Potential infection

[Elle]

I have a 65 gallon tank with 4 goldfish and 1 rainbow shark. They have been living together about 2.5 weeks. I recently added live plants to the tank. Two or three days later, two of the goldfish have developed what look like infections.

Fancy goldfish - looks like a white ulcer on his side. I put some treatment in the water that is supposed to treat a range of infections. Since starting the treatment about 3-4 days ago, the ulcer has gotten bigger and it looks like decaying white flesh. I’m hoping this is a “looks worse before it gets better” situation. I’ve noticed he has been hovering in place a lot, though the “place” changes throughout the day and he still enthusiastically eats. Should I be doing another kind of treatment? The photo is from before the white spot looked like decaying flesh.

Black moore goldfish - top fin has what looks like fin rot. Since the treatment started, it did look like it was healing. However, at the same time all this happened, the rainbow shark has started to pick on the black moore (Head butting and chasing). I haven’t seen him nip the dorsal fin, but have seen him head butt between the tail and where the dorsal fin meet. The fin is back to looking split again and I’m worried the rainbow shark won’t let the black moore heal (or maybe it isn’t fin rot and it has been the rainbow shark all along?) What should I do?

The other goldfish (one fancy, one not) seem completely fine.

[Elle]

Solved with Melafix. Have been treating for about three weeks and the Moore is completely healed and the fancy is almost healed (still a white spot but no cotton and slowly shrinking).

[m.j.gomez]

Hello, did you find cause? I know that my goldfish try to squeeze into tight spots. Had to sand edges of ornamentdo to this. Do you keep heater in tank?
As rainbow's mature they are known to get territorial & aggressive. They will both inhabit same areas of tank. Shark is known to harass, chase & terrorize more smaller & timid fish. If he stays true to his nature. Be prepared to move or separate. In a pinch you could also install divider. This is only temp solution. Hope this helps!

[Elle]

Originally Posted by m.j.gomez

Hello, did you find cause? I know that my goldfish try to squeeze into tight spots. Had to sand edges of ornamentdo to this. Do you keep heater in tank?
As rainbow's mature they are known to get territorial & aggressive. They will both inhabit same areas of tank. Shark is known to harass, chase & terrorize more smaller & timid fish. If he stays true to his nature. Be prepared to move or separate. In a pinch you could also install divider. This is only temp solution. Hope this helps!

Yes. The ulcer was from the new plants. My Oranda developed a similar cotton spot on his head and the last goldfish was showing signs of bacterial infection in his poop. But all the ulcers are finally gone and things are looking good after lots of water changes and a lot of Melafix.

The shredded fins were from the rainbow shark. We separated him in an isolation tank so that the goldfish could heal and planned to take him back to the store. Saw immediate improvement in the moore’s fins. Unfortunately, there was a little hole in the top for equipment and he jumped out while I was at work. So this part of the problem was solved with a sad solution.

[King Fisher]

Glad to see you are moving the shark out of your tank. It's completely non compatible with goldfish.

[Elle]

Originally Posted by King Fisher

Glad to see you are moving the shark out of your tank. It's completely non compatible with goldfish.

Guessing I can’t put my gourami in there either. -_-
Going to try to rehome him before he gets too big.

[King Fisher]

Honestly, it probably depends on who you talk to as to whether you could add anymore fish period to your 65g with 4 goldfish already in the tank.

As you know, kissing Gourami can get large. Will it get between 10-12 inches? I don't know. Some of them only reach 5-6 inches. I think if you added him your tank would be overstocked.

If you were going to put a tropical fish with a goldfish id say your kissing Gourami would be pretty compatible as far as recommended temperature. You could keep your tank at 73 degrees and be fine for the Gourami and goldfish. Recently, there's discussion on here of goldfish keepers keeping them at higher temps of 75 and 76 without issues. The kissing Gourami is also a fairly peaceful Gourami especially by itself so that is also a plus for your situation.

Idk what you run for filtration on the tank but I would add another filtration system if you add the gourami. Maybe even an air driven sponge filter for up to 75 gallons. Either way you will add to the biological system of your tank to better handle the bioload of an overstocked tank. I'd also advise to do weekly 50% water changes. Test your water every few days and see where the water parameters are at.

I know your current situation so if it were me I'd probably try adding the Gourami with the goldfish while they are young and keep an eye on thier behavior and your water conditions as you go. At any sign of aggression or unmanageable water quality, I'd pull the Gourami out of the tank and donate it to an LFS or sell it.

Just my 2 cents. Let us know what you do.

[Elle]

Originally Posted by King Fisher

Honestly, it probably depends on who you talk to as to whether you could add anymore fish period to your 65g with 4 goldfish already in the tank.

As you know, kissing Gourami can get large. Will it get between 10-12 inches? I don't know. Some of them only reach 5-6 inches. I think if you added him your tank would be overstocked.

If you were going to put a tropical fish with a goldfish id say your kissing Gourami would be pretty compatible as far as recommended temperature. You could keep your tank at 73 degrees and be fine for the Gourami and goldfish. Recently, there's discussion on here of goldfish keepers keeping them at higher temps of 75 and 76 without issues. The kissing Gourami is also a fairly peaceful Gourami especially by itself so that is also a plus for your situation.

Idk what you run for filtration on the tank but I would add another filtration system if you add the gourami. Maybe even an air driven sponge filter for up to 75 gallons. Either way you will add to the biological system of your tank to better handle the bioload of an overstocked tank. I'd also advise to do weekly 50% water changes. Test your water every few days and see where the water parameters are at.

I know your current situation so if it were me I'd probably try adding the Gourami with the goldfish while they are young and keep an eye on thier behavior and your water conditions as you go. At any sign of aggression or unmanageable water quality, I'd pull the Gourami out of the tank and donate it to an LFS or sell it.

Just my 2 cents. Let us know what you do.

Thank you very much for your thoughts. I really appreciate you taking the time to help and give advice. I think I’m going to try to move the gourami. I’m going to wait to see if the molly heals first though. I don’t want to be stressing about more fish when I already feel like the crazy fish lady haha. I’m going to research some filtration like you suggested in the meantime. Right now I have the marineland penguin 350 power filter. It’s supposed to work up to 75 gallons, but my water parameters haven’t gotten to where I want them so another filter is probably best. Fingers crossed they all play nice!

This is has all definitely been a learning experience. I wanted to do just a few easy fish and thought asking petsmart a bunch of questions would suffice. Two months later and I now know more about fish and fish illnesses than I ever imagined. Glad I found this forum. You guys have saved some fish lives.

[King Fisher]

You're welcome. Always research before taking advice from box stores. For the most part, They are in the business of selling fish and product and not concerned much with you or the fish's best interest.