Very Sick Goldfish

[kagome]

We woke up this morning and one of my dad's goldfish was very very sick. He wouldn't eat this morning and his scales are all roughed up and his gills seem like they have some weird fringe coming off of them as if they are scraped up as well. His fins are worn away, he seemed to have a really hard time swimming as well. Here's a summary of the facts:

tank size: 10 gallon

fish in tank: 2 sub-adult goldfish, one is sick and the other is disgustingly happy and healthy

cleaning: 50% water change every 5 days

filtration: small HOB filter, #2 sponge filter run by air pump, tank also has an airstone for added circulation

parameters: have not been able to test yet

age of tank: 10 months

recent changes: none, no new fish of decorations or food

tank is not heated but it is in a room with very stable temperature

symptoms: trouble swimming, loss of appetite, lethargy, roughed up scales, ragged fins, roughed up gill edges

treatment so far: double dosage MB bath with 1 tsp of salt per gallon for 30 minutes, added 1 tsp per 5 gallons of water to the tank

He did seem to perk up after the MB bath, I really thought he was dying on me this morning and now he doesn't look quite as close to death's door but he does seem like he is still pretty darn sick.

I took these pics so you get some idea what he looks like right now. I'm going to give him another dip tomorrow. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks so much, sorry to post on Christmas Eve but this poor guy looks bad.

Here you see how the other goldfish looks just fine. You can't really tell in any of the pictures but the scales on his both of his flanks are very roughed up as well.

[goldenpuon]

I can't say for sure but my educated guess would be ammonia or nitrite poisoning.

I have not had a problem with that in years now ith my goldfish but the symptoms you are describing sound like that. Another possibility could be an infection/parasite of some sort.

I can see the brownish area around the gills. As well, I noticed some sort of small pinkish markings around its body near its tail that could be natural discoloration or soemthing else. Also, white stuff of some sort around its head.

Based on these things I noticed and the symptoms you mentioned, it looks ammonia or nitrite poisoning as I just mentioned but also like the fish may have gotten a secondary infection.


Though I am not as knowledgable as Carl or Bill, I would recommend you continue with the MB. However, I would also higly recommend testing your water as soon as you can. Also, to do small water changes, say 10% a day to avoid stressing the goldfish and adding Prime.

Also, I recommend putting a blanket or towel around the tank. This seems to help fish (goldfish especially in my experience) if they are not too far gone. This is not proven but it works well for me when I have a stressed goldfish on my hands.

As for the other fish, my guess as to why it is not showing symptoms is it may be healthier/hardier. I had this happen when I first started keeping goldish one of which even managed to live despite an ich infestation in the tank when all other new fish added got it and died!

Your tank looks clean which is good. Have you replaced major source of beneficial bacteria as of latye or done a major cleaning? As well, though goldfish can be dirty, 50% every 5 days might be a bit much for a water change. Changing 1/3 (33%) of the water may be better.

I hope this helps and that your fish gets better.

Note: I also have 2 goldfish in a 10 gallon. beautiful setup by the way.

Renee

[kagome]

Thanks Renee, I have him in another MB/salt bath right now. He looks much better today but still seems very sick.

I'm sorry I was wrong when I typed a 50% water change, it's 25% every 5 days. As well there has been no major change in filtration media, it is all the same seasoned media.

Thank you for the the advice, I am basically doing a 10% water change every time I give him an MB dip b/c i'm taking a gallon of tank water out to make up the dip.

I'm going to keep up the dips for now and hope for the best.

I tested the water and got the following results

ammonia= 0

nitirite= 0

nitrate= 20

pH= 7.2

[goldenpuon]

Your numbers look fine. (And 25% every 5 days is not too much as far as chaning water IMO.)

It seems I was wrong about the nitrite/ammonia poisoning. However, the symptoms you described were pretty similar. But sorry for the misinfo.

I am glad he is improving. Keep an eye on him and keep doing what you are. (Sorry i can't give better advice on this.)

Best of luck!

Merry Christmas to you and your fish!

Renee

[Carl]

First, sorry to read of this problem and that I have not been on as much as usual the last couple of days

This appears to be Columnaris, although there is often a stressor for Columnaris and I cannot discern one from everything you have noted and from the looks of your tank you have the perfect environment to prevent Columnaris (such as a bare bottom).

You mode of treatment is what I would recommend, however I would also add Kanamycin to the bath at double does and Kanamycin (Kanaplex) AND Furan 2 (Nitrofurazone) to the tank as well (or to a hospital aquarium). Increasing salt in the main or hospital tank would also be a good idea (try 1 teaspoon per gallon to start with).

Your pictures are quite good and sadly reveal a VERY sick fish (I see infection and/or ulceration of the gills as well as over all deterioration of the entire body, so my thoughts are with your treatment of this poor fish.

Carl

[kagome]

I am sorry for the long wait on the reply, everything has been pretty crazy. So I started adding the Kanaplex and Furan II and increased salt in the tank. Unfortunately the poor goldfish (his name was Red Fin) continued to deteriorate and had to be euthanized. My dad was really sad about it. We are keeping an eye on the remaining goldfish and I really hope we don't lose him, too. We just got my Dad a bigger tank for these two for Christmas, a really nice 36g bowfront, so he was especially bummed because he was looking forward to having them in that bigger tank and seeing them both get huge.

Thank you everyone for the help.

I have a lot going on aquarium-wise right now and most of it is awesome but I have to admit that losing this fish really stinks, we were really attached to him.

[goldenpuon]

I'm really sorry to hear about your loss Kagome. He seemed like a great fish and I know you did everything you could. R.I.P. Red Fin.

[Carl]

I am sorry you were not able to save this Goldfish for your Dad.

Unless we are missing some parameter or other pathogen issue, I would think this should prevent any further problems with the healthy fish.

The one issue I am still worried about is that this did appear to be Columnaris (nothing is for sure of coarse but for a microscope slide view), and usually Columnaris has a stress induced cause in an otherwise healthy tank, but from what I have read I am not seeing this.

Carl