Sick Goldfish

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ConnerFish

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Sep 27, 2005
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I have a goldfish with some sort if infection. I got him from a friend and said I would try to save him. He is currently in an unheated 20 gallon. If anyone could help that would be great. In the pic you can see his gills are red and white stuff on his tail. He also had some on his gills/face that doesn't show up on the pic. His poop is normal so I don't think its internal. Thank you!


IMAG0537.jpg

IMAG0537.jpg
 

Somervell

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Feb 8, 2009
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Anne
It looks like some kind of external abrasion near the gill plate. Are the gills also bloody red? I can't really tell from the picture. The fact that there are stripes in the tail make me fear septicemica. There seems to be evidence of fin rot as well, although the black edges may suggest healing. I think I would go with a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanaplex, if you can get it.

You can try the immaculate water/salt treatment, but I would rather err to the side of caution. ( I will probably hear back from the group of people who say not to jump to antibiotics, and they are generally right, but if I have a fear of septicemica, I go to KanaPlex.)
 

ConnerFish

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Sep 27, 2005
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Yes he will eat I think. I put in little pellets that sink since he spends all his time on the bottom. He dosen't move but his eye will watch them and when I leave and come back they are gone.
 

Somervell

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That's probably a good sign. I would think that you should start to see some improvement with the antibiotic in about 24-48 hours. I also keep medigold food on hand and use that, sometimes, instead of dosing the tank. I think that it really effective to have on hand in an emergency. It's a sulfa drug, but provides pretty good coverage and it is a medicated food that fish will actually eat.

I remove the carbon in a filter if I am dosing with antibiotic, but you seem pretty experienced, so I'm pretty sure that you have done that.

Keep us posted. Hopefully the little guy will show some improvement pretty soon.
 

Ashes2ashes

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May 4, 2010
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I agree with everything Somer is saying. She knows her goldfish! =) Just as an aside, since the infections the fish seems to be suffering from are typically caused by poor water conditions, if you give the goldfish back to your friend, you might want to advise them on keeping the fish in the right sized tank and keeping a good water schedule so that the water stays clean and keeps the fish more healthy. If your friend already does that stuff then no worries, but if they don't, it should be a great help in keeping their fish healthy. Good luck and I hope he/she makes a full recovery.
 

ConnerFish

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Sep 27, 2005
280
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California
THanks all! The fish seems to have no more signs of illness and is nice and active. He has what I think is a 100 gallon tank. Its bigger than my tank and mine is an 80 gallon. He seems to be pretty good with water changes. This was the only fish showing problems.
 
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