Ill goldfish, lump / abcess? Loss of tail...

[Brightstar]

Hello all i was wondering if we can get some help / advice regarding an issue with 1x goldfish who seems very poorly?! However on that note she is still swimming around and eating etc.

This is a standard goldfish, not fancy - thought to be female, for several weeks we have noticed that there are some small raised areas however one at the base of her tail was rather large, seemed to be soft not firm. I foolishly assumed that this was due to age etc until we woke one morning and that part of her tail is missing!! Very shocking and upsetting! Will also try upload pics of the lump before and now the missing tail.

The tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, temp, pH) are not known as we are quite inexperianced and need to change how we do things i think...

This is a 60L tank which Has been set up for about 3 years.

Filtration system is a tetratech easy crystal 250/300.

There WERE 5 goldfish (3-4inch), 1x 2inch bristlenose plec. The goldfish have been seperated now as they were smaller whenwe 1st got the tank, so now there are 3x g.fish and the plec... All female (which was another reason for seperation as they are all of breeding age the guys are being overly forceful, this we think has led to several of the ladies fins being damaged esp this ones side fin (not thought to be finrot tho as we treat for it)!


The last time we did a water change and vacuum the gravel was last monday and today, we have not been doing it religiously as we didnt realise we had to, so water quality was probably quite poor , as adding meds and salt we are now doing weekly third water changes.
All fish are between 3 and 6 yrs old, no recent new fish or ornaments etc.

Fish are fed a variety of food cos the poorly girl used to get floaty so we feed flakes, frozen bloodworm / nymphs etc and peas as treats!

I have put in 10 level tablespoons of aquarium salt from advice i have been given from an experianced keeper tosay and also treating for internal bacteria and fit

Is there anything Else i can do? How likely is she to survive?

***photos will be added soon as wont upload from my phone...

Any help u can give will be GREATLY appreciated!*

 

[jlk]

Hi and welcome! Pics would definitely help to see how severe the situation is & what exactly is going on. 60l is only @15gal- this is quite a few fish for such a small tank. Without knowing your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph), its a bit difficult to be able to figure out what else may be going on that may either causing an issue or creating more issues. Can you possibiliy get an API test kit or atleast have your water checked at your lfs?

You mentioned that your treating with meds for internal bacteria & fin rot. What exactly are you treating with? We may be better able to make suggestions if we know what has & has not worked for your fish. Also, do any of your other fish show symptoms? A bit more info will help us to help you better!

 

[Brightstar]

thanks for that - cannot put pics directly on here for some reason???

so... have uploaded onto flickr directly, there are loads of before and after pics on there.

Flickr: Brightstar1985's Photostream

I have been treating with shop bought liquid treatments (anti finrot / anti internal bacteria) - its weird tho that only this fish is having fin loss and that damaged fin was perfect last week!

i feel better having removed the boys from the tank.

PS the mini tank withing the tank which is visible in some pics is housing the plec, he is slightly agoraphobic haha! he will not come out of the little pot if he is in the open tank!!! but he is a whole other story!

it is quite a small tank but the fish insist on growing lol, we want bigger but are concerned for the floors in our flat, it is a 600yr old building, 2nd flr flat with wooden floods! i have visions of a bigger tank crashing thru to the floor below!!

i will now be away from the fish for a week but they are being looked after by my mum - will ask her to get some tests and let me know any results.

in the mean time tho any advice is great - thank!

 

[jlk]

Thanks for the pics! She looks to have a pretty serious infection. If you are living in a 600yr old flat, I am guessing you may reside in a European country. Unfortunately, fish meds are difficult to procure without a prescription. You can continue to treat with lots of healthy water, salt & the anti-bacterial treatment that you are using and hope for the best. If she is able to heal, her fin will not grow back but she will manage fine without it.

Alternately, you can seek the aid of an aquatic vet for treatment with antibiotics. If you can not afford this, we can try to help if you have human antibiotics at your disposal. These options are something you will have to consider & decide what will be most feasible for your situation. Please do not hesitate to ask questions!

 

[Brightstar]

yes thats right, i am in the UK - dnt know of any aquatics vets but could try find that out today, i think i read on here (another persons topic with a differant problem) about making some sort of concoction with tetracycline cos i think i some of that in the cupboard?? or at least some form of human antibiotics.

If i was to treat her with antibiotics would i need to take the other fish out of the tank? and how would i know what amount to treat her with?

I just hate that she is probably in pain following the rupture or just generally isnt happy (fromt the dorsal fin position in the after pics).

 

[jlk]

Let us know how you make out with an aquatic vet. If you have no luck & do have tetracycline, you can opt to make a homemade gel food with this to feed her. You will just need to seperate her at mealtime so she is the only one eating the food. The dose of tetracycline is 250mg per 100grams of food. I enclosed a link to a homemade gel food recipe with instructions & information.

Medicated Gel Food