Sick goldie with no obvious cause.

[Sssea]

Last night I did my weekly 25% pwc and when I got home this morning, my brown oranda was laying on the gravel looking very unhappy. I immediately did a 15% pwc to try to perk him up. Now he swims every now and again, but mostly sits toward the bottom. He usually loves to swim around and nibble on me during pwcs, so I'm really worried about my sweet man.

Tank: 29gal with 2 orandas, approx 3 inches each.
Params: less than .25 ammo, 0 trites, 10 trates. Temp around 70.
Symptoms: lethargy, but no other signs. (my other oranda seems to be missing a scale or 2, but I have no idea if it's related.)

Any ideas what I can do for him?

 

[revchristinejday]

Dear Sssea,

You're just about at the edge of gallon size for two oranda--20 gallons 1st fish 10 gallons for each additional fish, so keeping your water pristine (always a challenge with Goldies) is vital. Fancies are particularily sensitive to both ammonia and nitrate. I'd do at least a 50% pwc or maybe even back-to-back 50% to get the ammonia and nitrate down to 0 and then try to keep it at zero. The missing scale on the other could be ammonia burn but I don't know.

How's he eating. You could try feeding him peas to see if he's constipated. Bottom sitting is sometimes a symptom of that...

Good luck. They are beautiful,
Chris

 

[Fishguy2727]

The water quality can be hard to keep up, but it looks like you are doing a good job. The ammonia may be an issue, is it really over 0 or is it just the kit? What kit are you using?

Add some aquarium salt. Goldfish are particularly good responders to extra salt.

If you are not used to doing 50% water changes I wouldn't jump into them. It would be safer to do 25% more often (even once or twice per day).

What is the nitrate of your tap water?

 

[Fishkeeper26]

IMO 29 gallons is ok for two fancy goldfish.

When you did your first pwc did you make sure the water was the same temp?
what kind of filtration do you have?
What water conditioner are you using?

Edit* the rule is 20 for the first 10 more for each. But 29gallons us close enough IMO

 

[Sssea]

Good news, everyone!

This morning Hans seems to be back to his normal shenanigans!

I think constipation may have been the problem, as I fed him peas last night and he seems much better.

I get my water tested at my LFS. As a poor college student, I just don't have the means to fork over money for my own test kit. Plus it's a nice walk and they're always such sweethearts! I've been doing 25% pwc because it's all that's been needed to keep my parameters looking ace. I have a hard time lugging more than 2 or 3 buckets of water during pwc, so I figured I didn't need to do more if my water tested well enough.

It seems we've been struggling to find the right amount of food for these two. I feed them Hikari Oranda Gold floating pellets, usually about 5-7 per fish each day. Is this too much/too little? I feed them peas once or twice a week, about 4-5 if it's their meal or 1-2 as an added treat with the pellets.
Does this seem like a reasonable feeding schedule?

As for the missing scale on Augustus, I'm really not sure how it happened. The area doesn't look red or inflamed at all, just one day he was missing a little spot. I don't know if it's from an injury or what, but I keep pretty tight on my maintenance so I don't know what else it could be.

Any advice is welcome and thank you for all the great responses

 

[Sssea]

I forgot to mention about the ammonia. When we looked at the test, it looked much lighter than the reading for .25, but it's hard to tell with cheesy store lights. Our best guess is either 0 or less than .25. It looked pretty normal to me.

 

[Sssea]

IMO 29 gallons is ok for two fancy goldfish.

When you did your first pwc did you make sure the water was the same temp?
what kind of filtration do you have?
What water conditioner are you using?

Edit* the rule is 20 for the first 10 more for each. But 29gallons us close enough IMO

Oh yes, temp is always the same. Filter is a HOB thats rated for 45 or something. Conditioner is amquel+, but I ran out after the last pwc so I picked up some prime.

 

[Fishguy2727]

Feed them sinking food, it is healthier for them. The Hikari Lionhead is good but New Life Spectrum Thera+A is the best by far IME.