My goldfish is in trouble. He has looked a little swollen on his left side for a few days but this morning he has a marble sized lump on his left side just behind his gill. Scales are sticking out a little. No other swelling anywhere else, appetite is good, swimming fine. He is about 5 in long, in a 20 gal tank with a small catfish and a 5 or 6 in plecostomus. Water temp is 73 degrees, nitrate is 40, nitrite is.5, hardness 300ppm, alk.is 300, and PH is 8.4. They were in a 10 gal tank but just switched over to this one about three weeks ago. I was careful to reuse the original water and gravel and add to it. There are two Whisper filters running, one small and one medium sized.These readings were taken today after I did a 50% water change. I added stress coat, and decided to start treating him with Marycn 2. I gave him a pea about four days ago and another one today. I have only been feeding him a very little bit once daily. Oh yes one other thing . I added 4 TBSP of aquarium salt today after the water change. Did I do the right things and is there anything else I can do to help him? Thanks for helping us. Kimmy78

Hi Kimmy , I'm sorry about your fish. This is not the answer you are waiting for but until a MOd comes along with more expertise I just wanted to say something. I know its not nice waiting. You will be asked about the ammonia level in the new tank- do you have a test for that? Also I am not sure about salt plus meds. I think its usually one or other but you have not added much salt anyway so I think thats okay. (the medicine dose is 3 tspoons to the gallon so for you its 60 flat teaspoons-). The scales sticking out sound like dropsy but I am no expert. If you could post a pic it would be enormously helpful and if not you could check the disease link -kokos home page-and see which pic matches closest to your fish while you're waiting.

Hi kimmy - I had a fish with a similar problem and the lump ended up oozing pus in the end. I think maracyn and a little bit of salt is a good idea but would also try and get some medigold. The lump on my fish was bacterial and I suspect was the result of eating bad frozen bloodworms....

Does the lump look anything like this?



The salt will help with your current level of nitrites but I would continue to do waterchanges until that reading comes down to 0. The water really needs to be optimal at this time.

The picture posted by Jen W looks exactly like the problem with my fish. So do you think I should continue the Marcyn 2 and / or water changes? The last water change was yesterday...when would I do it again? Also what about the Medigold? Do the pet supply stores usually carry that, I'm not sure I've seen it before. What ever happened to your fish that had the similar problem? I did think of one other thing that has changed in my tank. I got a couple plant bulbs about two weeks ago and put them in the tank. Only one of them sprouted so I took the rest of them out. don't know if that is relevant or not. I will get a pic today but not sure how to post it. I will give it a shot though. My water is cloudy now from the Marcyn 2 though. I just now did a new tank reading. Nitrate is just above 40, Nitrite .5,hardness 300ppm, alk 300, PH 8.4 and ammonia level is showing somewhere between 0 and .5. Thanks for everyone's help so far!

Hi again. That's very good news that Jen's pic has diagnosed for you. Just wanted to say that I reread your posts and agree with Jen about keeping the salt if you have nitrites. When you do a w/c you'll need to replace the rock/sea/not table salt- dissoving it first- according to how much water you took out/changed. Water changes should be every day (what % do you do?) or can be smaller, twice a day, until the ammonia is 0. Is it 0 from the tap? Stressed/ill fish are part. sensitive to it.

There are other medicated foods I believe if you can't find medigold - I was also wondering if the plants introduced something that the fish then ate..NEway

You can buy medigold from www.goldfishconnection.com and they will post to you straight away.

Here's a pic of how the lump ended up:



unfortunately for Maddy - she didn't make it but I think this is due mainly to her weak constitution. Also, she was sickly from the time I got her and there were a couple of occassions where I had to isolate and medicate her.

Plus, and this is a big plus - I'm unable to get Maracyn or medicated food in Australia. If I could, I have a feeling she'd still be with me now.

I'm with Trinket - I would definitely keep up the waterchanges daily and would say the best thing you can do right now is another one. As Trinket mentioned, you really need your ammonia reading to be 0 right now whereas the salt will help with the nitrites (which you don't want to climb further than 0 while your fish is ill). And just remember to add back both the salt and the maracyn with each waterchange.

I think there's another medicated food on the market but if you can get Medigold, I'd start feeding this.

