BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Sick Fantail Goldfish need help

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I posted last!

My gold colored fantail goldfish Cherry is very sick again.
His symptoms are: not eating or very low appatite, reduced activity, at the moment he has barly done more than breathe today just stayed in the same spot), he has some discoloration on the top of his nose and the sides of his gills (it is actually on the gill flap just before the opening, it is more of a strip than a blotch of a dark drown, the discoloration on his nose is the same color). He also appears to be missing or have damaged scrals in the middle of his sides on both sides. When I moved him there seemed to be like a feather strand of a bright red sticking out of the side, I believe he may have been bleeding. Also right next to one of the spots with the ingured scales was a white spot. It didn't quite look fluffy like fungus but more like an ick spot.

What I have done: After I noticed he was ill I moved him with some of the tank water from the 20 gallon tank he was in into a 2 1/2 gallon tank by himself. My other two fantails have not been showing any symptoms and still have not. He has his own heater and air bubbler. Temp is maintained about 75 degrees. I have given him Coppersafe and Maracyn-2 and a 1/2 tsp of aquarium salt. (I read on the packages that they can be used at the same time). He does not have a filter in the tank at this point because I would have needed to use a new carbon insert wich can keep meds from being as affective. Tomorrow the last dose of Maracyn-2 is due.

Changes since being in a smaller tank with meds: He seems to have only gotton worse. Moving less than when I first placed him in the 2 1/2 gallon tank and eating almost nothing. :< If he has eatin I have not witnessed it. I have even tried his favorite food/snack without him even turninghis head to look at it when it's right next to him.

What do you suggest I do? I think I should do a series of small water chages and add the filter since the water is very merky right now because of the meds. Should I start another treatment of Maracyn-2? In the past he has had flukes - which are a kind of worm that fish get. And when I saw the danaged scales I was concerned about it being caused by flukes again but no evidence of that has come to light.

Please help me and Cherry. Me and his friends Pongo and Perdi don't want to lose him.

Get rid of the heater! Goldfish are far more likely to get ill in warmer weather, they're made for cold weather. I even know some people who leave them out all winter in Iowa (as long as ALL of the water doesn't freeze)

Is it possible to put the water filter on there just without the carbon filter? That way there would at least be some oxygen flowing into the tank. Also, if he's not eating make sure to suck all that bad food out of the tank right away, he doesn't need more stressors than he already has.

The filter I have for the 2 1/2 gallon tank is a small in tank filter that clings to the side of the tank. The filter insert is basically 1/2 carbon and 1/2 a white spongy material. For air though he does already have an air bubble so he has plenty of oxygen.

I have also heard about coi fish being left outside buring the winter months if the pond is large enough. However coi and goldfish in my experience have reacted differently. The fish I keep tend to get things like ick if the temp goes below 73/74 so that is why I try to get it warmer.

I did do a 25% water change of his tank today. That seemed to perk him up a little though he is still staying to one spot near the gravel for the day. I also did collect most of the uneaten food debris.

Any idea what could be wrong though?

Be carefull in putting the filter on, charcoal filters can actually pull out the meds that you are putting in, the circulation is good for them, but you want the meds to stay in. Read your medicine bottles, most of them will advise if this is the case or not.

Hey everyone,

Thanks for taking your time to look at my post and replying to try and get him better. Last night Cherry passed away.

I was examining him and found that the damaged scales had spread on one of his sides. Instead of one section of scales he has 3 spots where up to 4 scales were not present, and the flesh was exposed. I have no idea what he had still. I am pretty sure it was an internal paracite of some kind. I got him young and he already had flukes. Atleast he's not hurting anymore.

Fantailsandbetas

I'm sorry to hear that about your poor fish. At least you tried.

That really is bizarre about the ick thing, because from what I've heard warmer water than usual tends to cause outbreaks. Or rather, the stress that comes along with water temps not being where they want them allows the outbreaks to occur, from what I remember about ick.

Thanks GreyDrakkon.

My other fish seem really consured why it is just the two of them. :'< Soon the ground will thaw enough that he can have a burial. I'm just so glad I still have Pongo and Perdi. I would be heartbroken if I had lost all of them. I'm sill sad about Cherry but I knew he was in pain and this is better than him hurting.

I hate ich..it's random..it horrible.. and it's sad. I really am sorry for your loss.



On a completely random note..It might be a good idea to continue treating Pongo and Perdi just in case.

Thanks Skeeter.

Do you think I need to treat Pongo and Perdi though? They still don't have any symptoms and I have recently cleaned the tank out very well. (Cherry was removed and treated in a hospital tank)

I would treat them, if i have any fish that shows up with a sickness, i remove that fish to isolation, but then still treat the whole tank. If the fish caught it in there or allready had it while he/she was in there, that virus/bacteria could still be present. Especially with ICH which only seems to hit really stressed out fish, the other two might not be as stressed so they are fighting it, but they could still have it.