Hi all,

My recent problem stemmed from my over-enthusiastic parents dumping new goldfish into my existing tank. And low and behold, I've been dealing with diseases for 2 weeks, with no progress whatsoever.

I've tried the water changes solution. That helped, but only slightly. The pH and ammonia are fine. I've also consistently cleaned the gravel and micro-fibre filter. I've also tried the various solutions listed on the 'Diseases' section. The salt solution didn't really help, it actually exacerbated the problem by making them more stressed.

EXISTING PROBLEM
(1) One has a white, mouldy growth on the shaft of its tail (not the tail itself). Its tail developed a black streak.
(2) The other has two small ulcer-looking protrusions on the side of its body. Its fins are not rotting per se but breaking apart. The fin/tail also has a red ring and opaque, white mucus-type growth. I'm not sure if there parasitic invasion or not.

DEAD ONES
Actually the one that recently died had red spots all over its face/just behind its gills. The bit of the skin covering the gill was missing, but there was no signs of it scratching itself so to speak. It didn't respond to any treatment.

I have a few photos but I have no idea on how to upload them without inserting an URL.

Please if someone could get back to me with some other suggestions that would be awesome, as the death toll is mounting.

I don't know about the diseases, but to get your photos online, you can set a photobucket account. (www.photobucket.com) it is free and quite useful.

Hey yeh thanks for that. The photos are actually over a week old, so their condition has deteriorated.

This little guy has just lost its appetite. His body is displaying many small red spots (not sure if that's an indication of stress). The ulcer in one of the photos has burst and is fleshy white. The problems with its tail and fins continue. It's been living in a hospital tank (about 8 litres) for about 3 weeks now. I haven't added any medication for several days because it hasn't helped.

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd229/a...¤t=CIMG0913.jpg
http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd229/a...¤t=CIMG0904.jpg



The shaft of the tail of this poor bugger has actually worsened. The scales on that part has come right off, wound is fleshy. Re. black streaks - it has two new ones. It still swims fine, has a good appetite.

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd229/a...¤t=CIMG0915.jpg
http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd229/a...n=view¤t=01.jpg

Help!!
Alex

we cant see your photos, all we get is the photobucket page.

Photos didn't work, but I can tell you that the red spots in the dead fish sounds bacterial to me. What worries me is the 8l hospital tank - are ALL the ill fish in there? Even for just one fish, that is way too small. It stresses the fish even more. If you don't have any other tank available, I would put the sick fish into a rubbermaid, at least 20 gl big.

On top of the 911 section is a big box with tons of questions - I know its a hassle, but can you fill out as much as you can? That way we get a clearer picture of how your fish live, their maintenance and housing, as well as all the treatments you have tried so far.

I'll put your thread in the 911 section as well - dead fish and mounting diseases definetely qualify.

Bursting ulcers? I agree, that sounds bacterial. Ummm, do you have hollow decorations? Like statues, or things with holes in them? If the water doesn't got through the holes regularly, or if the statue (or something) is hollow and you don't know it, water can become stagnant and breed bacteria. Shamu23 has had to deal with dropsy and many other serious things, you should talk. Hope your fish get better!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for that!

- Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/ph levels are acceptable.
- Tank size - about 150 Litres, currently have 6 fish in there. There's a piece of driftwood - it's been there for over two years now. No vegetation because of lighting problems.
- Filter is home-made. The entire tank was a dad-hand-me-down-because-dad-doesn't-want-to-deal-with-it kinda thing. It uses microfibre and I change it regularly.
- Water change - at least once fortnightly, about 20-30%. I would like to change more water, but given the drought problem and water restrictions here (I'm an Ozzie) I also feel morally obliged not to use too much water. *sigh. I also clean the gravel.
- I use conditioning crystals when I change the water. No medications.
- New fish: yes, they caused all my problem.
- Food - stuff with spirulina (spell?) and occasionally mushed peas.
- Unusual findings - oh yeh, ulcers, white mucus, fraying fins, black streaks on fins/tails.
- Medication/methods tried: Wardley (fungus, bacterial treatment) - it's blue; salt baths; constant water change; iodine on the rotting and ulcers
- Any improvements? Nay.
- Death count: 4. I believe within the next week or so two more fish will be read their last rites. This would mean all the new fish dad bought were all sick. Poor guys. Oddly enough, my existing fish are all fine.

*******
Re. photos - doh! I tried them before and it worked on my home phone. I'll drum up something else.

Re. hospital tank - yeh I had a feeling it's too small. Are large plastic containers any good? I'm not sure if plastics are good for fish... (yeh I'm paranoid). I've only got one in there at any one time.

Re. hollows - apart from the driftwood, the circulation is pretty good. The filtration system is actually quite 'strong'. I haven't introduced anything into the tank for ages (2 years). Any other ideas for bacterial causes?

By-the-way how many fish is acceptable in my 150L tank?
*******

Cheers,
Alex

Hi me again.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lammo/

hopefully this would work!

Please let me know what to do! :*(

150 litres are 37.5 Us gallons, and a tank this size shouldn't hold more than 3 fish. So, I assume those 6 fish are the ones that are alive now, but you had a larger number in there, and hose died? How many were in the tank originally? and how many new fish were added?

I know its a bit of a hassle, but we really need actual numbers for the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH readings. Whatever seems "acceptable" for the average fish keeper, isn't neccessarily acceptable for goldfish. If you'd have tropicals in that tank, their needs would be much different than those of goldfish, simply because of their sheer difference in size. So, if you can, please have the water tested, and post the actual numbers here. That would give us a much clearer picture about what might be going on in your tank.


What my personal thoughts on this are - when you added those new fish, they not only might have brought something from the pet store with them, they also overloaded the beneficial bacteria in the filter. You see, whatever bacteria in the filters takes care of the current number of fish, that bacteria needs to multiply first if new fish are going into the tank. You can have a gigantic filter on a tank, but if there is only one fish in it, the number of beneficial bacteria will be low, since only one fish produces waste. If you would add another fish to that tank, you basically double the fish load, and the beneficial bacteria has to multiply first to accomodate that extra waste.
It is a common mistake that people think that the beneficial bacteria will always accumulate whatever media is in the filter - so, if there is a lot of it in the filter, there must be huge number of bacteria in it. While in a smaller filter with less media, there must be less bacteria, right? Wrong! Bacteria develops according to the number of fish in the tank - you need more bacteria with more fish, and less beneficial bacteria with less fish.

So, my guess here is that the fish experienced a double whammy - the beneficial bacteria couldn't catch up with the sudden rise in fish, and you had ammonia and/or nitrites in the tank for a bit, plus the parasites that the new fish brought in. All of that together caused major stress, and the fish got sick. Your fish didn't get sick (yet), because their immune system is much better, while the new fish's immune system is lower due to moving from their breeding farm to the store to your house, and running into different water conditions.

Unfortunately, it doesn't help that you are in Australia - there is a lot less medication available than here in the US, and you have to work with what you have.
Has anything in the surviving fish changed since you posted last, and what is the change? We'll go from there and see what plan we can come up with.