Yes,pristene water is a must for sure. One dose of Maracyn is usually considered done in about 24 hours,so you can work at changing your water around that time frame.That's what I've always done-just easier for me and less costly. I also worry that if I only do a partial water change ,then I'm leaving Maracyn in the tank and I'm always afraid that a new dose will make it too strong,so I just feel safer working on the 24 hour time frame.
Jungle makes an Antibiotic food that's available in the major chains. Although I've bought it for emergency's,I have to say that I've never used it yet,so I'm not sure how effective it is.
It is well worth the money to invest in Medi-Gold if at all possible.It's a life-saver for sure!

That's an excellent point about the Maracyn that I forgot. It needs to be repeated in 24 hours so Devs' advice makes a lot of sense . I have personally overdosed fish on meds before and it wasn't a happy time. Keep us posted with progress or new developments Kimmy.

Thanks everyone for your advice. The 24 hours will be up late this afternoon for the Marcyn so I will do a 25 or 305 water change then. I am heading out today to find some medicated food for my fishy too. I am still optimistic because my fish still seems to feel good and is hungry and active yet. I'll post an update later. Kimmy

I went today and got medicated food. All I could find was Anti-Bacteria by Jungle. I did a 25% water change today and replaced the salt and Maracyn 2. Also added the proper amount of Stress Coat. My fish seemed to eat the medicated food without a problem. Does anyone know how often I should feed this to him? I took new water readings and they are nitrate 40, nitrite 0, hardness 300 ppm, alk. 300, ph 8.4, and ammonia is down from .5 to about .2. So far not much change in the look of the lump or the way the goldie is acting. He appears to feel ok so far. I plan to follow everyone's advice and do a 25% water change every 24 hrs and replace the medication, salt and stress coat. If anyone can think of anything else I should be doing please let me know. Thanks again everyone for your support and great advice. Hopefully we can turn this around for my fish. Kimmy78

How is the fish doing now?

Hi Laurie. Thanks for asking! My fish is still hanging in there.He actually looks like he feels pretty good despite it all. I have been trying to feed him the antibiotic food but as I was watching him he would take it in his mouth and spit it out every time. He hates it! After a while I gave him a chopped up pea and he just gobbled it down so at least his appetite is still good. I have been doing 25% water changes every night and always replacing the aquarium salt and Stress Coat. Tonight was the 4th day for the Marcyn 2 so I guess tomorrow will be the last day for that. My readings tonight after the latest water change are: nitrate is down from 40 to 20, nitrite is 0, hardness 150, alk 300, PH 8.4 and ammonia is 0. The water is getting better but the lump remains unchanged. I wonder how long before it will change? I'll keep all of you posted on his progress.Thanks! Kimmy

Sounds like he's a trouper. Sorry he wouldn't eat the medicated food though. Your water sounds much better and seems like your doing all U can! Any tiny changes may need new advice so keep in touch. We're all watching out for you

I hope he improves also Kimmy

I believe this is why Medigold is such a popular mediated food - it's krill based and fish just love it... I often wish I could buy some to keep it on hand (but Australian laws don't permit).

Please keep us posted on his progress. Just as an aside, it took about 2 weeks for Maddy's lump to start releasing pus but if the maracyn is doing its job, it will be resolving the bacteria from the inside so the lump may just go down. I'm certainly hoping so

I think my Goldie is in more trouble now. His body appears to be very slightly swollen today and he is starting to pinecone on the side where the lump started! I am so worried about him. Is there anything else I can do at this point? Today will be the fifth day for the Marcyn 2 and the water readings are the same as last post- nitrate 20,nitrite0,ammonia 0, PH 8.5, hardness 150, and alk 300. Water temp is 76F. The other two fish in the tank seem to be fine. The next water change will be tonight at the 24 hr period unless anyone thinks I shouldn't wait that long. Not sure what to do since the meds are in the tank. Please, I sure could use some more advice. Thanks! Kimmy

I'm so sorry Kimmy - this is mirroring exactly what happened to my fish Maddy. There is something you can try, and that's a course of Maracyn I (after the dose of Maracyn II). Usually with dropsy, these are both used (primarily in tandem) as the 2 treat different strains of bacteria (gram negative and gram positive).

I would also see if you can order some metromeds quickly. If you tell goldfishconnection.com you need it urgently, they will express ship it to you.

Do you have a heater you can use? In cases of dropsy (initial stages), people have had success using both Maracyn I and II, raising the temperature to 82degrees and adding 1/8 teaspoon of epsom salt per 5 gallons. Plus, making sure his water is perfect.

