My Comet Blue has a kinda sticky looking substance between the two lips of his mouth he struggles to open it.Hes still lively and constantly looking for food yet has trouble eating it.The water quality in tank is fine.At first I thought it was mouth fungus tried treating for tht and there was no improvement after treating for 2 weeks.I wondered if he has slime disease as its kinda like stretching chewing gum when he does get his mouth open.he shares the tank with another goldfish,a weather loach and a hong kong plec.Its a 4 gallon tank but I have a 30 gallon tank am in process of setting up.Please help as I dont want to lose him hes my oldest fish.

Forgot to mention I use a fluval 1 filter and also a standard carbon/zeolite filter which is currently removed while king british revitaliser tonic is in.

Hi Blue - welcome to Koko's.

First of all I'm glad to hear that you are setting up a 30 gallon for your fish. They'll love you for it and you will find that you have less problems when you water quality is in order. In the meantime I would suggest that you do 30-50% daily water changes, do it just before you are ready to redose the tank with the medication and just add the regular amount of medication. Continue with the daily water changes until your new tank is ready - this way all the fresh water will not be such a shock to them and it will keep them healthier anyway.

Secondly, I'll just mention that pleco's and goldfish don't generally mix well, with the exception of bristlenose and rubbernose plecos. All the others tend to grow too large and as they get older they desire more protein - you guessed it - they attack the goldies. There is no way to tell when this is going to happen, they can live together peacefully for years but it always happens sooner or later.

I have never heard of this sticky substance you mention. I can only imagine that he has eaten something he shouldn't. Is it possible that he has eaten some sealant off the tank or someone has put something nasty like chewing gum in the tank? I would suggest that you try to manually remove it.

It's not as hard as it sounds. If you hold the goldfish in one hand with only his head sticking out of the water he will automatically open his mouth. With your other hand try to remove the substance with some blunt end tweezers. It may be easier if you have someone else to help you but really it's not that difficult.

Let me know how you go.

thanks for advice tho am wary of of damaging my comets mouth.Also am surprised aquarium I bought my plec from didnt tell me it would eventually turn on my fish.I also keep tropical fish and the plec in tank is huge and it never bothers with other fish.No one has put anything in my tank tho I have noticed there is a dog hair in the tank which i'm going to remove.
Any other suggestions for my poor comet

Plecos do well with most tropical fish, I don't know why they go for goldfish, perhaps it's the tasty slimecoat. Most pet stores aren't that clued in about goldfish requirements anyhow, they think they just need the same care as most tropicals but in fact they are much messier.

There is nothing further I can suggest except that perhaps you used the wrong medication to treat mouth fungus. It is actually not a fungus but a bacterial disease called 'cotton wool mouth' or columnaris. If you used a medication for general fungus it wouldn't help, you need an antibacterial medication.

I was using sera omnipur 1000 for 1st 2 weeks when i first saw his prob which is a broad spectrum treatment for most common diseases.He perked up a bit with this an did open his mouth slightly more then he stopped improving.My dad thought he may have fungus so I put king british fin rot and fungus control in.There was no change so I filtered the meds out and put revitaliser tonic in in case it was a slime prob he has.I have an antibacterial treatment as I keep all treatments for most common fish diseases.As I monitor all the fish closely to catch probs early.I'll wait till tomorrow do a partial water change and put the antibacterial in I'll ask my dad to try and clear his mouth as I dont want to harm my fish.

If you are worried about damaging his mouth try the antibacterial medication first and if there is no improvement then try manually removing the sticky stuff. Good luck.

Thanks I'll let you know how it goes.

I just wanted to mention that alot of people keep Hong Kong Pleco's with Goldfish,and from everything that I've heard,they seem to stay to theirselves.They're small and seem to be somewhat shy.

Thanks Devs, that's another to add to the list of compatible plecos.

Planning on doing a water change today and putting the antibacterial in am also considering placing blue in a hosp tank I have and feeding him on liquid food till hes able to open his mouth properly is that a gd idea.I'm also wondering whether the building works near by are causing some of the problem as I'm boiling the replacement water in a kettle coz in the past I have had fish just die for no reason when there has been building works going on and i've used tap water straight even tho I always add king british safe water and safe guard at every water change.

Yes, the liquid food is a good idea if Blue will eat it.

That's strange about the building works coinciding with the fish deaths. If there is a connection I'd hate to think what it is doing to your health.

Been out this afternoon Ive now got prescription antibiotics for my comet so once water change done later in it goes.Stuff worked wonders for my common before she died at age of three.

Are they prescription antibiotics for fish or humans? What are they called?

They are Veterinary antibiotics.Nacho my common had mouth fungus and within a day or two she showed improvement.But eventually she couldnt fight off the injury she sustained when my loach attacked her so she had to be put to sleep.
Its a green color the antibiotics in powder form.Cant remember name of em off hand

Good news.hes perked up and is managing to eat some flake food but am putting liquid food in still for him cos my loach an black moor are such a greedy pair.Hes started pushing other fish around and thts a sign hes getting back to normal.

Can he open his mouth better now?

Hes opening his mouth better than he was.Still not totally normal but signs are good.I'm feeling better because I was afraid of losing him as I lost my other comet(Zeb) and my common (Nacho) only 4 months ago.I'm just going to keep monitoring him daily see how hes moving his mouth.Antibiotics only been in 24hours but they are good had them before.Keep you posted i'll be having a party when hes better.

Glad to hear that there's at least some improvement starting. Just keep an eye on those Params too to play it safe.

Thanks Devs every intention off.

Unfortunately Blue has been attacked by my loach.He's still not eating properly I believe the only nutrition he is getting is the liquid fish food as his poop is pretty white looking even tho I have been puting flake food in as well but dyson and piranha are just shoving him out the way.He just sits at other end of tank.I'm moving him to a quarantine tank to give him some extra TLC and hopefully he will pick up.I really hope he makes it I've lost two goldfish already this year.As hes due to be 1 this month.

What do you mean that the Loach attacked him? I've seen Loaches play around,but never actually attack another fish.
Are you still treating with Antibacterial Meds? How big is the sick tank,and do you have a heater on it?

My loach lives up to his name (piranha) he was partly to blame for the loss of my common.He literally started biting her behind her gill when she was unwell.Blue's tail is now all ripped after my loach had a go it was my dad who saw it happen as I was not home.The loach goes into a frenzy when food is put in the tank it has even nipped me on one occaison.
I'm still using antibiotic meds as these go in weekly just after I do a partial water change.The thing I have noticed is a sticky white substance appearing in the tank since antibiotics started not sure if its off Blue.
He's still swimming about in tank but seems afraid to go for flake food if the loach is nearby.He's stopped looking in the gravel for bits of food he seems to be losing his interest in food.
sick tank is a 5 gallon one at present.I have not put a heater in as it leads to temp probs.