Beatiful Fish Wasting Away

[veggie4life]

hi there,

i rescued to beatiful baby goldfish from a pond that was drying up and kept them in a small tank for many months with great success however so they could reach their full potential i tohught it would be beneficial to transfer them into my tropical tank.

This went well and although the largest of the two lost two scales I presumed this was due to stress.

This larger fish has lost around 7 scales from the back end of his body and pinkish "skin" can be seen.

The fish does not seem distressed in any way and is swimming calmly with tisfins errect.

I am unsure what to do now and so turning to you for advice

 

[WILDER]

Goldfish are coldwater fish so don't do to well in tropical.
How many gallons is the tank, how many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia,nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
Where is the pinkish skin, is it a patch with a circling of dead skin around the edges.
Any red streaking in the fins.

 

[veggie4life]

hi there the pink areas seem to just be where about three of his scales should be it looks quite healthy with no evidence of dead skin. The surrounding scales look completly healthy I would guess the tank is around 5ft by 2 ft not to sure on how you work these things out. I'm afraid i wouldn't be able to tell you the water stats but i know in my area there is hard water ( sorry if im sounding dumber than a nat) the fins are completly fine looking very healthy

 

[Jozlyn]

You didn't answer all of Wilder's questions! She's a whiz with sick fish! The list of questions she gave you is VERY important, no one can help you until we know the answers. Please post the following:

Amonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Ph - If you don't have a test kit, take some water to your LFS and have them test it for you, write down the numbers they give you, if they don't give you numbers then ask for them, don't let them tell you that it's ok, get those numbers! As we need to know all four test results, or buy yourself a test kit as you should be testing these things at least monthly and preferably weekly before you do your weekly water change.

Temperature? Goldfish are cold water fish and do not do well in tropical tanks, what is the water temperature?

Other tank inhabitants? What other fish do you have in there and how many of each?

Photo - posting a photo of the sick fish also helps with diagnosis.

Tank volume in litres or gallons.

Filter - what type how many litres/gallons per hour does it filter?

Additives - what do you add to your tank? Dechlorinator, salt, etc

New fish - Apart from the goldfish have you recently added any other new fish?

Lots of questions, huh But these are the things that people need to know if they're to help you

 

[lilfishie]

Tank volume in litres or gallons.

or the measurements if you don't know. height, width, depth

 

[veggie4life]

hi there here is the info requested

Temperature? the temp is around 20 - 21*C

Other tank inhabitants? apart form the two goldfish there are three penguin fish, one pleco, 2 koolio loach and 2 2 fish smaller then the pensuins that look like giant danios but really are nto.

Photo - posting a photo of the sick fish also helps with diagnosis.

the tank is one meter 15 long 30cm back and 45 cm tall

Filter - i have a fluval 4 plus not to sure of its specs

Additives - i don't add anything to the tank after a previous bad experience!

New fish - There have been no new fish for quite some time as i intend to in the long long run convert the tank into a cold water set up

GREAT NEWS !! I just went over to the tak to take a photograph and the area seems to have healed !!!!

I'm not to sure why this is but i did carry a water change out earlier in the day

 

[WILDER]

You will need another fluval 4 with them goldfish massive waste producers, I had two fancy goldfish in a 40 gallons and had to have two filters running.
Take a sample of your tank water to the lfs and tell them to write the readings down for you.
So the marks have gone now.

 

[veggie4life]

Well after looking at them i can see the marks have not gone i think maybe because i looked at them before without the light it may have seemed asthough they wee better. As much as it pains me to do it Ive had to put the two fish into the much smaller tank as they never had any problems in there. I really want them to have the freedom of the big tank bt its a no win situation. I'd be happy to give away all the fish in the tropical if it meant i could put the goldfish in there but i dont think id be able to find homes for them s

Gosh this really is a tough decision ive just transferred the goldfish into the smaller tankand feel so damn mean.

I'd welcome any further advice

 

[WILDER]

If you add another filter they should be fine, the fluval 4 on its own just won't keep up with the goldfish.
I would add a bacterial med.

 

[veggie4life]

should i try and get them better in the small tank first? I've tried to put them in the big tank before and exactly the same thing happened

 

[WILDER]

The reason why is the filter not coping with all the fish, you need another fluval 4 to help with the load.
Small tank will soon get polluted with goldfish.

 

[veggie4life]

the fluvals don't seem to great even before the goldfish id clean the gravel and there would be lots of waste sucked up. Can you reccomend a different filter? I am going to keep the golfish in the smaller tank so i can closely moniter them and when they get better i will try to transfer them to the bigge tank i wont do it for a little while though because i can sense how stressfull the transition is.

 

[WILDER]

It won't remove the waste out of the gravel, thats why you do a gravel vac.
http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/listsecti...=322&rets=X
Might want to look into a cannister filter.

 

[veggie4life]

Thanks for all your help it really is appreciated!

I'm definatly going to look into getting another filter I was looking at those power ones that are quite big they take the water out of the tank filter it and then return it not sure if thats a good description lol!

Will keep you updated on how the fish get on

 

[WILDER]

I would invest in one goldfish need excellent filters, the problem is with goldfish they produce alot of waste thats why you have to get a filter twice the size of the tank in gallons.