Goldfish Tumor?  11/19/08 Last week I noticed a scale on my goldfish starting to stick out. I was away for a long weekend and when I returned, there was a red lump under the scale. Photos 1 & 2. This morning when I got up there was white stuff coming from the lump. Photos 3 - 6 I have not seen any of the fish eating at it, yet. <Hmm... tumours do not normally "explode" like this. So while I cannot say whether the lump itself was caused by a tumour (certainly possible) the physical damage is surely caused by a secondary infection, quite possibly aggravated by interactions between fishes. I'm particularly concerned about the Plec. These catfish are know, albeit infrequently, to latch onto slow-moving fish with these types of wounds. To these opportunistic catfish, a bleeding sore is just another source of protein...> These are established fish and I have not introduced any new fish in probably over a year. That would be the Plecostomus. The fish are about 4 - 5 yrs old and live in a 20 gal tank. 4 Goldfish (from a fair game) and one older Oranda. Do you have any info on what this might be? <My gut feeling is that this an ulcer rather than a tumour, and as such treatment will involve optimising water quality (zero ammonia, zero nitrite) and treating with a suitable, clinically-tested antibiotic or antibacterial (as opposed to stuff like Melafix or salt, which are of questionable usefulness). I'd also recommend removing the catfish, at least until the Goldfish is healthy again. Provided my diagnosis is the right one, and you treat promptly, I'd expect a full recovery.> Thank you! Bev C <Cheers, Neale.>

My goldfish recently developed a yellowish stained color around the head and mouth as well as the base of the fins.   11/14/08 <Assume Finrot and/or Fungus and/or Mouth Fungus (this latter actually a bacterial infection called Columnaris). Treat with a suitable medication. Here in Europe I recommend eSHa 2000, but in the US you might want to use something like Maracyn. What you don't want to waste your time with is salt, Melafix, or any of those vague medications sold as "tonics".> Now I've tried to Google this even in Google images. Maybe tomorrow I'm going to try WebCrawler and Askjeeves, or maybe a library. Anyway the closest thing I've read about on this condition is velvet which involves a parasite. Now I guess that's possible but there are no bumps, it's just a yellowish stain. I'll get more into the details in a moment, allow me to verbose on my tank. Now my tank is a 20 gal that I use a full spectrum fluorescent aquarium light with. <Twenty gallons is really much too small for Goldfish. Contrary to what you might imagine, Goldfish don't do well in small tanks -- most Goldfish kept in bowls for example die very quickly! Always remember Goldfish are pond fish, bred for ponds and happiest in ponds. If you keep them indoors, you need to give them SPACE. Most of us here at WWM would recommend a minimum tank size of 30 gallons, and that's based on hard-earned experience!> So I can see colors fairly well. I have one angel Koi and one other goldfish as well as 3 fancy male guppies. My Koi and other Goldfish are about 3"-5." (It's hard to accurately measure length without actually pulling them out of the tank, and I don't feel it's that important to resort to pulling them out of the water.) My oddly colored goldfish is about 2"-4" and it's one of those feeders, and despite that it is a tough little fish. <Koi tend not to do well indoors, and in any case will eventually need a really big aquarium. We're talking 55 gallons upwards, minimum. Even allowing for the fact Koi stunt readily when kept indoors, they are still big, messy, but surprisingly delicate fish.> I brought it on a couple road trips while it was still within an inch and a half, one that lasted more then a couple days, and it survived pretty well, but that was almost a year ago. Anyhow about a month ago I changed them from a 10 gal to a 20 gal. I added some ghost shrimp back then as well in a special protective net. However I kept the ghost shrimp in a separate tank for about a week. I also added some plants I also kept in separate tank for about a week or so. My fish have since destroyed any resemblance that they were plants that were healthy and with leaves. I have some very destructive fish. <No, you have herbivorous fish. Goldfish and Koi eat plants. It's what they should be eating. Healthy fish are fed plants much more than pellets! http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm By all means keep adding Elodea, Cabomba or whatever is cheap in your neighbourhood. The Goldfish and Koi will eat these, and if you add flake/pellets every 2-3 days instead of daily, you will have very healthy fish.