Goldfish emergency

[Parasitica]

A little over a year ago, I won a goldfish (Steeb) at a festival. We had him in a tank until he outgrew it, and we transferred him to a ten gallon tank with some new roommates (3 other smaller goldfish, Captain America, Iron Man, and BUCC). The water was dechlorinated, the temperature was matched to the water in Steeb's tank, and we floated his roommates in their bags before adding them to their tank. Everyone settled in quickly and were calm and healthy. Steeb had a hard time getting food at first because the little guys were faster, but he figured it out after a day. A week later, I noticed that they were acting a little lethargic. I was worried, but then I figured out that my brother had been turning on the light in the middle of the night and I thought it might have been messing up their sleep cycles, so I went ahead and did a partial water change as I had planned for the 1 week mark. The next day, BUCC was covered in this weird, white fluff and all of the other fish had weird white dots on only their tail fins. I've been keeping a pretty close eye on them because they're all new, and this all happened really suddenly. Steeb and Iron Man started flashing, and I caught Iron Man nibbling at Steeb so I transferred him to a separate tank.

That was when I noticed that Captain America was covered in the fuzz too (it was harder to see on him because he's mostly white). We tested the water and the nitrate, nitrite, and GH were all where they needed to be, and the KH and pH were still okay but needed to be monitored. We couldn't figure out what was going on, so we added 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt per gallon, dissolved in tank water, and they all seemed okay. This was yesterday.

Today Steeb and Iron Man are no longer flashing (thank god) but now BUCC's left eye seems to be bulging out a bit. There was a piece of coral in the tank that I just removed in case it was caused by trauma, but I honestly don't know, and every fish has fin rot on their tail fins. On BUCC it's really bad, but all of them have it and I know that two days ago there was no sign of it because I was looking for it.

I'm kind of freaking out and I don't know what is going on and what to do. The lady at Pet Smart yesterday recommended adding a heater, so we did (the tank is now at 75 degrees F) but she didn't tell us what to do about everything else, and I didn't notice any fin rot before we left (they were closed today so we didn't get the medication). I feel like almost everything that could go wrong has and I don't know how to help them.

Tl;dr: I have 4 really sick goldfish and I need help trouble shooting. Water seems good, 2/4 fish have white fuzz, one has mild Popeye (left), and all of them have suddenly developed fin rot. (All of this was sudden, actually.) Added recommended amount of kosher salt, temp is 75 degrees F, separated an aggressive fish from the main 10 gal tank. Tank hasn't been able to cycle yet, 3/4 fish are brand new. The last one is a year old. I'm a new tank owner and I'm very much freaking out over what the actual hell is going on.

 

[Mrscpoulson]

Just for clariclarification. There are 4 Goldfish in a 10g?

The white spots sound like Ick. Which can show up especially when the ammonia is high and the fish are stressed.

 

[Potluck]

You should not have a goldfish in a 10 gallon tank especially a common you get from the fair, they get extremely big and should be in a pond, goldfish are huge producers of waste which with 4 of them there's no way possible your water parameters are in check in a 10 gallon tank with 4 goldfish, ich looks like the fish is covered in salt or sugar, a pic would be better, if they are fancy goldfish you can get away with a 55 gallon as you have 4 you need 20 gallon for 1 and 10 gallon for each additional, but I'm not thinking you have a fancy from the fair or festival its either a comet or a common, if it's ich there's many treatments out there for gold fish, heat ISN'T ONE of them as goldfish are cold water fish but I would highly stress restocking, but not much you can do with a 10 gallon tank unless you go nano.

 

[Parasitica]

There were 4 in the 10 gallon, but one was getting aggressive towards the biggest fish so he was moved to a separate tank. The biggest fish is 3 inches, the middle two are both 1.5 inches each, and the last one is only an inch. The white spots are only on the tail fins, is that normal for ick? I googled pictures when I first noticed them and they were normally on the entire body in them.

 

[Potluck]

Okay yes it is on the body as well look at the first pic at the side, also the tail should not be messed up like that, could be fin and tail for as well which is usually caused from poor water quality


Also don't listen to petsmart you don't need a heater with goldfish, Popeye aka bulging of the eye is also caused by poor water conditions and also bacterial infections

You need to get an api liquid test kit and test the water but honestly it costs more than your whole 10 gallon tank so I would find a lfs (not a chain store like petsmart) that tests water with liquid so you can rule out water quality, if it were me I would upgrade everything to bigger or restock with fish for a 10 gallon, but that's very in depth in how to do it because you have to cycle the tank before you can add the fish.

The fish aren't big because they are being stunted by the small tank size but that's just my opinion, the first thing is to turn the heater off as goldfish are cold water, do an immidiate 30% water change temperature matched to the tank and treated with prime if that's what you use as a dechlorinator if not use what you have but only treat for the amount you're putting back into the tank so 30% of 10 gallons is 3 gallons, then get your water tested by a reputable fish store that does water testing with the liquid. Or opt to get the kit which is about $30.00 so you don't have to run to the lfs every week. It's called "api master liquid freshwater test kit"

 

[Parasitica]

Alright, so they need to be moved to a larger tank. There aren't ponds that I can put the largest fish into around here; what do I do with him? The water levels are fine for goldfish (the tank is a week old and I just did a partial water change. The test had a chart on it and highlighted sections for goldfish, and the water fit the test colours. It recommended to keep an eye on the KH and pH as they were a bit low, but not dangerously so.), but maybe this is just due to how new the tank is?

