We have goldfish that live in an outdoor stocktank (and have for years) and we noticed one that had fungus on it's sides. We took it out of the tank and placed it in a tank indoors so we could treat it and watch it while it recuperates. The fish eats well, swims just fine and all around acts normal. But instead of the fungus just disappearing, it has developed an extremely large abdomen with abnormal coloring. The rest of the fish is brilliant orange, fins are all fine. The goldfish is about 6" long and several years old. We've kept them in stocktanks for years for mosquito control and feed them goldfish flakes. We've never had a problem with them before. This is the only one that's had a problem and no others have ever developed a problem. Since we're not "fish" people we don't know where to go from here. Does this sound familiar and is there a cure? We have taken pictures of the fish and would be willing to send one to anyone that might want to see what the fish looks like. Thank you, L. Scott

ok frist we will need to know some things about your pond.
1) how big is it in gallons? (4 liters per gallon)
2) do you have any filtration in it?
3) how many other fish?
4) how often do you do water changes? and how much at a time?
5) do you test you water for ammonia,Nitrate,Nitrite? if not take a sample to your pet store to get it tested and get actual # not just good or bad.

it sounds like a bacterial dises caused by poor water quality. a antibacterial will clear it up in no time. i like to use poly gaurd.

goldfish are easy to care for but do need some things in order to live a healthy life. you will probly be seeing more ill fish soon now that they are geting biger.
goldfish need:
1) Ten gallons of water each
2) a realy well filterd pond/tank
3) weekly water changes
4) there water to be tested weekly and ajusted apropratly.

thats it its realy simple. wen your at the pet store pleezzz do pick up the test kits needed and a filter for your pond(if you dont have one) it realy is important. if you dont the fish will begeting sick faster because they are growing and growing means more waste and the waste they make is exsteamly toxic to them. the only way to remove the toxic waste from the water is buy filtration and wter changes.

You could email a photo to a moderator and ask them to post it for you.

For a list of modertors, click on "my assistant".

Good Luck, Annette

The goldfish we have are kept in a livestock watering tank. The water is probably changed over about every other day because the cows drink at least 1/2 the tank in one day. It is automatically refilled as the water level lowers. There are less than 20 goldfish in 1200 gallons. We have pond plants in the tank for the fish to help maintain healthy water. We are dairy farmers and the water is from a well. No chlorine. Our water is tested often in order to ensure water quality so we know the water entering the tank is not contaminated or we would be out of business! Because the cows drink from the tank, we siphon the bottom of the water tank on a regular basis to keep the debris removed. This problem has been going on since the middle of May. We brought the sick fish indoors for treatment. It's alone in a ten gallon tank which has water running through a filter and back into the tank at all times. We clean the tank and remove about 25% of the water each time we clean it. The water in the indoor tank is from the same source as the stocktank. All other fish outdoors are brightly colored and show absolutely no signs of illness. It seems to us if we were about to have more problems, they would have shown up by now since it's been two months. The fish seems to be increasingly worse, yet it is still very lively, eats eagerly, no pinched fins and very brightly colored except on it's belly. The belly is huge and bulging on both sides. I'm going to try to contact a moderator to see if I can get a picture posted. Thanks for your replies. L. Scott

Thank you for posting our picture. I hope someone can help us. L. Scott

anyone think it may be an internal parasite? I really dont know much about diseases, but I come here to read and learn though so that I can answer questions like this one day I dont know whats wrong, but I do hope someone else does and he gets better soon. best of luck

I want to thank those who have viewed this post for their attention. Apparently we're on our own. We were hoping someone would have at least an idea what the problem might be but it appears we've stumped everyone. At this point we'll have to just let nature take it's course since we don't know where to begin. Thanks again for looking. L. Scott

Hi L.Scott,believe it or not-I think I'm dealing with the same problem! I got 4 baby orandas from a forum member1-2 months ago.The largest baby kept getting his fins and one side nipped by a smaller baby.It turned out that his tail & side got what seemed like a little fungus to me,so I treated it for fungus too.His coloring was always different from the other three who were smaller and turned bright red like they're supposed to.He was slower changing color and it was almost orangish like instead of red. Needless to say,he also started developing white patches of color-except he's got alot more areas that have turned white compared to yours.His belly is fat,but he's a baby with a big appetite,and I think the white color seems to make him look bigger.Also like yours,he seems to be fine.He eats swims ,plays normal,but he has become an orange and white oranda! I think it odd that we both treated for fungus,and this happened.Give the board some time to spot the thread-I'm sure someone can help.We have alot of knowledgeable people here-they haven't spotted this yet!~

hmmm i would say its an internal parisite. wut kind im not shure of but a injection looks like it would be the best way to treat this. if not then a medicated food. have you tryed salt dips?

I found this site in another post which seems to suggest that swollen stomach is a sign of internal parasitic worms. (In the absecnce of dropsy)

This other site has some suggestions on how to treat them.

I'm such a newie that I have no other info for you!

Hope this helps

Jenn

What stumbles me a bit by reading through your post is the fact that cows use the livestock tank to drink (Ridicilous, I know, thats what its supposed to be for ). Could the cows carry something into the container that isn't good for fish, some sort of parasites? It's probably completely normal and harmless to the cows, but could be a problem for the goldfish.
I think its an internal problem as well, and either bacterial or parasitic.
There is a product called Pepcofood or PetcoFood, something like that. It comes in a little container and can be fed to treat internal parasites. Its a rather fine and small food, and easily digestible for the fish.
As for internal bacterial problems, you can order Medigold from a place called Goldfishconnection.com. Its a medicated food and takes care of a wide range of bacterial problems....

Thank you for the responses. We're going to try treating for internal parasites. We live over an hour away from a town large enough to have a store that might carry the products suggested so we're going to try to find them online first. We've tried to look up the Pepcofood/Petcofood and haven't found it yet. But we did find the Medigold at the Goldfishconnection. In the meantime, a man that raises salt water fish gave us a product called "Hex-a-mit" and said that's what he uses on his fish. Any opinions on this? We don't have any opinion at all since we know zero about fish.

We simply don't know enough about fish and cow bacteria to know if this is a problem. They've been sharing environments for years and this is the only problem we've ever had so we just assumed they were getting along. The next time we see our bovine vet, we'll ask him if he knows anything about this subject and we'll report back on what he says.

Thank you for all your help. L. Scott

Hex-a-mit sounds okay for internal parasites as well. Its a medication in capsule form.
Here is the link for the Pepso food, found it at DrsFosterSmith.com...
Pepso parasite food

Good luck with your fish, and keep us posted!..... B)

Thank you for tip on the Pepso Food. We'll be feeding that soon and let you know how it goes. L. Scott