> I have removed most of the plant material except maybe a stick I missed. The reason I kept them in a separate tank for about a week is because I had a battle with Ich on my Koi that just wouldn't go away. I used Ick-away, quick-cure, Aquari-sol, and then when none of that seemed to work, I hyper salinated the water to about 1 tbsp per gallon for about a month give or take. But nothing worked. <I suspect there's a bunch of things going on here. For a start, many aquarists are unaware they need to remove carbon from the filter before using medication. If you have carbon in the filter, you can add as much medication as you want, and the fish still won't get better. The carbon absorbs organic chemicals of all sorts, including medication. Next up, you're randomly adding stuff I suspect without first checking what the problem is. Whitespot/Ick follows the introduction of new fish. Once you've broken the cycle of infection in the aquarium, it should never return unless to add new fish (or somehow carry water from an infected tank into this tank, e.g., by sharing nets or buckets). If your fish keep getting sick, it's much more likely there's something wrong with the environment. That's why we insist people do a pH test and a nitrite test before anything else. Goldfish will not tolerate acidic pH levels, and must have hard, basic water conditions to do well. Salt, by the way, doesn't raise pH or help in the least. Goldfish are messy fish, and while hardy up to a point, prolonged exposure to ammonia and nitrite will stress them, and eventually kill them. Before they die, they commonly suffer from things like Finrot. It's critical you sit back and read over water chemistry and water quality.> Now because this Ick seemed to affect the Koi more then the goldfish I just moved them all including the guppies to a hospital tank. And then when it seemed the goldfish weren't having anymore troubles I moved them back while I left the Koi in the hospital tank. The reason I knew the Koi still had Ich was because of the tail fin. It had little bumps that wouldn't go away at the bottom and top of the tail fin And some larger bumps that would form and disappear from time to time. <I'm fairly sure what you're describing is Finrot. What happens is the bacteria cause blockages in the blood vessels (turning pink), these swell up, tissue dies (the white lumps) and then the fin membrane around that area dies.> Eventually I just bought some nail care scissors and alcohol to disinfect the scissors before cutting, and cut off the part of the fin with the bumps. <No no no! Put the darn scissors down! Unless you're a vet or a surgeon, you have no business doing this...> I used malachite green from the Ick away as the bacteriostatic to help in covering the wound from any infectious bacteria, and it's a good thing I did it then. Because afterwards I noticed a big red ball of a bump had just started to protrude outside of the skin on the bottom part of the tailfin I cut. <You likely made things worse, and in any case, now I'm 100% sure we're dealing with Finrot.> It seemed to work because no more bumps ever formed as of yet. But I do notice that sometimes the Koi will still brush up against the bottom of the tank. And will dart around every now and again when he's not looking for food among the pebbles. <Classic signs of stress from ammonia, pH instability...> And next is where it may pertain to my goldfish. Sometimes I wonder if what my Koi really had wasn't a case of velvet and Ick because most of the bumps were really small, and maybe had a light yellow tint to them at times. I just thought I'd throw that at you so you could consider it. And the bumps that I was sure were Ick usually where random and at different locations around the fins of my Koi and Goldfish, and the bumps were white, and a little bigger then the bumps on my Koi's tail fin and were much more well defined like speckles of salt they say Ick compares too. There haven't been any such bumps, small or well defined like salt that I've noticed since. But I haven't been checking lately very much which is why one of my goldfish got this yellowish stain all around his mouth and head and at the base of his fins, and maybe even a little down the belly before I noticed and changed the water. Oh one other issue my Koi hasn't got over yet is a splitting of the bottom, I think it's called, pelvic fins. I assume this is fin rot brought on by the stress of being in a 2 gallon hospital tank. <The Finrot is a bacterial infection, almost always caused by poor water quality. For gosh sakes, grab a nitrite or ammonia test kit and check your water quality!> But the fins haven't receded any or gotten any worse that I've noticed since I put him into the 20 gallon tank. His dorsal fin has a reddish tip and that happened I think during the hospital tank stay due to staying under the filter. I think he must have caught his fin in the propeller or something. But it doesn't seem to be getting worse. If I have to treat, I've already bought Melafix. One last thing I now use a salt concentration of 4tbsp's per 10 gallons. I do this to discourage infection and any Ick that may still be presently safe within the gills of my fish. <Melafix is garbage. Adding salt to the aquarium will do nothing if water quality is chronically bad. Almost certainly, the issue here isn't "disease" as such, but the fact the aquarium is unhealthy, dangerous even. Your job is to [a] check how bad the water quality is; and [b] understand why water quality is bad. Even without seeing your aquarium I can make some predications: It's overstocked, you're overfeeding the fish, and you filter isn't adequate. Goldfish need, at minimum, a 30 gallon tank with a filter rated at 6 times the volume in turnover per hour. If you have a 30 gallon tank, then the filter should be rated at 6 x 30 = 180 gallons per hour. This is non-negotiable. On top of that, you should be doing 25-50% weekly water changes, keeping pH levels constant. There's no need to add salt, but if the water is soft in your area (below 10 degrees dH general hardness) then hardening the water will be important. We can talk about that another time, if necessary. Koi are EVEN MORE fussy than Goldfish, so everything said here for Goldfish holds for them, except the tank should be at least twice as big. In any even, the ammonia has to be zero, the nitrite zero, and the pH around 7.5-8.0.