Ulcers and laziness
Hi, I have two goldfish, an orange comet and a white fantail, in a 10 gal tank and over the last month I've been having some problems. I checked all the params and all seem fine except the nitrate level (but due to the test kit I have, it's hard to tell exactly how high it is...it could be anywhere from 40-180 ppm). I just got a 29 gal tank, which I plan to move them to.
The problem started when I noticed my fish sitting in the bottom corner of the tank. The comet seemed more lethargic than the other, and what seemed like over night, it developed a cyst like ulcer. It's hard to explain: several scales protruded from its body, it was red underneath, and the scales stuck out to about the size of a pea. The water was getting really cloudy too and just after the cyst appeared I noticed my aqua clear power filter stopped running, so the water was polluted and unfiltered. It's possible the filter could have been malfunctioning for a week or two. To remedy I fixed the filter, did frequent water changes, put extra salt in the water, began adding stresscoat (instead of aquasafe), and I medicated them for over a week with melafix in the morning and a mild anti-parasite medicine at night. Prior to these issues I noticed slightly red (pinkish) streaks on their tails. They also have occasional fin splitting, but nothing major.
The ulcer cleared up and both fish seemed to be fine for the last week or two, but since my power filter clogged up previously, I've been keeping a close eye on it and Friday I noticed it was barely trickling out water. So I took it apart and changed some water. Several days ago I noticed my comet has another ulcerated skin lesion, but it's in a different spot on the other side or its body. It's longer, but not as inflamed and swollen. Can someone please tell me if they think the problems stem from the filter failing? Please give me any advice and help you possibly can. Also my comet has a kink in her tail, is that normal? She also has little black spots on her eyes.
One more thing, but about my fantail: I've noticed these black spots developing on his body (he does have some natural black spotting that looks like it's below his scales). At first there was just one or two, and now there seems to be more. He may have even had a couple when I got him. There's even one on his top fin. Two of the spots seemed to pop up quickly and both seem to be getting bigger. They They kind of look like they potrude from his body, but not much at all and they don't look like they hurt. They are all pretty small though, only mm. I've read about something called black spot disease, but there's not much information about it.
Thank you so much! Sorry this is so long.
Eve
Hi, I have two goldfish, an orange comet and a white fantail, in a 10 gal tank and over the last month I've been having some problems. I checked all the params and all seem fine except the nitrate level (but due to the test kit I have, it's hard to tell exactly how high it is...it could be anywhere from 40-180 ppm). I just got a 29 gal tank, which I plan to move them to.
The problem started when I noticed my fish sitting in the bottom corner of the tank. The comet seemed more lethargic than the other, and what seemed like over night, it developed a cyst like ulcer. It's hard to explain: several scales protruded from its body, it was red underneath, and the scales stuck out to about the size of a pea. The water was getting really cloudy too and just after the cyst appeared I noticed my aqua clear power filter stopped running, so the water was polluted and unfiltered. It's possible the filter could have been malfunctioning for a week or two. To remedy I fixed the filter, did frequent water changes, put extra salt in the water, began adding stresscoat (instead of aquasafe), and I medicated them for over a week with melafix in the morning and a mild anti-parasite medicine at night. Prior to these issues I noticed slightly red (pinkish) streaks on their tails. They also have occasional fin splitting, but nothing major.
The ulcer cleared up and both fish seemed to be fine for the last week or two, but since my power filter clogged up previously, I've been keeping a close eye on it and Friday I noticed it was barely trickling out water. So I took it apart and changed some water. Several days ago I noticed my comet has another ulcerated skin lesion, but it's in a different spot on the other side or its body. It's longer, but not as inflamed and swollen. Can someone please tell me if they think the problems stem from the filter failing? Please give me any advice and help you possibly can. Also my comet has a kink in her tail, is that normal? She also has little black spots on her eyes.
One more thing, but about my fantail: I've noticed these black spots developing on his body (he does have some natural black spotting that looks like it's below his scales). At first there was just one or two, and now there seems to be more. He may have even had a couple when I got him. There's even one on his top fin. Two of the spots seemed to pop up quickly and both seem to be getting bigger. They They kind of look like they potrude from his body, but not much at all and they don't look like they hurt. They are all pretty small though, only mm. I've read about something called black spot disease, but there's not much information about it.
Thank you so much! Sorry this is so long.
Eve
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