I think another important thing here is isolating him to another tank for medicating - your fish that are well wouldn't benefit from all this treatment. Is there anyway you can set up a plastic tub? Have you a spare air stone and small filter?

If you can get some MI - before adding, do a 50% waterchange. MI & II have at times been used together but in this case, you would only have 50% of the MII in your tank so adding the MI won't harm your fish.

This really is a nasty bacteria - the lump first appeared on Maddy then about 6 days later, she started to swell. Without any good meds here, she eventually couldn't fight it off but I do hold out hope for your fish. With medicated food (Ranchugirl has had greater success using metromeds over medigold), raised temp, epsom salt and maracyn - this will give him his best chance

Hi everyone. I am following Jen and Trinket's advice. I did a 50 % water change today and got the nitrate level down from 20 to about 10 (it's hard to tell exactly on the test strips). All the other readings were the same as last time. I started the Marcyn and am slowly raising the water temp to 82. I added the epsom salt as recommended. Also I removed the other two fish and placed them in a 10 gal tank. I figured I'd move them instead of stressing Goldie further by catching him. I was careful to use some water and gravel from the original tank for the ten gallon. I talked to Rick from Goldfish Connection on the phone and he sent Metromeds today by UPS in hopes that I'll get it tomorrow. He was very helpful and as it turns out his shop is only about 1 1/2 hours from where I live so maybe the meds will get here very soon. Tonight the lump had a white substance coming out of it. Otherwise he looks about the same. At times he rests on the bottom but when he sees me he gets up and starts swimming around. He was really hungry tonight and gobbled up a pea. Sure hope we can get him through this! You have all been a great help to me and I appreciate all your advice. I'll let you know how he is tomorrow. Kimmy

Hi kimmy - that's the same white pus that came out of my fish (second pic). I'm so glad the metromeds are on the way. I honestly believe these will be the difference between success and failure.

Just a question for you - do you feed any frozen worms/daphnia etc?

Hi Jen and all, I'm happy to report that my Goldie seems to be feeling much better! I've kept up the 25% water changes every day but one and am continuing the 5 days of Marcyn. Last night and today he is so active I can't believe the change in him. He is zooming around the tank! The lump remains about the same though. Nothing else has oozed out of it and there's no redness. I wonder how long before the lump resolves itself? I am having trouble getting the nitrate level down to 0. After all these water changes it remains between 10 and 20. Any advice on this would be appreciated. The Metromeds arrived the next day after I ordered them just like Rick from Goldfishconnection promised. Great place to order meds!! One more question, how much and how often should I feed these medicated pellets? The container said to feed for 14 days but not how often or how much. The fish just loves this food by the way. Anyway I'm happy with how he is doing so far, thanks to everyone's great advice. Oh and Jen, I haven't fed him either frozen worms or daphnia. I'll keep you posted on his progress. Kimmy

Hi Kim,
I'm so pleased to hear you got the metromeds!!!They will be invaluable. I think you just feed small amount twice a day same as normal food but it really should say somewhere on that packet...strange. Sounds like the lump is going through its stages that Jen speaks of..I only hope the outcome is better than for Jen's poor Maddy. Don't worry about the nitrates for now. 10 is actually fine. My 3 tanks have nitrates at 5, and 10 respectively-pretty much always. Nitrates are not harmful at this level but should be kept within limits. Keep the nitrites and ammonia at 0 through w/cs and keep an eye on nitrates is all. Glad you moved the other 2, keep an eye on their tank readings too !

All I can say is i wish i could get my nitrates to 10 Anywhere <20 is ideal as nitrates are the final conversion of ammonia and nitrites so unless you do massive waterchanges daily or have a heavily planted tank then nitrates at 10 are excellent

I look forward to continued updates Kimmy and i hope he continues to improve daily

[color=#3366FF] Hi, I just wanted to give you an update on Goldie. He is doing just great after the lump on his side went down to a normal size. The scales fell off in that area and it remains white there. Im not sure if new scales will grow there or how long that takes. He appears to be happy and healthy. I returned his tankmates and all is well.I wanted to say thanks so much to all who helped ...especially JenW, Trinket, Devs and LaurieP. You got us through a rough time.I'm still amazed that a fish can go through such an ordeal and come out healthy again! I don't know if this is possible but I have a ton of Metromeds left and would be willing to share them with anyone that needs them. I live in Ohio and would mail some if they were needed. I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Sincerely, Kimmy