> I also do this because I read somewhere that goldfish are naturally a brackish water fish. <No, they're not. They're freshwater fish. Wild (feral) Goldfish do indeed have some tolerance for brackish water, as do wild carp, but YOU DO NOT need to add salt to a Goldfish or Koi aquarium. Sometimes vets and aquarists will use salt to treat very specific conditions or diseases. But in general, leave the salt in the kitchen, not in your aquarium!> Now I don't know if that's true, but I'm sure that goldfish are more accustomed to salt in water then other freshwater fish. Now as for my yellowish goldfish I really think the reason my fish developed this is because I didn't change the water for like a month. <!!!!!> And even the water had a yellowish color to it for like a week give or take. And yes I tested the water about 2-3 weeks or so before I changed it and the nitrates were in the caution zone. Ammonia is usually always within the caution zone, almost never in the completely safe zone. <Let's be clear, there's no "caution" zone. There's SAFE, which is ZERO, and there's DANGEROUS, which is anything NOT ZERO. If you have ammonia in the water all the time, then your tank is overstocked, the fish overfed, and/or the filter under-powered. Possibly all three problems at once!> The nitrites are almost always non-existent, and the nitrates are usually in the caution zone as well.. So I'm bad I know, but my main concern is what could it be? <Have said above.> And yes, whenever I use tap water, I use AquaSafe water conditioner. And it says it's made for fresh and marine water. I know water conditions may have caused it, and for that I feel bad, but I'd really like to know if it's cause for concern, or should keeping clean water take care of it? Now as for how he's acting, he's pretty much himself, likes to eat, ravages the ghost shrimp net. Here's some more information I forgot to mention while explaining my tank. I have a couple fake plants. One of them is growing some sort of greenish fuzz on the flower parts, and my fish with the yellowish stain seems to love to eat it. Except for the guppies, the other fish don't eat this fuzz as far as I can tell. Do you think my fish could be eating too much of this fuzz that maybe he's getting too much of something the growth produces that's not good in large amounts for fish to consume? <The "fuzz" is either algae, if green, or bacteria, if grey and slimy, or fungus, if off-white and cotton-like. Not dangerous in themselves. But bacteria and fungi in large amounts do imply a "dirty" aquarium. Blue-green algae (which can also be red or black, not just blue/green) is another "danger sign". It has a distinctive musty smell and a slimy texture. It implies dirty water AND poor water circulation.> (Keep in mind no other fish seems to have this yellowish development.) As he swims he seems slightly less stable then usual in the water. I mean he still swims rather healthy and goes for food when I feed them, he just seems slightly less stable then usual, but only slightly. The other fish, including the guppies seem just fine, and slightly more stable against the currents made by the air pump and the filter. Well sorry I gave you so much useless information, the second paragraph really states the issues, but the first gives you a little background. Oh I have carbon filters, and when I was treating my fish for Ick, except for when I used exclusively salt, I cut open my filters and shook out as much carbon as I possibly could reach. I think I got it all except for the carbon dust stains that wouldn't come out even under rinse. Sincerely, John <John, you have your work cut out for you. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/goldfish101art.htm Good luck, Neale.>

Dead Fantail Goldfish  11/14/08 Hey!!! You guys have helped me out a bunch over the years... but I've looked everywhere and I can't seem to find the answer I need this time... I have 3 6-7 inch Fantail Goldfish in a 30 gallon tank (they are a bit overcrowded but I do frequent water changes and check levels often) I have had them for years and I love them all... the oldest is around 6 years old... But recently my 5 year old calico died (he did have a growth over one eye a local pet store told me to catch him and cut it off with sharp scissors but I just couldn't stomach it), I was horrified after he died... and did a small water change and checked all levels which where normal... then 4 days later I fed the 2 surviving fish walked away came back maybe 30 minutes later and my smaller red and white had died... Again nothing was wrong with the levels... The heater sits at around 75 (warm for goldfish but I have a Pleco in there that doesn't respond well to the cold) I am worried about my remaining gold fish as she is the oldest and I just set up a 55 gallon to transfer her to, She has been acting normal and eating normal (usually stick to flake food but supplement with peas, frozen krill, and freeze dried Tubifex worms) but is there anything I can do to help her out? there are absolutely no symptoms but I can't figure out how 2 fish can die in a matter of days under normal water conditions? Any advice to keep her healthy until my new tank is established... This might sound dorky but I don't want her to be lonely... should I purchase another fish before I make the switch to the bigger tank? Add more stress coat? HELP! Thanks! Meg <Hello Meg. Keeping fancy Goldfish at 75 F/24 C does them no harm at all, so don't worry about that. Apart from optimising living conditions in terms