ForChester
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 1
So, I have taken care of freshwater aquariums for a while now...I began with a turtle in a bucket at age 5 and have had turtles and fish in various tanks since then. I have mediocre, but long term experience with your common goldfish, fantails, calicos, black moors, comets etc. and have had to treat many of the common illnesses such as ick and fin rot and going all out with a severe case of septicemia so I am familiar with all of these.
Currently, I have a 60 gallon tank for my 7 fish: 3 fantails, 1 calico, 1 comet, 1 common feeder goldfish, and 1 black moor. I came back from college for the summer and immediately noticed that my black moor, musa, had fin rot and that one of his eyes had deflated/popped since I last saw him over xmas break (my family was taking care of the tank for me and, since they got an automatic fish feeder, did not take notice to the fish daily as I had before I left). I decided to, since musa was already at a disadvantage because of his eyes before he went completely blind in his deflated eye, isolate him in a smaller 10 gallon tank permanently so he could recover and continue to stay healthy. I treated him for fin rot and within a few days he began to come around. It has now been 2 and a half months and his fins have all grown back (with the exception of his pectoral fins which are still only about half as long as they used to be...). His tail fins have curled over on the tips, though. They don't seem to bother him and I am assuming it is just the way they healed from the fin rot, but I am unsure. Aside from this, I have been watching him gradually grow whiter (yellowish) on his belly, though, and a day or so ago noticed an orangish/red spot behind one of his pectoral fins as well as what looked like red streaks in his tail.
I thought it could be septicemia (being an over-paranoid aquarium owner) or that it could just be due to not having enough light (the tank is in my bedroom which has a window that is surrounded by forrest, so no direct sunlight ever comes into my room). I heard that, and correct me if i'm wrong, that when goldfish are put into absolute darkness over an extended period of time, they begin to lose their color and turn white. I have seen this in my common feeder goldfish, too: as I have moved the tank over the years, he normally has a large black spot on his head, but when the tank was moved to less sunny places, the spot would go away. I was thinking that maybe this would explain the color fading from his body (and that the yellowish tint is just because black moors are normally, well, black). I have also considered that the red streaks in his tail are also just color changes...kinda like when you hold your hand up to a light and you can see your skin turn a pinkish translucent color. The streaks are kind of hard to tell if they are blood/disease oriented or just changes in pigmentation (again, I have seen severe septicemia in my fantails so I do have something to compare it to).
Things to note that could be the cause of whatever this is:
the tank is clean and well cared for, however the temperature is a little higher than ideal (due to the summer heat, even with air conditioning in the house, the tank is usually around 76/78 degrees). I feed him a small pinch of your common fish food found in grocery stores once in the morning. He has fake plastic plants and a ceramic fish house for decor (they take up about 1/3 of the tank, but he still has plenty of room to swim in and around them. Musa is about 3 years old and is only 2 inches long or so and is the only one in the 10 gallon tank). The tank is well oxygenated with a carbon filter.
Overall, he swims around fine. If he has any pain or irritation he does not show it (no swimming or scraping against the rocks or the fish house, his breathing/gill movement is normal, and he is pooping as normally as fish poop, lol). So, I could just be completely paranoid and over-analyzing, or I may be missing something. I appreciate any help anyone has to offer
Thanks for tolerating my lengthy explanation...
Currently, I have a 60 gallon tank for my 7 fish: 3 fantails, 1 calico, 1 comet, 1 common feeder goldfish, and 1 black moor. I came back from college for the summer and immediately noticed that my black moor, musa, had fin rot and that one of his eyes had deflated/popped since I last saw him over xmas break (my family was taking care of the tank for me and, since they got an automatic fish feeder, did not take notice to the fish daily as I had before I left). I decided to, since musa was already at a disadvantage because of his eyes before he went completely blind in his deflated eye, isolate him in a smaller 10 gallon tank permanently so he could recover and continue to stay healthy. I treated him for fin rot and within a few days he began to come around. It has now been 2 and a half months and his fins have all grown back (with the exception of his pectoral fins which are still only about half as long as they used to be...). His tail fins have curled over on the tips, though. They don't seem to bother him and I am assuming it is just the way they healed from the fin rot, but I am unsure. Aside from this, I have been watching him gradually grow whiter (yellowish) on his belly, though, and a day or so ago noticed an orangish/red spot behind one of his pectoral fins as well as what looked like red streaks in his tail.
I thought it could be septicemia (being an over-paranoid aquarium owner) or that it could just be due to not having enough light (the tank is in my bedroom which has a window that is surrounded by forrest, so no direct sunlight ever comes into my room). I heard that, and correct me if i'm wrong, that when goldfish are put into absolute darkness over an extended period of time, they begin to lose their color and turn white. I have seen this in my common feeder goldfish, too: as I have moved the tank over the years, he normally has a large black spot on his head, but when the tank was moved to less sunny places, the spot would go away. I was thinking that maybe this would explain the color fading from his body (and that the yellowish tint is just because black moors are normally, well, black). I have also considered that the red streaks in his tail are also just color changes...kinda like when you hold your hand up to a light and you can see your skin turn a pinkish translucent color. The streaks are kind of hard to tell if they are blood/disease oriented or just changes in pigmentation (again, I have seen severe septicemia in my fantails so I do have something to compare it to).
Things to note that could be the cause of whatever this is:
the tank is clean and well cared for, however the temperature is a little higher than ideal (due to the summer heat, even with air conditioning in the house, the tank is usually around 76/78 degrees). I feed him a small pinch of your common fish food found in grocery stores once in the morning. He has fake plastic plants and a ceramic fish house for decor (they take up about 1/3 of the tank, but he still has plenty of room to swim in and around them. Musa is about 3 years old and is only 2 inches long or so and is the only one in the 10 gallon tank). The tank is well oxygenated with a carbon filter.
Overall, he swims around fine. If he has any pain or irritation he does not show it (no swimming or scraping against the rocks or the fish house, his breathing/gill movement is normal, and he is pooping as normally as fish poop, lol). So, I could just be completely paranoid and over-analyzing, or I may be missing something. I appreciate any help anyone has to offer
Thanks for tolerating my lengthy explanation...
