FIGHTING COLUMNARIS- white fluff NEED HELP

[tini25tom]

My son has a goldfish he won from a carnival about 3 years ago. We just recently switched tanks and that’s when the problem started. I forgot all about the nitrogen cycle in a tank and added the fish too soon. I also added another fish (sand dollar fish). The sand dollar fish and the algae eater both died and my goldfish started getting black spots, stopped eating and laying on the bottom. I was told to empty my tank since it hasn’t cycled and start over (BAD IDEA). I put the fish in a 5 gallon bucket over night with the filter hung on it. Another rookie mistake I didn’t cover the bucket and the fish jumped out. I am not sure how long he was out of the water but he landed on a piece of cardboard and was almost dry on one side. He fell about 2 ft. He was actually stuck to the cardboard until I submerged it in water for a bit and then he released. He then started getting cloudy eyes and tail rot. I was told to treat with erythromycin, but this did NOT work at all. His back fin is almost completely gone and he started getting a white cottony growth on the side (the entire side of his body). I was then told to use melafix and pimafix along with aquarium salt. I used as directed and this did not work at all. I kept doing 25% water changes every day as well to help nitrogen cycle. I then was told to use fungal cure. I am on the second dose and will finish changing 25% of water tomorrow. I have not done a water change in 3 days (based on med directions and took out carbon filter). Some of the white stuff was coming off after the first day, but now has kind of slowed down. He is very energetic now, much more than before and he is eating. He also has black spots all over his body. Should I start another dose of the fungal cure? I am trying everything cause my 7 yr old loves his goldie so much. Any help is greatly appreciated. The run around has been expensive and very time consuming.

 

[Greta1981]

Okay. In order to help you the most, I need you to backtrack a bit, please. What size tank has this goldfish been in all this time? Can you confirm how many years he's been in that tank, just to make sure I get the details right? What have his tankmates been and what are his tankmates now? Finally, do you know your water parameters right now? These questions are critical for us to help you help the fish.

Looking at that picture, the first thing I see is ammonia burns, followed by the finrot, which is directly related to water toxicity, and possibly a fungus. The fish in the picture is either a common goldfish or a comet. Both require a minimum of 100 gallons of water. It sounds crazy, I know, but it's the honest truth. They grow to 12+ inches, produce huge amounts of waste that will literally poison them to death in small spaces, regardless of filtration, and also suffer from a phenomenon called stunting: In too small a space, their outsides stop growing, but their insides don't, leading to a slow, painful death. If your goldfish is 7 years old and that size, he is severely stunted, I'm sorry to say. He should be a foot long. Much of what you are seeing is related to that stunting. That said, even though stunting cannot be reversed, he may yet have a few years left in him if we act quickly.

First of all, you need to get him in the biggest tank possible. I know these are expensive, but you can get a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tote at Walmart for $40 bucks and that will do fine. You don't need the usual 100 gallons because the fish is so stunted he will never grow to fill the tank as a healthy fish would do. But again, don't give up yet, he could still have a happy, if shortened life, if you act quickly. So--Rubbermaid tote, 40 or 50 gallons, ASAP. A filter that turns over 10 times the water volume. So, if you get a 40 gallon tote, the filter should turn over 400 gallons per hour at the minimum.
Prime water conditioner. This is absolutely critical. It's inexpensive at pet stores, a little goes a long way, and it will hugely help your fish.
An airstone. Goldfish have huge oxygen needs.

Set up the Rubbermaid tote with clean, Primed water. Set up the filter. When you have these ready, let me know and I'll help you gradually acclimate him to the new, clean water and larger space. Just dumping him in will shock him badly and could kill him, so it has to be done gently. Also, stop the salt, melafix, fungal cure, absolutely everything else that has been going into that tank. I will message our foremost goldfish expert so she can post on what medicines might help your fish. In spite of what pet stores tell you, Melafix and Pimafix are typically useless products and salt can often do more harm than good. The fungus can't be treated successfully unless his living conditions are improved. Again, to repeat, clean, Primed water is the key right now to keeping him alive long enough to try to reverse some of this damage. I HAVE seen goldfish in even worse shape survive, so there may be hope yet if you act fast.

I'm so sorry your fish is suffering. I'll do everything I can to help pull him through. Hang in there.

 

[tini25tom]

First of all thanks for your reply. Unfortunetly we have no room for a bigger tank . As of now he is the only fish in the 13 gal tank and we have had him about 3 years. He has been in the new tank since late December of this year. In the old tank (10 gal) we had 2 goldfish and a algae eater. We had those 2 for about 5 yrs and not until the last year did we add Goldie (the fish in question). The one goldfish died for unknown reasons about a year after we got Goldie (we thought since goldie was bigger he bullied him???) When I got the new 13 gal tank this Dec we added the sand dollar fish. So in the new tank we had the sand dollar, goldie and the algae eater. Both the sand dollar and algae eater died the same day. I do have an air stone I can add to the 13 gal if needed since we used it on our old tank? But the filter he has on his tank now is max 30 gal. I do add water conditioner every water change.
I do not have a test strip for ammonia, I will get this on my way home from work tonight and update you. My ph seems to be low since I added the meds described before, but here are my parameters. NO2 and NO3-0, ph @6, KH between 40-80, GH 180. The temp is about 75degrees (room temp). As you mentioned amonia, it reminded me that we were told this may be the reason the other 2 fish died originally by the pet store so they said to add ammonia lock. Once the fish got the white cottony stuff they said oh the black spots are saddle something caused from the columnaris????
I did a water change this morning and added the carbon filter back to the filter. Hope this helps give you the info you need. Let me know if I left something out.
Quick note, almost his whole other side of his body is black. I tried to add that pic as well, but my computer was acting goofy with the pic format.
Again thanks

 

[Greta1981]

I am so sorry--he WILL die in that 13 gallon. If he is to stand any chance at all of living, he needs a much larger space, clean, Primed water, and better filtration. If you have no space for a bigger tank, could you buy the Rubbermaid tote and have a friend babysit him for you until he recovers? No medication will help him so long as he remains in those conditions. The other fish likely died from water toxicity due to severe overcrowding.
That's the only thing I can recommend right now, in addition to buying an API water test kit as soon as possible. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate. If you can put him in that larger space, then we can look at administering the appropriate medications, but right now they're pretty much useless, he's so stressed out, weak, and dealing with trying to survive in what is likely toxic water.

 

[tini25tom]

I checked the ammonia and it was at a 2. By the time I got back, goldie had died. . Since goldfish don't do well in a 13 gal tank, what would you recommend? How long should I wait to add it to the tank.

 

[Greta1981]

I'm very sorry for the death of your fish.
Before you get any other fish, I would recommend cycling your tank. This will help ensure the health of your next fish. People here will be glad to help you through the process of the nitrogen cycle. Cycling will take at the minimum several weeks.