of filtration and water changes, I think the best thing you could do is review diet. Goldfish are herbivores, and in captivity we tend to massively overfeed them, and with the wrong foods at that! Goldfish do best if most of their diet is green. Things like tinned peas and cheap aquarium plants (like pondweed) are the way to go. Use pellets and flake just a couple times per week. Unlike warm blooded animals, fish don't need to constantly burn calories, so the art of feeding fish properly is to ensure that other aspects of their diet, like fibre and vitamins, are taken care of. There's an excellent article on this issue, here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm Goldfish should easily live 10+ years, so the loss of your fish is somewhat unusual and worth investigating. Plecs have sometimes been blamed for damage to Goldfish: supposedly they latch onto the Goldfish and scrape at its mucous. Whether this is true or not is difficult to say, but if it happens, there will be obvious red sores on the flanks long before things become life threatening. I'd also review water chemistry. Goldfish like hard water, and you should maintain them at around 10+ degrees dH, and a pH around 7.5. For what it's worth, moving fish to a bigger tank with a mature filter is ALWAYS a good idea, though a singleton in a 30 gallon tank should be fine. Whether Goldfish get "lonely" is difficult to say in the human sense of the word, but yes, they are happier and more active with company of their own kind. It's best to choose broadly similar varieties to avoid bullying. Fantails get along well with Moors and Ryukins get along great with Fantails. Products like "Stress Coat" do no harm, but likely don't do a lot of good in most situations either. They make sense when people are handling fish and the mucous on the fish's body gets lost, but as a random additive to the aquarium? I'm skeptical. Cheers, Neale.>

Goldfish Parasite 11/07/08 Hello crew. Recently I looked at my goldfish and noticed sort of a white thing sticking out of his skin. It looks sort of like a pimple. I researched, but I could not find a picture that looked like the parasite on my fish. Can it be some type of anchor worm? Are there many different species, because this parasite does not look exactly like the pictures online. For example, it does not have a forked tail. What should I do? Pull it off? In the meantime, I dosed the tank with a 0.3% concentration of salt. Hopefully it will kill the parasite. Thanks. <Greetings. Anchor worms are very distinctive, and obviously look like small black anchors stuck to the body of the fish. They're pretty uncommon in aquaria, and are more of a pond thing. Anyway, fish can get "pimples" for all kinds of reasons. Goldfish have spawning tubercles on the face when sexually mature, and many aquarists mistake these for parasites. Small wounds cause by rough objects in the tank or careless handling can develop into little blisters. These usually go away by themselves, but treating for Finrot/Fungus proactively isn't a bad idea. Whitespot and Velvet both form white cysts on the skin. Dead skin looks like white fragments; Finrot looks similar but with red inflammation, while Fungus looks like white cotton threads. There are also things called Fish Lice (Argulus) that may be observed as round, off-white parasites on the skin. These are also a pond rather than aquarium problem most of the time. In other words, without a better description or a sharp photograph, we can't diagnose the problem. I've listed the more probable explanations here: now spend some time researching each of them to diagnose the problem yourself. Cheers, Neale.>

Hiya I have a question (FW/goldfish health/husbandry) 11/5/08 Hi I've had these 3 goldfish for about 2-3 years and lately they have been getting really skinny and we've fed them the right amount but 1 is really fat anyway the other day thins 2 inch long little red thing stuck out of the big 1 but then a few minutes later went back in and also in 1 of the skinny 1's this little white stringy stuff came out??? what's happening to my fish can u tell me????? thanks!!! <Gemma, when fish produce long feces that usually indicates constipation. Goldfish are herbivores, and lots of people make the mistake of feeding them "goldfish food". While fine a few times a week, mostly Goldfish should be fed green foods: cheap aquarium plants like Elodea, tinned peas, Sushi Nori, etc. There's plenty about this issue here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm If you see red worms emerging from the anus, but not normally (though perhaps sometimes) being expelled, then you might be dealing with Camallanus worms. In severe infections these will cause rapid weight loss. