We have two orandas: one perfectly healthy, the other been slowly declining in health. I can't get help at the local pet store anymore, they fear he's a goner. About two months ago his helmet get so enlarged that his eyes are no longer visible. Then he started just sitting at the bottom of the tank. The pet store owner suggested he might have a parasite. So we treated the water with "Malachite Green" (.75% - zinc free).
We have a 30 gallon tank for these two fish. We change the water approximately every other week (only 50% of the water). I don't know the ph levels or amonia levels of our tank. We have treated the water twice.
Since then he has these two black things on his scales (which dissappeared). Now he has these bubbles around his fins. He looks horrible. Our other oranda appears healty for now. We are going to seperate them. We are attached to the them & would hate to see something terrible happen to him. If there's something I can do, I'd like to do it.

Hi April an welcome to Koko's. So sorry to hear about your fish. The only think I can suggest right now is either buy a drop test kit for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and PH or take a sample of your water to your local fish outlet and ask them to test your parameters. Ask them to write down the results and then please post them here. Without knowing your water quality, it's impossible to suggest anything as in most cases, it's something in your water. Also, could you answer as many of the questions in the box above?

Sorry I couldn't be more help but lease post back soon

Cheers

Jen is right, you must check the water.
With keeping gf we learn very quickly that water quality is everything in keeping them healthy.
That is where you should start first.

Thank you very much for your advise. I really appreciate your help & everything I've learned from reading other questions & answers on this website. It's answered lots of questions I've had about orandas that people at the local pet shops don't seem to know about.
Everyplace I know of closed early today. I have to wait until tomarrow morning. I'm afraid my fish will not survive the night. He/She looks like it's ready to explode. I feel bad for it, it doesn't look confortable. There's nothing I can do until morning. I can't get it to have a bowl movement. I tried the peas. If she does make it until tomarrow, I'll get a test kit & post the results.
Thank you anyways.

April when was the last water change? Maybe do a 20-30% water change, this often helps. Make sure to temprature match the water and add a water conditioner.

I would fast her/him for a day or 2 see if you can "clean" out what is inside. After the fast feed a deshelled pea cut up into bite size pieces.

I hope the fish makes it thru the night.

It's not looking good. She ate the peas, but she keeps turning upside down. I put her in a separate aquarium with water conditioner about 5 hours ago. I wanted to try to protect our other oranda which still appears to be healthy. Thank you for your advise.

She's still alive. She keeps tipping upside down though. She's had a couple of bowl movements this morning (1st in a while). I'm going to take a sample in this afternoon when the fish store opens. One of the questions that I forgot to answer before (if this helps) is that they are both approx. 5 ½ inches long (not including tail). We've had the sick one almost a year. The healthy one we've had almost 3 years. I'll post the results of the water test suggested above when I get back this afternoon. Thanks again for all of your help.

Helmethead just died. Thanks for your advise. When the pet store opens in an hour I'm going to have the water tested anyways. I still have a live one.

Hi April,
That is so sad--to have lost your fish. Many of us found this site when we had sick or dying fish, me included. I have learned so much in the 2 years that I have been coming to this site.

One thing to always do is keep up with is weekly partial water changes--you only need to change about 25--30% at a time, of course adding a water conditioner to remove chlorine (I use Prime) and temperature matching the new water. Water quality is one of the most important factors for healthy goldfish.

There is so much helpful info here, just read and there are lots of wonderful people too.

I'm so sorry you lost him .
Keep testing your water and do the weekly water changes for your healthy one. Best of luck!

I too am sorry it is so difficult to treat them sometimes. You are in my thoughts.

Thank you all for everything! I still have my one left. Thanks again!

April Rice

I am sorry for your loss, April. It is a very sad thing. She keeps turning upside is what caught my attention just now. I am thinking about SBB (Swim Bladder) might have been the cause of the poor baby. If not treated, or the treatment doesn't work, they do usually die. That is what my book says at least. Again, I am sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry April

How is swim bladder disease treated? Since my one oranda passed about a month ago, my lone oranda hasn't moved too much. She pretty much stays at the bottom of the tank. I didn't replace the other one because I wanted to make sure that my tank was disease free. She also has been put on a diet. My husband was feeding her once a day. When I had the water tested they said that there was way too much food residue in the sample. So I feed her a pinch of flakes every other day. Everytime I feed her she eats less and less. I don't know if she's sick or bored? I don't want to take the chance of getting another fish if she is sick. She's been this way about a month now. Are orandas particularily social fish?