Hi I have four small fancy goldfish in my 20 gallon tank currently and one is sick. I just died 3 days ago from the same disease. There are no real symptoms except that they float to the top and lie on their sides. Their breathing is shallow and their color has faded. (1) What is this? (2) How do I get rid of it? (3) How do I prevent my other fish from getting it? Water Quality: Nitrites-perfect Nitrates-not great but in safe zone everything else is fine too. I've added lots of aq. salt and Novaqua and Aquaclear? conditioners with every water change (which I've been doing frequently; about 1/3 each time.) Please help, I've already lost my favorite red/black oranda.
Unknown Goldfish Disease
- Thread starter Lindsey13
- Start date
your tank is too small for those fish- how long has the tank been set up
by frequent water changes do you mean weekly? (b/c that's how often it should be done, min)
you nitrates should be no more than 10 ppm if i'm guessing correctly they're well above that.
if the fish have been in these close quarters for a long time it could be that their growth has been stunted to a fatal point
and/or you could have OTS happening and the high niotrates are at a toxic level
by nitrites good what #ppm do you mean- anything above 0 ppm is too much
the symptoms sound like chemical poisoning - so nitrates could be the culprit
salt isn't what they need- they need clean water that thier gills will be able to draw oxygen from
start doing a 10-20% water change everyday until your nitrates are down no salt
- and post again with your exact water test readings and the other answers i asked about- then i'll know better what to tell you to do
by frequent water changes do you mean weekly? (b/c that's how often it should be done, min)
you nitrates should be no more than 10 ppm if i'm guessing correctly they're well above that.
if the fish have been in these close quarters for a long time it could be that their growth has been stunted to a fatal point
and/or you could have OTS happening and the high niotrates are at a toxic level
by nitrites good what #ppm do you mean- anything above 0 ppm is too much
the symptoms sound like chemical poisoning - so nitrates could be the culprit
salt isn't what they need- they need clean water that thier gills will be able to draw oxygen from
start doing a 10-20% water change everyday until your nitrates are down no salt
- and post again with your exact water test readings and the other answers i asked about- then i'll know better what to tell you to do
Dangerdoll
Global Moderator
Sounds like they've got Swim Bladder's Disease. With fancy goldfish, it's usually caused by insufficient foods or floating type foods such as flakes or floating pellets. If you have the flakes, you'll need to soak them before offering them to your fish.... so they do not take in any excess air. Offering thawed peas can be a nice treat for them as well. Most importantly, as with every other problem of a tank, keep up with the water changes.... water changes are a fishkeeper's easiest prevention.
I don't have any first hand experience for what can cure this as I had a goldie which had this for quite a while and seemed to do ok with it. The fish still ate, still breathed, still cuddled with his big brother, until one day, all of a sudden things went from "ok" to "whoa" bad.... and I had no other choice but to put him down.... and that was tough. Hopefully your situation is better than mine though....
I don't have any first hand experience for what can cure this as I had a goldie which had this for quite a while and seemed to do ok with it. The fish still ate, still breathed, still cuddled with his big brother, until one day, all of a sudden things went from "ok" to "whoa" bad.... and I had no other choice but to put him down.... and that was tough. Hopefully your situation is better than mine though....
The biggest fish in the tank is about 2in head to tail and the smallest is a little over an inch. Right now I only have 3 fish in the tank because the 4th is in quarantine. It might be necessary to mention, I have 2 bamboo shrimp, 3 snails and a 1in rubber mouth pleco in the tank. I have a mechanical fillter and an undergravel filter. I normally do a 25 % water change every one to two weeks, but I may have waited a little longer this time because of final exams and thats why my nitrates were so high. I've had this tank up for a little over a year. How many fish is too much for this tank? I do understand that because of the shrimp and because I have goldfish (they're dirty) that I have to change the water frequently.
I just made a 50% change and my readings (after 15 min of filtration) and the readings are: nitrates 30ppm (this was over twice as high earlier this week
), nitrites 0ppm, my alklinity is about 7.8. I heard somewhere that goldfish can withstand high alkilinty, but I'm still trying to get it down with driftwood and every once in awhile chemicals. Is this advice correct? Also I read somewhere that you can clean algae off plastic plants with bleach, but I thought any type of soaps were bad? Also, when I add water to the tank, should I put the conditioner in first or after? Also, I thought salt helped them breath? I think you are probably right about the nitrates though, I'll take your advice.
I just made a 50% change and my readings (after 15 min of filtration) and the readings are: nitrates 30ppm (this was over twice as high earlier this week
), nitrites 0ppm, my alklinity is about 7.8. I heard somewhere that goldfish can withstand high alkilinty, but I'm still trying to get it down with driftwood and every once in awhile chemicals. Is this advice correct? Also I read somewhere that you can clean algae off plastic plants with bleach, but I thought any type of soaps were bad? Also, when I add water to the tank, should I put the conditioner in first or after? Also, I thought salt helped them breath? I think you are probably right about the nitrates though, I'll take your advice.