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/nematodesfwf.htm These are normally treated with Levamisole, which depending on where you live will be obtained from a vet or a pet store. Consult with your local retailer. Note that "general" parasite cures will have no effect at all on these worms. Otherwise the prime causes of Goldfish ill health come from poor environmental conditions. You haven't said anything here about the size of the tank, water quality, or water chemistry. Just to recap, three Goldfish need a tank around 30 gallons in size (110 l) containing hard, basic water (10+ degrees dH, pH 7.5-8). A filter is not optional; preferably you would be using an filter offering turnover at least 4, and ideally 6, times the volume of the tank per hour. In other words, if the tank is 30 gallons in size, you'd use a filter at minimum rated at 4 x 30 = 120 gallons per hour. The gallons per hour (gph) turnover rating will be printed on the filter itself or its packaging (sometimes its in litres per hour, LPH). http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/goldfish101art.htm If you aren't doing all of these things, then that is almost certainly the problem. One last thing. E-mails with bad grammar and spelling and that god-awful "text speak" usually get bounced right back to the sender, unanswered. I'm a nice guy having a good day, so I've replied. Next time around, do us the courtesy of following the "house rules" and checking your messages conforms to the standards we ASK FOR precisely where you got the e-mail address http://www.wetwebmedia.com/WWMAdminSubWebIndex/question_page.htm Badly written messages aren't much use on the web site because they're difficult to read and Google can't index them properly. If Google can't index them, they don't attract readers to the site, so our advertisers can't pay our bills. It's a simple deal: you help us, and we'll help you. Thanks for your co-operation next time around. Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Help!?, Goldfish hlth.  11/17/2008 I emailed you a few days ago about my two goldfish who had died and the last remaining one (Goldie a 6 year old fantail) in a 36 gallon tank ... When I last talked to you there were no major symptoms in Goldie... she was just lying at the bottom of the tank and acting kind of lost (lack of better words) I honestly thought she was just lonely, there was also a 8 inch Pleco in there which I have moved to my 55 gallon. Now goldies fins are becoming very frayed... <Mmm, the Pleco...> she had beautiful full fins for the longest time, and her scales are turning white and it looks like chemical burns like the edges are almost turning loose (?? I've never seen anything like it and I've researched it for countless hours before emailing you) and the water is cloudy, like someone poured milk in my tank (no one did but that's what it looks like) I took water to my LFS and once again everything was "okay" Ammonia was? little high? <Should be zip, nada... but likely the stress of the lost fish, the current one being "ridden" by the Catfish...> but everything else was normal. I always add aquarium salt with my water changes as a general stress reliever... I believe it's a teaspoon per 5 gallons and I keep the aquarium at 75 degrees.? It's not Ick or fin rot, I have no idea what to do... she is now alone in her tank and I am doing daily 2 gallon water changes trying to help her out. I know the Pleco could get a little aggressive if he didn't get enough zucchini but I don't think he could have caused this problem. Thank you so much for your help! I really don't want to loose goldie! she's part of the family! <Likely environmental... best to monitor, do what you can to remove ammonia... Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwammf3.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Food and health problem  11/07/08 Hello dear Neale, How are you? Hope so you will be fine there. Neale my two red caps are eating the live plant but my black moor is not eating that live plant (Cabomba). What should I do now? Neale I have 2 feet aquarium of 22 gallon and in which my one red cap is 3.2 inch and one is 4 inch and black moor is 3 inch. I want to ask that can I introduce one or two more goldfish with them or not? I feel that my tank is empty with three of them. Thank you Ali <Hi Ali. Leave the Black Moor hungry! He will eat the plants eventually!  Also try cooked peas, rice, boiled spinach and other plant foods. He'll eat something from that list, I'm sure. I would not add any more Goldfish to your tank. For a start, you've already had problems over the recent weeks with fish. So it is ALWAYS a good idea to leave the tank running for a couple of months to see if everything is OK. Also, your SMALL fish will soon be BIG fish, and better to have 3 happy, healthy Goldfish than 4 or 5 unhealthy ones! Cheers, Neale.>

Re: Food and health problem 11/08/08 Hello dear Neale, Thank you for your reply, I will leave the black moor hungry now I would not give them flake food. I will not introduce any other fish to my aquarium now.  When ever I gave them cooked peas black moor feel very difficulty to find them. Neale can guide me that what is dropsy and swim bladder? and what are there reasons? Because I feel that most the fish that I have lost just because of them. Thank You Ali <Ali, Black Moors can have difficulty finding food when sharing a tank with other, faster Goldfish species. That is why usually people do not mix "regular" Goldfish (varieties with normal, single tails) and fancy Goldfish (varieties with double, "fan" tails). As for Dropsy and Swim Bladder Disease, both are usually symptoms of underlying problems. Dropsy is nothing less than organ failure, and usually comes from poor environmental conditions. Swim Bladder Disease in Goldfish is usually not a "disease" as such, but a symptom of constipation and poor diet. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dropsyfaqs.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/gldfshmalnut.htm Cheers, Neale.>
Re: health problem, Goldfish, "bloat"   11/17/08
Hello bob,
<Ali>
Thank you for informing me about Neale, but I am really worried about my black moor so if u can help me regarding my problem that my black moors scales are appearing and its acting very slow I think that its facing the constipation problem. What should I do now?
