Something wrong with goldfish! Help!

[goldenpuon]

Hi everyone. I did a water change on my 40 gallon goldfish aquarium last night (33%) roughly for the routine water change I do on it every 2 weeks.

I did the water change and everything seemed ok but when I checked on the fish a couple hours later, I saw one of the goldfish, Nemo, clamping its fins. I added towels to the tank to cover it partially and make the tank dark. I also added some extra salt-enough for about 15 extra gallons.

This morning, the fish seems worse, if not the same. It is sluggish (swimming in place in the middle section of the aquarium), is not begging for food, is eating but lacking its usual amount of interest in food, clamping its fins, breathing slightly more heavily than usual some of the time, and may or may not be the slightest bit of change color-wise. The change is color is little if none so I wouldn't consider this a true symptom.

It's most significant symptoms are clamping of its fins and sluggishness (staying in one place in the tank)

Nemo is also not itching as far as I can tell and is not attempting to hide or going to the bottom.

I looked at the fish under a light and found no spots of injuries of any kind to indicate disease.

The rest of the goldfish in the tank seem 100% their usual selves: active and no signs of injury or illness.

Since Nemo was fine before the water change (I recall watching the fish earlier that day for a while), I think I may have hit it or otherwise somehow injured it during the water change and not noticed.

I increased the darkness level with another towel over it this morning (the tank is large). I just did it and so far see no real change the amount of its fin clamping.

I tested the water this morning and got the following numbers (these are normal/average levels for this tank):

PH: 7.2
GH: 150-200 roughly
KH: 100
Nitrate: 10-15
Nitrite: 0

Does this sound like just stress from an accident or like the fish could be sick? I am pretty convinced from the way the fish is acting this is from some kind of accident-related injury from last night but am open to ideas/opinions.

Also, does anyone have any tips to reduce stress?

Thanks.

Renee

[Carl]

I find it hard to believe this could be anything more than a coincidence from the water change (I have performed some rather harsh, but necessary water changes with the fish in better conditions 24 hours than before the water change)

However if something somehow got into your water, this could be the cause of stress and thus your symptoms. Although I know how careful you are so this seems rather remote too.
Another consideration is if chloramines were used by your municipal water supplier. This can cause problems similar to your description, but even then generally widespread and not one fish.
Did you use Prime or Amquel Plus? (these are by far the two best products for chloramines).

My recommendation would be Methylene Blue in a bath (along with salt) as this is an excellent de-toxifier. I would monitor your tank a bit longer (maybe 12-24 hours) before treating the tank.
If you have Prime or Amquel Plus, I would also add another full tank dose (these are also temporary Redox Reducers)

Carl

[goldenpuon]

Thanks for thr reponse Carl. At the moment, Nemo is starting to do better- fins not as clamped and no longer sluggish. IIt is very good news!

To clarify, when I said I may have injured the fish, I mean hit it with something like the siphon I use or a tank decoration. When I do water changes, I move the siphon all over the place and constantly have to make efforts to avoid bumping into fish. I believe maybe something like this happened that maybe didn't leave any mark on the fish-possibly a large or sudden shove to the fish I didn't notice maybe. Or possiblly ithe fish ingested the salt or Marine Buffer which I failed to dissolve in a cup of tank water like I am supposed to.

I typically put my arm deep into the tank to scrub the sides with a tooth brush (it is small and is time-consuming to use but it works) which takes at least 10-20 minutes and also when I siphon. A couple of my fish (especially Wickren) tend to clamp their fins during this time but not Nemo particularly. The fish go back to normal after the water change is completed.

I make sure my arm is free of chemicals before I clean the tank and sterilize the toothbrush and siphon after every use.

I doubt it was something that got into the tank. I also have been using water from the same tap in my bathroom for years all the time I've had these fish so I doubt any sudden changes could have occured there. And to answer the question, yes I did use Prime.

Thank you for the treatment help/advice. I cannot perform a bath because I am not allowed to use MB and don't own it (except in medicated wonder shells) unfortunately. I am going to wait and see how Nemo does for now. It seems to be slowly getting better so I will keep on with what I am doing with the darkness and added salt. I'll keep you posted. It seems like I may have overreacted and the fish is better than I thought, either that or the darkness is proving more effective than I thought.

Renee

[Carl]

Adding another dose of Prime will also ease stress, as well as your covering the tank.
Adding a Medicated Wonder Shell may also help (it is also a partial Redox Reducer albeit more of a "balancer")

But he seems to be getting better already

Carl

[babygeige]

It doesn't seem likely that you could have it hurt it that badly. I know I've bumped fish, nearly squished them with the siphon, even started to suck them up by accident without any problems. They aren't quite that fragile.

Maybe he's just a big sissy and was freaked out by the water change for some reason. I know my scissortail rasbora always has a big fit when I clean the tank.

Or perhaps there was a bit of a temperature difference in the new water and it shocked him a bit...?

I am glad he's doing better already though.

[goldenpuon]

Thanks for the help you two. It is greatly appreciated.

I checked on Nemo again and watched it very briefly and it appears to be doing even better now. No clamped fins (though it is probably still be doing that on and off). I only checked very quickly because it was 10 at night. Nemo seemed more active and was no longer swimming in place in the middle of the aquarium.

It's good to hear that fish can take more so much and still be ok Babygeige (although of course I want to do everything I can to avoid injuries).

I think it is unlikely the fish got scared because of the water change. Nemo is shy and doesn't hang out with the other goldfish or eat from my finger that easily but normally doesn't get scared/stressed after a water change. It begs for food with the rest of the fish afterward. It is possible though. You never know.

Right now, however, Nemo is a nervous when I am around because I have been looking/staring at it so closely. The other fish are a slightly on edge due to the recent water change and me staring at them closely. They should return to not being cautious soon though.

I doubt temperature change was the problem because the other fish were not affected- even the ones I consider weaker than Nemo. I test the water with by sticking my fingers in the water after it comes out of the tap (and adjusting the faucets for the right temperature) to the tank's before adding it.

At the moment, however, the temperature in the house has been changing a bit more than usual due to our AC being off and also because it is Spring. It is not drastic (especially for a 40 gallon) and the temperature changes slowly in the tank. We are currently having problems with our AC in my house but luckily the temperature has been very cold lately outside. The tank's temperature over the past week has probably ranged from (by my estimate) from 65 F to 75 F (at most) for variation depending on which day and the time of day.

I have had Nemo 5 years now as of this winter by the way.

(Hopefully that wasn't too much unecessary detail).


Renee

[goldenpuon]

Great news! Nemo is acting 100% better. It's like nothing ever happened. This morning when I fed the fish, Nemo had its fins completely unclamped, was active, and went nuts chasing after a spirulina flake.

I think my fish are going to give me grey hair. lol

Renee

[Carl]

May 20, 2011 17:30:14 GMT -5 goldenpuon said:

I think my fish are going to give me grey hair. lol

Renee

You mean you do not already have grey hair?

Carl

[goldenpuon]

LOL Last I checked it was dark brown. The fish are trying their best to give me grey hair though it seems.