Sick Goldfish

Hi everyone. This is the first time posting on this forum.

I have a sick 16" goldfish that is flashing, and has popeye, and a sore, and spends alot of time at the corner of the 75 gallon tank. It all started when I saw big bumps on his tail but not on fin. He is companied with 2 Pleco's. (My sliver tailed shark died already through this outbreak) He has been dropping scales for the last 3 weeks and has a wound only on the left side of his body, it is from the base of his body fin...to 1/3 up its latteral line. It is reddish looking, but currenly looks white and red...and it looks like the skin is rotting off. The Pleco's look and act fine.

I first tried Maracyin and Maracyin Two at the same time and it didn't clear up...(sucks building up benifical bacteria after that! Thanks Bio Spira). I have been feeding the goldfish Medi-Koi twice a day for the past 2.5 weeks and it's not helping. I always keep 1 Tablespoon per 10 gallons of salt in the water. I am now using Parasite Clear that has Praziquantel, Diflubenzuron, Metronidazole, and Acriflavine in it and still not healing but looking worse. Do you think I should switch to MetroMed food? Should I use Clout? Could it be fungus? Hours, and hours....and many, many more hours of research later and I still don't have a friggin clue because the meds don't seem to help!!!

The Ammonia and Nitrite are 0. The Nitrates are <20 and PH is 7.5. I have been making 30% water changes daily to keep the tank clean and use Prime as a declorinator. Tonight, the Goldfish's wound looks yellowish and purple (like bruise) now. What do you think is wrong? What can I do to help?

No comments?

Is it possible that your plecos have developed a taste for goldfish flesh?


I thought of that too, but I never really seen them do that. But on the other hand...the goldfish does get nervous when the pleco's come by him. Possible but I would think that he would have wounds on the other side of him also.

Is it possible to have a tank heater leak electicity (low levels) into the aquarium but not kill fish, and not be able to feel it when you stick your hands in the tank? Perhaps that could be the reason why I can only see wounds on the left side of him. I read some where that a major organ is located on the left side of fish that controls the balance (sensor perhaps) and other things in fish. How would I test for electical leakage without frying fish?

I think my last hope is using Binox has Sodium Chloride and Nitrofurazone. Jungle Fungus Eliminator has Sodium Chloride, Nitrofurazone, Furazolidone, and Potassium Dichromate. Any suggestions?

wataugachicken asked:
Do you feed your plecos or just let them eat leftover food and algae?

I feed my Pleco's twice a day with algae discs. I try to leave my filters alone when the benifcial bacteria is built up on them, and use other media for carbon. Any food that is not eaten, gets quicky turned into Nitrates with the huge mounds of bacteria thats built up on my 4 filters, I only change 1 filter at a time every 1 or 2 weeks (2 emperor 400's). I vaccume all the gravel upon every water change. I just half to make particial water changes every 1-2 days. Water changes are a given every other day in my situation because of the size of my tank vs. the size of my goldfish + pleco's vs. Nitrates. This could contribute to stress of course (water changes to often and not enough space).

If I see green algae growing on the tank, I cut down on their food untill they clean the glass. But some algae they won't touch.

Ok, here are some pictures to look at. The cool looking picture is when he was healthy. http://picasaweb.google.com/KoiSlayer06/FishAlbum