goldfish butt problem!

kevicus

Registered Member
Mar 29, 2007
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OK this one has me a little stumped so I'm hoping one of you guys can shed some light on this for me.

One of my goldfish started looking a little red around it's backside (after a recent water change that's the only thing i can put it down to) anyway, I thought i'd keep an eye on it.

today it looks much worse, almost as if its butt has been closed over by some kind of wound.

I'm really not sure what to do, the fish seems totally fine, active, eating etc..apart from the red butt it seems totally normal.

I have noticed one of the other goldfishes chasing it a bit...but i dont think this sore is anything to do with mating!

I want to fix whatever the problem is before it gets any worse, but couldn't find anything in my fish books about this kind of problem. Any ideas on what i should do? Is it worth seperating it from the other fish?

Thanks in advance :)
 
yeah, a pic would be very nice. it could just naturally be coloring up if they are young goldfish.
 
could we have some tank information? Like how big and stuff
 
ah sorry, about the lack of info there! unfortunately I don't have a digital camera so can't post a picture.

i think it's an ulcer of some sort. The fish can still poop but it seemed a bit constipated so popped in a couple of peas and a frozen block of water fleas for their breakfast today.

The water has a strong filter and an oxygen bubbler in it. It's not heated, the fish have been in there for over a year and a half with no problems. It's a 25gallon tank with three fish in it, two goldfish and one small black moor. I do have some plants in there but they've been there for a long time.

thanks for the help. As I said there fish doesn't seem bothered by it, no unusual behaviour - it just looks kind of nasty!
 
I am wondering if the fish is ready to breed. On http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/dbweb/outreach/aqua/201RFS.PDF under the Spawning section it says, "Sexing is easiest in late winter or
early spring. Ripe females have a distended, soft belly and a red,
swollen vent." I don't know if they're old enough but it's a thought.
 
sounds like it may be a breeding behavior. have you noticed any whiute spots on the head of any of your other 2 goldfish?
 
has the temperature of the tank risen? Goldfish are known to breed when the temp raises
 
I hope that's the 'problem' and nothing more serious!!

Still no other signs of illness with the fish in question. I haven't noticed any spots on the other two fish either but the other goldfish has definitely been chasing the sick fish around in that horny kinda way...

It is the biggest fish with the problem, it's older than the others I was given it from a friend after my long-time lobster finally kicked the bucket. She had no idea what sex it was, as it was the last in her tank and I was just happy to have a replacement pet to fill the empty tank!

I bought the other two fish a few weeks later to keep it company. They've all lived in happy bliss since.

Are there any other ways to tell if they're about to breed? I thought they just laid eggs and you'd never really notice or know about it! Thanks again for the advice
 
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