my opinion is you almost got there when you was discussing the size of your fish, size of tanks and stunting, but never really followed it through to a conclusion.

A 6 year old goldfish should be fully grown, you say yours is 3 or 4". That certainly qualifies as stunted. Internal organs outgrowing its body will be causing all sorts of health issues, and the symptoms you are seeing could either be caused directly by this or be a secondary infection.

It looks like you have tried pretty much every treatment under the sun, but unfortunately if its a case of organ failure nothing is going to achieve very much. Personally, if the fish is able to swim relatively OK, eats OK and doesnt otherwise appear to be suffering I would stop with all the medications which will be stressful and let your fish live out its life. If it is suffering and not responding to treatment then euthanising the fish would be a humane treatment.

Sounds like my thread lol. I’ve got a lot up.

It swims totally OK, has a wonderful appetite, and seems fine. Just skittish recently after during methylene blue treatment. She is definitely, in no way, needing to be euthanized. Unfortunately, I agree she is most likely stunted. When I first got her I was very young and knew nothing about proper fish care. She was in a bowl ): which I fully regret but didn’t know better at the time. She then went into a 10g temporarily (with my 2 other goldfish), then a 30g, and then a 55. Once the other 2 passed ): she went in the 20g since that seems to be the general rule for goldfish. She’s small but still has room to grow in this tank if she could.
Is stunting irreversible?
I won’t be doing anymore meds but I forgot to mention in original post that I add seachem stress guard once a week during water changes. Is this still good to use or should I stop?
Are these symptoms something you see with stunted fish? What organ would be affected that causes this? You mentioned secondary infection too, what does that really mean?
Thank you for your reply

 

[Aiken Drum]

A 6 year old goldfish should be 10 to 12 inches. And 6 years of stunting isnt going to sort itself out. In reality im surprised the fish survived 6 years, and really the best thing is just to let your fish live the best life it can while it can. Moving it into a bigger tank might give your fish a better quality of life but isnt going to reverse its condition now.

The damage is done early in life, that time spent in a bowl and a 10g tank will be were the issues are mostly from. 20g is minimum for a fancy goldfish, 30g would be better for a common goldfish. Bigger is better, and ideally a pond.

Stressguard is a water conditioner. It removes chlorine when you do water changes same as any other water conditioner. My opinion on slimecoat additives is if it is promoting slimecoat it is doing this by irritating your fish and causing a biological reaction. Same way aquarium salt promotes slime coat. But, that's just my opinion. Have you noticed any improvement through using stressguard? If its the water conditioner you choose to use with your water changes, thats fine. I probably wouldnt use it purely for the slimecoat additive though. Its expensive for a water conditioner, but does what its supposed to do just fine, which is remove chlorine/ chloramine.

Im not really knowledgable enough to say specifically which organ failing would cause your symptoms. I just know that cramming internal organs into too small a body results in poor health and shortened lifespans. By secondary infections, i mean that fish in otherwise poor shape have lower immune systems and therefore pick up other issues more easily and find it more difficult to recover from those secondary issues.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Sorry. Misread your post. Stressguard isnt a water conditioner, i mixed it up with stresscoat.

Same principal though. If it promotes slimecoat it does this through irritating the fish and causing a biological reaction to produce more slimecoat. If you are seeing a benefit from the stressguard then i dont see why you cant continue, if it doesnt seem to help any then i would stop.

API stresscoat and Seachem Prime which "are" water conditioners also claim to have slimecoat additives, so if you use either of these as a water conditioner then the stressguard is doubling up really.

 

[ord]

Sorry. Misread your post. Stressguard isnt a water conditioner, i mixed it up with stresscoat.

Same principal though. If it promotes slimecoat it does this through irritating the fish and causing a biological reaction to produce more slimecoat. If you are seeing a benefit from the stressguard then i dont see why you cant continue, if it doesnt seem to help any then i would stop.

API stresscoat and Seachem Prime which "are" water conditioners also claim to have slimecoat additives, so if you use either of these as a water conditioner then the stressguard is doubling up really.

Alright I’ll stop using Stress Guard and just stick with Prime. I do still have the 30g but it’s a high tank. it’s 24x12 and 25 inches tall. I read somewhere that the water pressure in high tanks can cause issues in goldfish. Would a high tank not be such a good idea?

 

[Aiken Drum]

At the end of the day, what damage has been done has been done and a 20g tank is plenty big enough for a 3" fish. Its not suddenly going to grow now because you moved it into a slightly bigger tank.

Im sure plenty of people keep goldfish in tanks or ponds deeper than 25" just fine if you did want to move your fish. I have read that over 24" depth can cause swim bladder issues with goldfish, but taking account of substrate depth and im assuming it wouldn't be filled to the brim you wont actually have 24" deep water. Whichever tank has the bigger plan area regardless of overall capacity would probably be best if you wanted to pick one.

 

[Danio8]

I recently had a problem like this with one of my goldfish. I got a heater that was preset to 78 degrees and stuck it in the tank. After about 5 days, the red streaks were gone.

 

[ord]

update- today a white spot showed up on one of her fins. i haven’t added any new live organisms to the tank in years so idk if it is ick. poor bean ):

 

[ord]

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