Help me!!! My Oranda is not well . I have a whisper power filter 2 and it is getting sucked on the outside of the tube in the water. My fishtank is a 20 gallon tank with 3 other orandas. My mom thinks that it is big and does not want a bigger tank. The tank has been running for 1 month. I feed them TetraExotic Sinking Mini Sticks. I soke it for one minute and feed them 2 pellets. Yesterday, the fish was not eating and put it in a cup with a net. I ate the food and I poured the fish back. I added some stress coat to add more slime. I think the fish lost one scale. I change the water once every 3 weeks. The water is clean and I just changed it 1 week and a half ago. My fish tank had ich before and I I added Dr. Wellfish ich medicine 2 weeks ago. All my survived. The sick oranda has torn fins! I am unsure why it has it. It's floating up and swimming. I instaled an airpump and the fish has been playing with the bubbles. Should I put it in my 2.5 hospital tank? HELP! !!!

Hi and

Could you get your mom to get you a test kit or take a sample of water to the LFS to be tested as most problems are caused by poor water quality.Goldfish are very messy fish and their water should be partially changed every week.I would suggest you do an immediate water change of 50 to 70%.

Heres some links you will find of use too

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/care.html

One last thing once your water has been tested please post exact results here it helps us help you better

What type of test kit should I by? I have a Phthon Spihon. Should I change water with it? My other fish are o.k. My mom asks if is contagious. Is my tank very over stocked?

You need a freshwater test kit.The API drop test kit is the best.It would be best to isolate your fish for time being.It may well be her fins have been torn on a plastic plant or other ornament.As I have a black moor that tends to get tears in his tail fin and its not due to disease.There is a possibility of fin rot but before that we need to check your water as often poor water causes fish to go off color.Also you could do with up grading your tank in the future as each fancy goldfish requires 10 gallons of water.So in long run you will need a 40 gallon tank.Off course use your python remember to add water conditioners

Thanks!!! In my family I lay out water to take away posionous chemicals. Is jusst putting the conditioner okay? I just found out that my mom added stress coat too. I feed it and it did not eat anything.

Ok go ahead and do your water change but isolate your sick oranda from the others.If you have a heater put it in your quarantine tank and set it at a temp of 79 F .Also put a small filter in if possible.One of best products to treat your water with is Prime alot of members on Koko's use it.Stress coat is fine as it is a de chlorinator but should only be added at 5ml per 10 gallons.
You may also want to get some aquarium salt and add that to the QT to get ammount of salt required you mix 1 teaspoon per gallon (this helps with stress) 12 hours later repeat this achieves a level of 0.2% which helps with fungus repeat again 12 hours later to get to 0.3% this aids in treatment of parasites and fungus.
Always dissolve the aquarium salt in some water removed from tank once mixed pour it in.

I have an undergravel filter. Is it good? How do I make it eat? Is not eating normal for fish with finrot? Is my 2.5 tank big enough to quaritine it?

Undergravel filters are not very good for goldfish due to ammount of waste they create.

Heres a link all about filters and what suits goldies

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Filtration.html

Your 2.5 gallon will be fine especially if she's a small fish.

This link tells you all about signs and symptoms of fin rot.I have had marine fish with fin rot but they usually still eat till disease has really progressed.Tho I do suspect your main problem is water quality.

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Finrot.html

The fish has small white specks. One of my previous fish died from it. My white oranda used to have ich. Its fins in the back are very thin. Should I use the ich medicine? My mom is not sure about the 50% water change. She says that it might distube the cycle of the water and the fish might get sick.

If you can get something bigger to quarantine, like one of those big plastic storage tubs. It would be better. With 2.5 gallons that isnt cycled, you may be doing water changes every day to keep toxic levels safe, which doesnt help when you are trying to treat something.

An undergravel filter wont be much use unless you have gravel from an established tank (also with an undergravel filter) to use as the media (the place the bacteria grows to de-toxify the waste).

Make sure the test kit you buy has tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. These are the important ones.

Are the fins white looking around where they are torn? or red?
Are there any blood streaks (like viens) in the fins and/or tail?
Has the fish been sitting on the bottom a lot?
Are any of the fins clamped against the fish's body?
How are the other fish in the tank acting?

Edit: Sorry, I took aaaaages typing this and there are more replies!

Dont worry about the 50% water change, most of the cycle live in the filter and changing water will have no effect on that.
So the small white specks look like grains of salt? ..the same as the fish with ich?
The salt should treat that ok if you have added it already. I'm not sure about using salt AND the ich medication. It may not mix well.

The goldfidh has a couple of specks. The others do not.

Without water test results you can't be sure your tank has cycled.When fish get sick it is normal to do such a water change if your tank has cycled it wont really upset it,However if your tank hasn't cycled then there will be large toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite as UG filters cannot handle the ammount of waste a goldfish puts out.I have 2 internal filters in my large tank.This is why testing your water with a test kit is a priority to find out if your tank has cycled.A large water change will not harm your tank.
Did you follow full course for the ick treatment as you should continue to treat for a few days after symptoms disappear.

The other fish are swimming faster than usual. The fins are not bleading. I have gravel for the small tank. It is in water in the tank. The tank was establised for 6 months for my tadpoles. How do I clean it? Do I change 50% in the 20 gallon one?

I'd islolate him straight away now, as you dont want the others getting the ich again. Although they may already have it and it will start to show soon. If they do then I'd put him back in the main tank and treat them all again.

I think when they had it last time, you may not have treated for long enough. The ich parasite has a life cycle and when the parasite is not in its free swimming stage.. the egg (I think?) it cannot be killed, so you need to keep up treatment until they have all hatched and been killed. Having a higher temperature helps with this, as its speeds up the developement and lifecycle.

From behaviour of your other fish I would do the water change now as darting around is a sign of stress.
Clean it with hot water no soaps or detergents.

Change most of the water in the 2.5G, as depending on how long it has been empty, it probably isnt cycled/established anymore as the bacteria need waste to live from.
Change at least 50% in the main tank, just syphon off the water, cleaning the gravel with the gravel vac part of the syphon. Do the gravel really well as this is where ich eggs and things go.
Fill up with temperature matched water, with water conditioner added to get rid of chlorine and other chemicals.

Edit: sorry Blue, we keep posting at the same time!

Know the feeling Lucy then we are both coming up with same stuff

Heres link on ick for you and treatment

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/Ich.html

The fish also is not moving much.

All you can do is follow mine and Lucy's advice.If you take action now you may be able to save her it will just be a waiting game.Keep us posted

I just want to add, if it's ich, treat them all in the same tank - it'll be present in the water of your sick fish so it's best to destroy it so that if your other fish become stressed, they don't contract it themselves.

Blue's posted some good links to follow (and the best cure is salt) but if you have any more question, please post back

How is the fish doing?