<I take it your water quality checks out, is okay... even so, in such circumstances, it's a good idea to do a good sized percentage water change... and...>
How can I help my black moor? Water condition is up to the mark. Please guide me.
Thank you
ALI ZAHEER
<Have you read re the use of Epsom salt? Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/saltusefaqs.htm
Bob Fenner>
Re: health problem, GF   11/18/08
Hello dear Bob,
<Ali>
Thank you so much for your time and thank you for your help. I will change the half of water now and will also read the article which you have mentioned.
Thank You
Ali Zaheer
<Welcome my friend. BobF>

What happened to my Goldfish? 11/2/08 Hi, You guys seem like the most knowledgeable people on the Web. <So they say...> I hope you can offer some advise. I have a 2 yr. common goldfish (clouse) in a 20 gal tank all by himself. <Social fish... they like/need at least a friend of their own species.> He/ she is about 5 in long and has started to lose 8 scales and is skittish now. <Could be multiple things. Goldfish sometimes lose their scales for no particular reason. But usually if they lose scales in batches, then that does tend to mean something's up. Review in particular water quality and water chemistry. Skittishness in fish is often associated with changes in water quality and water chemistry as well, particular rapid pH changes and ammonia/nitrite spikes.> He is swimming more vertically (head up) and is teetering in the water. He is to bumping/ running into the sides of his tank too. Its like he is not seeing correctly. His eyes are clear, no fin problems. His water has 0 ammonia, 40 nitrate. <Hmm... something isn't right here. Check the pH is stable and check the filter is working properly. Do your ammonia tests two or three times across the day to see if there are changes between feeding times.> I put a Cory catfish in with the goldfish 2 months ago and the goldfish tried eating thecorycat but the Corry got stuck--for hours! <Goldfish aren't really predatory, and generally mix well with Corydoras too large to swallow whole. I think you made a bad choice here in terms of putting into the tank a catfish that was too small.> We tried pulling the catfish out of his mouth, but the catfishes tail came off. But right after the tug of war match- clouse spit the catfish out. The both seemed fine minus a missing barbell and fin from the catfish. They are separated now, and the catfish is perfectly healthy. <Close call...> what is wrong with clouse the goldfish? <Likely environmental more than anything else, so review conditions in the tank.> Why is his balance off and his scales falling off? <Best guess, something environmental.> Could the trauma and stinger have damaged the goldfish? <Corydoras may have venomous dorsal spines, but the toxin will wear off within days, so if the Goldfish is fine now, I doubt the two things are related.> Could there be a stinger in the goldfish? <No.> any suggestions would be great, this fish is my baby. I love him very much. <Do read: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/goldfish101art.htm > Thanks Jen <Cheers, Neale.>
Re: What happened to my Goldfish?  11/5/08 Hi Neale <Hello!> I have been doing water changes (12 gal total) and ph is 7.6 or 7.8 ammonia 0, Nitrite is 0, but the nitrates are 40 or 60. <That all sounds fine, but something is clearly wrong...> I put some erythromycin in the 20 gal tank and he is violent. <"Violent"? What do you mean? He thrashes about? If used correctly, this medication shouldn't have any stressful effects on your fish.> So I did 4 gal water change and put his carbon back in and added some cycle. He looks like he is doing acrobatics in the tank. And then he get really violent, he hit the hood!! He's going to kill himself. <I find it hard to believe the Maracyn did this if used as directed. Quite possibly something else. Carbon will of course remove medication from water. Do 50% water changes when finishing one course of medication and before starting another. Do no water changes during courses of treatment (i.e., if you add 3 doses of medication across a week to complete one course, don't do a water change until the day after the last dose). Do understand that the product Cycle does virtually nothing, and is pretty well a waste of money on tanks that have been established more than a few weeks. Sure, the shop will sell you the stuff, but that doesn't mean much. Think for a moment about the science and all will be clear.