My fantail goldfish, quinn, has already died from nodular disease(Im pretty sure) I was just wondering if anyone knows where goldfish get this disease? I know that they ingest the spores . She started developing (from the inside) these white balls about 1 millimeter in diameter and they started coming out through the scales....

Nodular disease is, as you've seen, when boils or cycsts form just under the skin (in the musculature) and eventually come to a head and release its contents into the water leaving a small ulcer or sore. Basically, it travels from fish to fish by injestion. Plainly put, its communicable.

If this is ever seen on a fish from a specific tank, then EVERY fish in that tank is cionsidered to be a carrier and should never be added to a healthy tank.

If you don't have any fish left in the tank, then it would be wise to break the tank down and clean everything spotlessly with a bleach/water mixture of ten to twenty cups water to one cup bleach. Once cleaned and rinsed well, let the tank and ALL the equpment dry completey for a few days before setting it back up and getting it running again.


Sorry you lost your goldie. I hope that will be the end of it.


Paul

Oh goodness you got me scared now. I almost bought a fish today and two of their pearlscales had a sore like what you described...

You know since a lot of the fishtanks in big pet chains all have the same filter system and the water circulates from all the tanks, could that mean every one of their fish is a risk? That's a horrible thought.

Really sorry to hear about your fantail how sad.. why do fish always have to have such nasty deseases.

Now THAT is a question I would love to see the answer to!!

Sorry to hear about your fish friend

The fantail was in my 55 gallon with 4 other fish. The four other fish are still in there. They don't show any signs of having the spots. The fantail that died was in a hospital tank when it died - would this make any difference of the others contracting it? a couple of months ago a part of the white stuff fell off her body. and it looked like fungus...?
thanks for the suggestions I really appreciate it!

You'll have to permanently quarentine the remaining fish. They are to be considered carriers now. Even if they never show any symptoms. The good news is that some fish can be exposed and never develop the characteristic boils erupting from the skin. It's just a big lottery.


Sporozoans are the most resiliant of all the fish maladies. There is NO cure other than destroying the stock and thoroughly disinfecting EVERYTHING. Potassium permanganate cant touch it at 4ppm, malachite green/formalin cannot touch it. Bleach CAN touch it but only in concentrations much higher than any fish can withstand.

ANY fish that has ben in the same water column as a fish infected with sporozoans is a possible carrier. ESPECIALLY in pet shops with a shared filtration system. In fact, pet shops are the number one source of all infectious agents that affect our fish.

So, I guess your just going to have to keep a close eye on them. If you ever see ANY boils beginning to emerge from any of your remaining fish, remove it to a hospital tank immediately. The idea is that you do not want the mass from inside of the boil to treach any of the fish in the tank......


good luck and keep us posted!

Hi Fantail-luver and Paul!
Last year I had 7 goldfish and one by one they developed this disease. Five of them have died, but the good news is that one of the two remaining fish came down with symptoms last fall but is still living! The last fish never had any symptoms.

So, I have these two fish living together for the rest of their lives because I will never risk infecting another fish with this. I moved them to a smaller (20 gallon) tank and nuked the tank they were in. I have some new goldfish now that hopefully are healthy.

The fish that pulled through, Zsa Zsa, was treated with Jungle Parasite Clear (two treatments in a row) and fed Metromed for about a month. I am not sure how much this had to do with her survival and how much of it is genetics, but she is the only one that lived after having the cysts. The other fish were treated with Maracyns and Medigold and they all died.

Good luck with your fish and I am sorry about your loss.

hello becky~
The fish that died from this disease had only one lump on her side for 4 months until she started acting really droopy and stressed so I put her in the hospital tank. thats when I seen the the white ball developing on the other side of her body. How long would it take to show up on the other fish if they got it? If they caught the disease?

From the time I noticed any symptoms until they died was any where from one week to 5 months. All 5 of my fish died within 3 months of each other. The two fish that were exposed seem to be perfectly fine. Zsa Zsa had a lump early in November but it drained and I fed her metro med food for 4-6 weeks and she recovered nicely.

You have 3 fish left? I would either put them together in a 30 gallon tank, and then you can disinfect and restock your 55 with new healthy fish. Or, just leave the three of them alone in the 55. I would not put any more fish in with them unless you are willing to risk losing them to this.