Okay, about 2 weeks ago, I bought a new aquarium. Little did I know the 2 new fish I bought were diseased (white spot) they didn't show any obvious signs at first, so I went back to the pet store and the tank in which I got the fish from were 'under quarantine' so the white spot wasn't from my fish. My other 3 fish caught the disease and died.. Except one. I took the tank back as I really didn't need it for 1 little goldfish, and I couldn't be bothered with the hassle. So I bought a plastic tank, and some white spot treatment. I've been using the treatment for about a week, and it looked like he was recovering. Until tonight. He is on his side at the top of the water, and he has an open wound near his eye (the big breathing gil, I don't know the name as I haven't studied them much). And his guts appear to be coming out? There's no sharp objects. Just some gravel. There's nothing I can do, I just want to know why this has happened? And if so, how to prevent it from happening again? Surely the white spot wouldn't have caused it... It looks like he's slit his throat...?

I'm so confused.

Please contact me ASAP.

Thanks, Serena

He's dead now. But here are some pictures, if they help with the diagnosis?

Hi Serena and

I'm so sorry this happened

There could be any number of reasons this has happened but it looks like there's been some major bleeding from the gills.

How often did you do waterchanges?
Did you ever test your water?
Did you use a tap dechlorinator?
How big is your tank?
What kind of filtration do you have?

I've seen this happen when water is very toxic + there's strong medication in the tank - it basically can burn the gills and cause much bleeding.

So please - if you can, post some more information because it will help to understand what the possible causes may have been

How often did you do waterchanges? Well, in the past week I've changed him twice, as it isn't a big tank, and didn't get messy as he wasn't eating much or pooping much, and he didn't go to the top for oxygen.
Did you ever test your water? Nope =/
Did you use a tap dechlorinator? Yeah, I used a product called "Easy balance: Reduces frequent water changes" and another called "TetraSafe: makes tap water safe for fish"
How big is your tank? Not sure, but spacious enough for him
What kind of filtration do you have? None, it would have been too powerful for the size

Hi Serena. Unfortunately it may have been a combination of the meds and water quality. Fish produce ammonia via the gills - I guess you could liken it to the way they urinate. It's almost a constant supply of waste so in a day, ammonia can rise to around 1.0ppm. If the tank was small, then that number could be a bit higher. Without a filter to house good bacteria, then there's no conversion of harmful ammonia and it just continues to rise until it poisons the fish. If meds are added, this is like adding more toxins and the fish may bleed out and die

Filters really are so important as they do the job of keeping your water parameters in check as the good bacterial they house converts ammonia to nitrites and then to the less harmful nitrates (nitrogen cycle). Without a filter, 100% of the water needs to be changed daily.

I can only guess, but I do believe this may be what happened..... and to help keep fish healthy and happy, there's some simple steps we can all follow:

- try to make sure goldies have a good 10 gallons of water each (commons or single tailed fish need more)

- have enough filtration so that their environment stays healthy between weekly waterchanges. A good amount of filtration to aim for is 10 x the gallons per hour - meaning that if you have a 10 gallon tank, try to get a good biological and mechanical filter that turns over 100 gallons per hour

- having test kits that test the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph levels of the water. This IMHO is one of the most important ways to keep fish healthy

Fishkeeping really isn't as easy as we were all lead to believe when we started out. There's a bit to know when it comes to water quality and the things we can do to ensure their environment is the best we can offer. But with a bit of understanding it becomes both enjoyable and a tad easier

I hope this helps some

Thanks for your help.

I've had the same 3 goldfish for around 4 years. They've always lived in a tank with filteration and an air pump. I bought a Juwel Rekord 60 aquarium and 2 other fish and that's when the problems started. I've never kept fish in a bowl or plastic tank before, without filteration. But I only had one fish left, and after all the trouble with the new tank I just wanted to keep things simple.

And then there were none.

That's a bummer

4 years means you were doing something good although fish can live 3 or 4 times as long as that I think your new guys may have come with some kind of illness that spread to your other fish... this happens a great deal unfortunately. Also, fish just aren't designed to live in a small, unnatural body of water that isn't refreshed daily as their immunity will always be compromised leading to illness. But if you give them a nice big tank with good filtration and aeration, then they will have a better chance at survival

I quarantine all new fish because it really is easier to treat one fish in a smaller tank than all my fish in a big tank