Chester, my new rescue goldie!

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Lexi_D

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Nov 25, 2007
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I promise I'll post pics of him later, but he's scared right now and hiding behind some rocks in his tank and I don't want to freak him out any more. We have a small pond at the camp where I'm the nature assistant, and one of the goldies (who I recently nicknamed Chester) was looking really sickly last night, his fins looked streaked red and he was gasping at the surface for air. I was worried he wouldn't make the night, so I did a water change and he looked a tiny bit better. When I came back in today I thought he was dead because when I fed the pond he didn't come up to eat... but sure enough he came up when I added some fresh water to the pond. I snatched him up in a net to examine him and his tail and dorsal fin were all streaked red and he had a bit around his mouth and on the base of his pectoral fins. I knew that if I didn't take him home today, he'd die over the weekend, so I grabbed a container, packed him up, and brought him home with me (with permission from the head counselor of course, lol). He's a comet or common, and is one of the 2 surviving "feeder" goldfish in the pond. Chester is about 1" long and a gray-green color (all the kids thought he was a tadpole at first). He now has a whole 15 gallon tank to himself with a filter (no heater since the tank is already 76*F). I made sure the tank was cycled, since I never really checked on it, just ran the same filter from the previous set-up and the filter from my 10g tank and added some squeezings from a sponge filter. The params were:

Nitrate: 10
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

So that's great, but he's still hiding behind one of the larger rocks, probably just from being stressed (hopefully), but he was exploring the tank as soon as I released him. Don't worry, the tank isn't a permanent set-up, it's just to hold the two 1 inch feeders until they can either move into my rain barrel or I get a bigger tank :grinyes:
I can't really say what the red streaking was from, could it be caused by lack of oxygen? Or is it something like septicemia or ammonia poisoning? Otherwise I think he looks fine, I have to look at him a little closer though. What else can I do to make him more comfortable? Thanks for any help!
 

Lexi_D

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Nov 25, 2007
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He looked a little better for a while, now he's hiding again and I can see he looks like he may have some sort of fungus or infection? I'll post pics tomorrow. Any suggestions?? Should I put any meds in the tank (Maracyns 1 or 2, maroxy, salt?)
 

Lupin

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Sep 21, 2006
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Don't use any medicines yet! From my observations, high temperature (beyond the tolerance of the fish), lack of oxygen and very poor water conditions (especially elevated ammonia) are top causes of red streaks. My own comet and shubunkin suffered terrible bloodshot fins and air bubble disease due to the soaring temperature in my pond, a consequence from the clearing of the plants around the pond area. I had to move them in the 10g hospital tank and with three 70-90% water changes in a day, the bubbles lodged deeply in the fins and the red streaking disappeared quickly. The fish were a little traumatized but otherwise okay. Do plenty of water changes. This is your ticket to his complete recovery. Please post pics of the areas where you suspect bacterial/fungal infection.
 
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Kashta

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Jun 24, 2008
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Spoke with Lexi in chat and she's holding off with meds for the moment to give Chester some time. Will find out if pristine water and isolation will be enough for him to show improvement first before resorting to meds.

Fungus would be more likely to set in when it's an injury.. so that's least likely in this case, as far as we can tell. The blood streaks could be bacterial infection... but poor water quality, competition for food, or aggression from others in the pond are the most likely causes. A highly stressed fish gets in a state where infection may develop as a secondary complication due to the fish's weaken immune system. That's why clean stable water and isolation is needed first. Once Chester gets some rest, decent food, and clean water... he might be able to fight off a mild infection on his own.

Things to consider tomorrow.... If Chester is still eating, it would be good to feed him medicated food...... most seem to recommend Jungle Antibiotic foods, Medi-Gold, Metro Med. If he's not eating and doesn't seem to perk up at all tomorrow, then go with Maracyn I/Maracyn II.
 

Lexi_D

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Thank you guys for your help, but unfortunately Chester didn't make the night. :( He's moved on to that big oxygenated pond in the sky. :cry: Next week the rest of the fish are going to be coming home with me, and they look like they might be a little healthier. I sure hope whatever he had wasn't contagious.
 
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