Water is hazy and fish is gulping air

[defenderchick]

Hi! I am at my wit’s end. I used to have a happy tank with two oranda. Then, one died. Not sure why. I then added 2 new fish. They died due to a bacterial or fungal infection. I am down to one oranda. She seems to have developed a bacterial infection. And I have been fighting for her. I have been using API Pimafix and Melafix. She seemed to have gotten cured at one point so all was good. Over the past few days, the water has gotten hazy and she seems to have gotten the bacterial infection back again and is now gulping air at the surface. In the past 2 days I have done about 6 water changes that seem to help for a little bit but the the water gets hazy again and she is back to gulping air at the surface. I am not sure what is going on or what I should do. Anyone able to advise?!?!?!? I do not want to lose Bonnie. She has been with me for 4 years.

 

[Andy Sager]

How big is the tank? What are your water parameter numbers? Bacterial infections are quite common in dirty water and goldfish are very dirty fish. What was your regular maintenance schedule like? What kind of filtration do you have and your maintenance of it?

 

[defenderchick]

The tank is 60 gallons. I have a Marineland canister filter that is rated for 100 gallon tanks. Normally change out the carbon and the water in it every 6 - 8 weeks. At the same time will do a water change. I have had this set up for the past 4 years and this is the first time I have had this issue. I think the bacteria came in on one of the new fish in January. Normally, when I test the water I have normal parameters other than ammonia which is usually successfully treated.

 

[Andy Sager]

The tank is 60 gallons. I have a Marineland canister filter that is rated for 100 gallon tanks. Normally change out the carbon and the water in it every 6 - 8 weeks. At the same time will do a water change. I have had this set up for the past 4 years and this is the first time I have had this issue. I think the bacteria came in on one of the new fish in January. Normally, when I test the water I have normal parameters other than ammonia which is usually successfully treated.

It's not normal for an older system to be having ammonia issues so can you explain this or post your parameter numbers so I can try to figure it out.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello. Goldfish need a lot of water and you can't have more than two or three. I keep just three in 100 gallons of water. I suggest you begin a more aggressive water change routine. Start slowly working up to the point you remove and replace at least half the tank water every few days. To me, putting chemicals into the tank water is never the answer. Stick to those chemicals that only detoxify the chemicals the city water people put into the tap to make the water safe to drink. Keep things simple.

B

 

[defenderchick]

It's not normal for an older system to be having ammonia issues so can you explain this or post your parameter numbers so I can try to figure it out.

I just got done testing. The pH is 7, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0 , and Nitrate is 0. Here are the pictures of the tank and of Bonnie. I am treating with Melafix and Pimafix. I am on day 2 of those. As per the instructions, the carbon has been removed from the filter. There are snails in the tank. I do regularly remove snailsto keep them at a low number.

 

[Andy Sager]

It's hard to tell what kind of surface agitation there is but that air stone is not pumping good aeration so that may be why the fish is gulping for air. Also, looking at the white spots on the fins, look at this pic (

https://www.reddit.com/r/Goldfish/comments/skiad7/white_spots_on_fins_but_maybe_not_white_spot

) and compare them to the ones on the fish in the pic. If they match, they are breeding tubercles, not a disease so no need to treat with anything. I can't tell if that haze is an algae bloom or a bacterial bloom but if those are breeding tubercles, he may have released some milt ( fish sperm) which is causing the haze. You'll need to do a large volume water change to clear that. I suggest you remove the fish when you do this as the water change can instigate him releasing more milt. Really flush out the tank. Acclimate the fish to the new water so there is no shock just from the changed water.
What I'm a bit confused with is your lack of nitrates. Those 2 plants alone should not be enough to remove the nitrates produced by the fish. Are you using any nitrate absorbent products? Do you know if the other fish you added were females?
( On a side line, those "fix" products really do not do much to treat disease so I'd stop using them. They could also be contributing to the haze by disturbing the biological filter bed. )
Bottom line, the fish does not look like it has any fungal or bacterial diseases so no treatment is warranted.

 

[defenderchick]

Wait….what?!?! Ok…. So Bonnie is actually Clyde, I guess……….. lack of nitrates is because I have done like 6 water changes of more than 50% over the past weekend trying to get rid of the haze. Bonnie is the only fish in the tank. I am not sure of the sex of the other two as they have been gone from the tank for over a month now.

 

[Andy Sager]

Wait….what?!?! Ok…. So Bonnie is actually Clyde, I guess……….. lack of nitrates is because I have done like 6 water changes of more than 50% over the past weekend trying to get rid of the haze. Bonnie is the only fish in the tank. I am not sure of the sex of the other two as they have been gone from the tank for over a month now.

If the tubercles fit, then Yes, Bonnie turned into a Clyde. LOL ( And this is why I don't name my fish. )
Do you know what the nitrate level was before you started doing all the water changes?

 

[defenderchick]

I didn’t test the water before the changes. I did the changes due to the haziness. I am trying to get the tank back to where it was before all this craziness started…… clear water with happy fish. I guess my next step is to do a 100% water change and then a couple of washes to really flush out the gravel and such before returning Clyde back into the tank. I will place him in a bucket while doing this. I will also clean out the filter and add the carbon back in. Hopefully this will result in a happy, healthy tank.

 

[Andy Sager]

Don't go crazy with the gravel cleaning or filter cleaning so that you don't kill off the nitrifying microbes. A simple cursory cleaning of the gravel will suffice and with the filter, lightly rinse off the filtering materials and replace the carbon. Use new carbon if the existing bag of carbon is older than 1 month.

 

[defenderchick]

Thank you so much!!!!!!! I put in fresh carbon and did a small water change. I also exchanged the air pump with a bigger one. The aquarium is now nearly crystal clear again and Bonnie boy is no longer gulping air at the surface. He is swimming around happily! I truly appreciate your fantastic advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I learned something new. Ever since I started keeping Oranda, I have named them Bonnie & Clyde. Never knew any of their sexes. I just thought it was fun to have goldfish named after gangsters!

 

[Andy Sager]

Thank you so much!!!!!!! I put in fresh carbon and did a small water change. I also exchanged the air pump with a bigger one. The aquarium is now nearly crystal clear again and Bonnie boy is no longer gulping air at the surface. He is swimming around happily! I truly appreciate your fantastic advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I learned something new. Ever since I started keeping Oranda, I have named them Bonnie & Clyde. Never knew any of their sexes. I just thought it was fun to have goldfish named after gangsters!

LOL It's funny because I have known a few pets that have the names of the wrong sex. Knew I guy with a pair of Macaws. Named them Elvis and Pricilla. All was fine until Elvis laid some eggs.. At least you can say that somebody misread the name as Bonny when it was supposed to be Benny ( after Benny Hill). You just didn't have the heart to correct them.