> Its really scary to watch when he does this. His gills are red and kinda sticking out, and his head is pointing down most of the time and his eyes look a bit buggy. <Sounds much more like a systemic bacterial infection caused by water quality issues, perhaps poisoning (e.g., cigarette smoke, cooking fumes, bug spray, paint fumes). Unfortunately only an antibiotic or antibacterial will have any helpful effect if this is the case, and if the fish is poisoned, then time is the great cure, if the fish is going to recover at all. But red gills typically imply poisoning or poor water quality or unstable pH; swollen eyes usually mean systemic bacterial infections, invariably so if both eyes are swollen.> He is on the bottom of the tank mostly breathing heavily. Then he starts swimming slowly cruising around the tank like normal. Just a little wobbly and slow. He is still interested in his food (peas) but has trouble pinpointing it. <Stop feeding until he is healthy. He can go weeks without food, and if water quality is poor, not putting food in the system will help significantly.> I don't know what to do. Start medicine again, <Yes.> salt dip?? flukes?? <No and no.> All together since the 3rd I have changed 12 gal of water. I am at a loss, and am probably changing to may things. Help Jen ? ? <Cheers, Neale.> 

Pink Goldfish Stool 10/27/08 HELP, my fishes poop is turning pink!!!!! Please help me, I am so worried about my fish, she's the newest addition to pond, and I love her o so very much. She is a comet, and I'm very worried. I don't know what could turn her poop pink, and gooey, but it's scaring me. Please, if you could help me it would be so greatly appreciated. Please help, from Katie <What you describe does not sound abnormal, depending on what you are feeding. The stool can often take on the coloring in food. See http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/GoldfishPoop.html  for more information. Scott V.>

sad state of affairs. Goldfish env. hlth., reading   10/22/08 We are newbies that "inherited" a tank from my husband's school, a 55-gallon with two fish - a Pearlscale Oranda and a moor, both about 5 inches with tails, with Eclipse bio-wheel filter, fizzy air bubbler. <Mmm, I'd add filtration here> The tank had been set up for 10 months and running fine with happy fish when we got it. The Oranda had always had a funny swim move - he has always been very golf-ball-like and we figured it was due to his awkward shape. We moved it (with most of the water) into our home. No problems with 25% water changes, manual scrub and gravel vacuum every week. Stable for a couple of months. <So far, so good> Then poor water quality (our fault) resulted in trouble with Oranda after that. After our summer away, the tank was dirty. He got 2 little specks (not Ick) on his hood that appeared and started "flashing" - his funny swim move only faster and not as cute. The specks grew into cones with a thread tapered end, and then would disappear after some maintenance -- extra water change, etc. <Yes... environmental in origin> This happened a few times over a couple of months, with the spots disappearing... and then we woke up to him with a very long trailing one, fish sitting on the bottom of the tank looking sad. He got better from that one too, but never fully, then he got more of them on his hood and started to flash all the time. That was less than a week ago and things have gotten worse pretty quickly. The moor showed faint fuzzies on his mouth, they both stopped moving and stayed on the bottom. Oranda is worse off than the moor, has bloody streaks showing on his white parts (near tail), and has v. laboured breathing. We added an extra air bubbler to help out, no use. Then moor showed the same white things but tiny and along his back, sides. <Need more filtration...> We stopped feeding, took out the carbon and added antibiotics <... don't need this> (500mg every 24 hrs the first 2 doses, every 12 hrs for 2nd 2 doses). No change. Which brings us to today. The Oranda is looking sad, sad. Has trouble righting himself, fins are getting ragged, gills are reddish and pretty clamped with hard breathing. Gasps shallowly. Has trailers on his hood, is looking slimy and has a loose fin near his tail. Moor is pretty still with tiny dots that come and go - more than once today! Fed a teeny bit and moor responded. <Mmm, and what exactly are you feeding?> I know all the good bacteria in there is gone now too, from the antibiotics. <Mmm, not necessarily... depends on type, protocol used...