Sick goldfish

[Valdachs]

I have had the beautiful big goldfish since he was an inch long and now he is about 10 inchs. He has developed a lump on his side in the last two days. It has got bigger and now looks like a bruise as it has a red tinge. HELP, can anyone tell me what is wrong and what I can do to keep him alive. ASAP please.

[fantail]

Lumps and bumps that suddenly appear are usually infections. If due to bacteria, it usually resolves by rupture (like a boil) pretty quickly. The white liquid that oozes out is pus that is formed when the white blood cells ( immune cells) die while killing bacteria (in general). DO NOT TRY TO POP OR SQUEEZE THE LUMP. Like a boil in humans, squeezing can cause regurgitation of the pus into the blood stream of the fish with deadly results. It is also not a good idea to seal a draining wound unless it is bleeding. The most common bacteria of GF is Columnaris and aeromonas.

Wounds that are white on the edges and red in the center are aeromonas. Those that are red on the edges and white in the center are generally columnaris. Both are gram negative bacteria TMP-4 is a sulfa antibiotic with trimethoprim which can be put in the water and mixed with food (that is what Romet B is). It is still effective against most, but not all gram negatives bacteria.

found this i hope it helps. if you can, can you get any test results for ph,nitrate,nitrite and ammonia and post them. how big is the tank, filtration used, and how often do you do water changes and gravel vacs.
do you salt the water?

[aquariumfishguy]

The above comes from: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article25.html

... test readings would help us greatly, and what size aquarium is this?

[Valdachs]

I am sorry I have not answered before. As far as your questions are concerned, it is a 4ft tank. I do water changes every two weeks. I have an Eheim Ecco Canister Filter. I took my fish to our local aquarium shop and was told that it was an infection and they sold me Pimafix an anti fungal remedy and told me to put salt in the tank at a rate of 2 tablespoons. What do you think of this? The lump burst whilst the fish was being handled and as you said pus game out and also a couple of worms! I kept the fish in solitude for 5 days. This morning I have returned it to the tank. it seems much better, the lump has gone and there is now a reddish mark although it doesn't seem to be oozing. Is there anything else I should do?

[fantail]

all i can say is keep the water in pristine condition and do water changes of 30%each week. get some test kits and keep it monitored. as you are in u.s i think maracyn2 may help but i would hold off and try the salt first. i think the dosage is 1 level tablespoon per 5 gallons, but i would wait for the "big guns" to give their opinions.