 

[Parasitica]

I'm not sure what's wrong with the water because we JUST did the test and it was okay.

 

[Potluck]

I'm not sure what's wrong with the water because we JUST did the test and it was okay.

Read my edited post.. Also the tanks a week old that's EXACTLY the issue is the tank is not cycled, read up on fish in nitrogen cycle, you will need to do water changes every other day like 20%, get seachem Prime water conditioner is the best there is.

 

[Parasitica]

Okay, so I need to turn the heater off, do an emergency 30% water change with the dechlorinator & the water matched to the tank's temp. Then after that I need to do a 20% change every other day. Is the fluff also part of the infection? Do I need to buy some sort of antibiotic treatment for them/do regular regular salt baths, or will it eventually clear up on its own if I keep up with the water changes?

 

[Potluck]

Ichs life span in cold water is long 28 days, you have a slew of issues going on at the same time the fluff is fungus, plus ich, + Popeye, I'm still somewhat new so I honestly can't recommend meds for you but find a reputable lfs again not petsmart or petco a fish store. Take pics in tomorrow cause the tank needs immidiate treatment, the lfs will also tell you that your tank is too small if they are a good fish store, what filter do you have running in the tank as I forgot to ask you before.

 

[Lollipops]

Alright sweetie, let's save your fish.

By "the test" do you mean a test for ammonia and nitrite? You want them BOTH to be ZERO.

Here's what you can do for your emergency:
1) Get SeaChem Prime and use a 5 times dose. This will neutralize the toxis affect of any nitrite or ammonia in there!
2) Get an medication that will cover both fin rot and ich. I recommend SeaChem Paraguard because it will cover parasitic (like ich), bacterial (like fin rot), fungal, AND viral illnesses! Unlike many other medications, it also wont leave a bunch of copper in your tank that you have to chemically remove.

USE THE PRIME at 5 times dosage! Water changes are great and will save the fish, but wont let the bacteria to grow because they'll have nothing to eat (that is, if you keep doing water changes so there's no ammonia or nitrite) .By using Prime, you can let the amount of ammonia and nitrite levels go up a bit, but your fish doesn't get poisoned, and your bacteria culture can still eat and grow their colony! THEN the bacteria can handle the levels themselves.

I have ONE big goldfish in a 55 gallon, and I made the mistake of not fully cycling. The water chemistry can DEFINITELY change in a day! It's live living in a toilet and not being able to flush D:

 

[Parasitica]

The filter is a Tetra Whisper PF10. I'll be sure to hit up my nearest reliable store tomorrow morning. Won't be making the same mistake with Petsmart again.

 

[Lollipops]

Honestly, there's nothing WRONG with the heater for the goldfish. They don't HAVE to live in cold temperatures. Bacteria on the other hand will take FOOOREEEEEVVVER to grow in a cold tank!! I say leave the heater ON to help the bacteria culture grow!!!

 

[Parasitica]

Will the Paraguard stunt the good bacteria then?

 

[Lollipops]

Other reason to leave the heater on: once you have the medication in, you want to help the ich through its life cycle, that way it gets to its sensitive and treatable stage! If you fish are currently covered in the ich, the warmth of the water can help the ich behind the cysts to mature and pop out, which will be a relief for your fish. But start treatment asap, so that your poor fish wont need to endure another ich life cycle!!!

 

[Lollipops]

Nope! ParaGaurd is BOMB DIGGITY and filter (i.e. beneficial bacteria) safe!

I would recommend getting a bacteria starter, but I lot of people say that they're B.S. I used MarineLand's bacteria that comes in a pouch because it was all they had at my LFS. Suddenly I was FINALLY cycled - so I believe in it!

But you need a good media for your bacteria to live in. I'll google your filter real quick...

 

[Potluck]

Honestly, there's nothing WRONG with the heater for the goldfish. They don't HAVE to live in cold temperatures. Bacteria on the other hand will take FOOOREEEEEVVVER to grow in a cold tank!! I say leave the heater ON to help the bacteria culture grow!!!

The op already has bad bacteria growing so as long as the heat isn't above 74 that's fine but good fish are indeed Coldwater fish, if the tank is above 74 degrees what his fish have will spread more rapidly, as far as having a heater in a gold fish tank it is not nessessary at all as they live outdoors in ponds in the winter, yes it's okay to have one but with fungus /bacterial going on with his fish any temp over 74 is going to make it worse

Also his filter had a new cartridge as its only a week old which has carbon which will remove the meds like paraguard. Don't know what to do in this situation as I dint run cartridge filters

 

[Parasitica]

So I should lower it then? Would 10 degrees F lower (65) be better?

 

[Lollipops]

This is a 14 day treatment, so plan accordingly. Anything that claims to work on ich faster is probably only covering the ich up.

 

[Parasitica]

Will everything else probably clear up in that 14 days or should I keep applying until everything is back to normal?

Will taking the carbon cartridge out help in this situation?