Goldfish Bleeding Veins on the tail. Help!

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helios99

AC Members
Mar 22, 2008
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I've got a 60 gallon with seven 5 year old goldies and a young common pleco in it. They hadn't developed any problems in all these years, until a couple of days back I noticed that one of them had red bleeding marks on its tail and he succumbed shortly after that. Now the other seem to be contracting that too. I think it was caused by my inexperienced brother adding two new goldies in it without QTing them which died within a couple of days themselves. How do I get rid of this infection? I don't want to lose any more. PLEASE advise!

P.S. I'd like to point out that where I come from I don't get any aquarium specific meds, but all other general and prescription antibiotics are available.

Thanks
 

THE V

Hiding from my children
Nov 25, 2007
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Washington
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Mr. Incognito
You will have to treat with antibiotics in order to stop the infection. A gram-negative antibiotic is needed. If you can't get them around where you are at locally, see if you can order them online. Erythromycin, Ampicillin, Minocyclin, or Tetracyclin.

You really should buy the aquatic formulation of these antibiotics. Depending on how it is supposed to be administered the antibiotics have a different chemical structure. So getting drugs that are formulated for oral administration may not be effective in the fish.
 

J double R

The Devil
Jan 13, 2007
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Jon
Erythromycin should be fairly common and easy to get, i have yet to see a fish store that DOESNT carry it.
 

Flaringshutter

Befriend a feeder!
Oct 17, 2006
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Southern California
Hello again Helios!
I remember your last coldwater thread dealt with dropsy. Your dropsy problem, plus what you've mentioned here, suggests that your tank is extremely overstocked and you're having water quality problems. Finrot (bleeding and deteriorating fins) is a classic symptom of high ammonia and nitrate. Dropsy is another symptom of water quality issues.
Even for fancy goldfish, seven fish is far too many for a 60 gallon tank. At 5 years old, I'm amazed that seven fish even fit into a 60 gallon! For fancies, an appropriate size tank would be at least a 90 or 100 gallon tank, and for commons or comets, at the very least a 120 gallon. Plus a highly efficient filter with a large capacity for mechanical and biological filtration.
I would encourage you to first go buy a "master" or "multi" test kit so that you can check your water parameters.
What kind of filter are you running? What is your water change schedule like? We'll need to know this before you go out and buy medications, so that we can pinpoint the problem before just dumping in meds. The medications that The V mentioned are the right ones, but I think we're looking at a simple water quality issue here that might be solved with a larger tank and a little better maintenance.
 
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