> I was feeling desperate though and treated with a first dose of sulpha drugs... <...? Please stop> maybe the wrong thing to do? <Yes> I watched them for a long time when I noticed the possible nail in the coffin. The Oranda has a large piece of gravel stuck in its mouth - never been a problem before, but in his weakened state he just can't spit it out. I put him in a big bowl so I could hold him and try to get it out. I've never held a goldfish before and didn't know what the hell I was doing. <You're learning> Anyhow, the gravel is still in there and its probably the end for him. What is this disease? <"Poor water quality"> I know from reading your site that it is from poor/unstable conditions... <Bingo!> was the disease still there even though we didn't always see symptoms of it? Can these fish recover or should we give up? <Not a disease as in a pathogenic derivation... Can indeed recover... with improved conditions> Thanks for your time, I am loving your site and am spurred to become a more conscientious aquarist. Starting with a water test kit... <Yay! Do add another power filter... either a hang-on or canister variety here... And some activated carbon... "Step up" your water changing regimen... and above all, read: http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwlivestkindex.htm scroll down to the tray on Goldfish... Systems... Bob Fenner>

help (Goldfish; diet, health)  10/23/08
Hello,
<Hello,>
Dear Neale, I hope you will be fine.
<Thanks for asking!>
Neale I tried hard to find live plants which you mentioned 'Anacharis'
<Also called Elodea and Egeria; another genus, Lagarosiphon is very similar.>
but I could not find them. Neale Cabomba is available so I want your help that should I introduce Cabomba in my aquarium? Will my goldfish eat it or not?
<Yes and yes.>
Now I have 2 red caps, one black moor and 1 Ryukin in 22 gallon they all are of 2 to 3 inch. After every week I change more than half of the water. But Neale I am very much upset that
my 2 red caps goldfish have red streaks in their tail and I think this is fin rot; I am treating them from very long period. Some time I have noticed that their fin rot seems to be cured but some time their fins become full of red lines. Today I have notice the same that my one of red cap have very strong red line starting from the end of its tails. I don't know what is that but I am very much worried about that please help me.
<Does sound like Finrot. But some Goldfish have red streaks in their fins. So would need to be careful. Finrot is an inflammation; the fin tissue goes pink around the blood blockage, and eventually the fin membrane dissolves. Simple red colouration does not look like this.>
Thank you,
Ali
<If Finrot, not much to do beyond [a] treat with a Finrot medication; and [b] check water quality is good. Your fish are still small, but they will grow BIG, and water quality will become an issue, even if it is not one now. Cheers, Neale.>
Re: help (Goldfish; diet, health)  -10/25/08 Hello, <Hello!> Dear Neale, I hope you will be fine there. Neale I have introduce the Cabomba in my aquarium. Neale I want your help that should I feed them flakes food or blood warms. If yes then please guide me that what should be the routine to feed them with flakes food now? <If they have plants to eat, your Goldfish only need flake every 2 or 3 days.> Secondly what ideal temperature of live plant like Cabomba should be maintained? <Doesn't matter much; 15-30 degrees C is fine. The plants will be eaten by the Goldfish before anything else happens!> Neale I am trying to keep my aquarium water quality in a very good condition as my one red cap is showing the sign of fin rot. Neale I have studied in a book that 'Alternatively the use of Methylene Blue too can be used for fin rot. <Yes, Methylene Blue can be used. However, it is known to harm filter bacteria when over-dosed. So be careful! Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/methblueart.htm> 1 Drop per 2 gallons of aquarium water is the choice. While treating with Methylene Blue, a 50% water change every other day for a week is recommended, the main reason being, as mentioned before, clean water is essential and helps with the healing. When using Methylene Blue be sure not spill any as it stains', so should do this process for a week. And what does that mean 'be sure not spill any as it stains'? <Methylene Blue stains wood, fabric, etc. It is difficult (probably impossible) to remove. So be careful not to spill any!> Thank you Ali <You're welcome, Neale.>

Re: help (Goldfish; diet, health)  10/25/08
Hello,
Dear Neal,
Thank you so much that you replied very soon. I will buy that live plant (Cabomba) and now a days I am trying to increase the water quality. So that I could get rid or fin rot. Thank You
Ali
<Hello again! Glad you're able to buy some plants for your Goldfish, and do try to keep water quality good. Good luck, Neale.>

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