Oranda Illness

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ahaas4406

Registered Member
Jul 15, 2009
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I have a question that hopefully someone can answer. My Friend has an Oranda (panda). For the last few months he started to swim sideways. At closer examining him we noticed at first that his dorsal fin was not functioning right. Then we noticed some discoloration around the body and the Dorsal. It is turning pink in color and now looks like it is caving in along the spine.? We now noticed in the last month that the pigment around the other fins is doing the same. He now swims ok, but when he stops he is side ways.. Eats great attitude it great. Checked the water. All is great. Other Orandas in the tank are not affected by this at all. Can't really seem to find any information on this issue. He may have a swim bladder issue, but I think it has to do more with the Dorsal fin not functioning properly. I will try to get some pics this weekend if anyone needs to see it. Any help or suggestions would be great appreciated.. Thank you.
 

Lupin

Registered Member
Sep 21, 2006
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Lupin Information Super Highway/Goldfish Informati
thegab.org
Real Name
Paul
Hi,

Could you please post photos? Photos are always worth a thousand words. In the meantime, please try to answer this diagnostics form as detailed as possible to cover all possible bases that may be causing this issue.

1. What is the size of your tank?

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used.

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water?

4. How long the aquarium has been set up?

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them?

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)?

7. What temperature is the tank water currently?

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium?

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity.

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)?

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)?

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate?

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule?

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish?

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis.
When a fish begins to tilt sideways, the first thing to look into are the foods you give your fish. Flakes, floating pellets and freeze dried foods tend to inject air when the fish attempts to ingest them whether from the surface or not. Many commercial products swell once soaked and they are often the reason why many fish suffer bloating. Aside from that, most commercial foods are high in starch. This is indicated alone just by checking the ingredients list. Does the top ten list of ingredients have starch-based ingredients? What is the guaranteed analysis?

Buoyancy issues may also be caused by bacterial infections, and organ malfunction or damage, aside from the starchy and floating foods How does the poop of the fish look? Assuming the poop is long, thin and stringy, then chances are good the fish may be suffering from internal bacterial infection despite its hearty appetite. To battle this, you need to get antibacterial foods such as MediGold or inject kanamycin on the food before feeding to your fish. Until we confirm this issue, please do not attempt to treat your fish. We need different variables to look into before assessing the appropriate steps despite the suggestions given as a reference.

Regarding the discoloration, this is why I recommended you to post photos. It will be much easier for us to immediately figure out the actual issue. Does it look ulcerated at all? Fuzzy?

Have all his fish been treated with praziquantel and 0.3% salt solution before? Every new fish must be treated with both treatments as a preventive measure against flukes. Flukes are dangerous parasites. There are two different flukes that are common among goldfish: skin flukes and gill flukes. Unfortunately, only microscopes can detect flukes. They cannot be seen by naked eyes alone however they are usually detected when a fish begins to clamp its fins, swims listlessly, suffer labored breathings and scratch the same body area frequently. Anthelmintics such as prazi or flubendazole should be able to eradicate flukes. I'd advise doing a 2.5mg per liter dosage of prazi if you can get prazi. Prazi does not come cheap though but it can be bought as Droncit in veterinary clinics or as Prazipro in petstores or online sites. It depends a whole lot on your location. Where are you located? Some countries regulate the sale of praziquantel so it may be difficult to obtain one as part of the quarantine procedures for every new goldfish you get.

For salt, it does not matter whether table salt or aquarium salt is used. Bottomline is it should be sodium chloride. Be sure to dissolve the salt thoroughly or at least, most of it before adding to the tank. I usually recommend doing a 0.3% solution which is equivalent to 3 teaspoons per gallon.

Here are the basic steps in adding salt.
1. Add a 0.1% solution equivalent to a teaspoon per gallon.
2. If after 12 hours the fish tolerates it very well, repeat step 1.
3. Repeat step 2.

If you wish to do water changes in the middle of the treatment, be sure to redose the salt per the water volume you replaced to keep the salt solution steady enough to eradicate some parasites that may be harboring your goldfish.

Hope this helps.:)
 
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