Fancy Goldfish Moving Weakly And Possible Fungus. Please Help!

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GoggleHat

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Nov 2, 2015
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Location
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Tank parameters:
35 gallons
PH - 6.0
Ammonia - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10-20 ppm

I have a ranchu that I've owned for only half a year. It is about 4-5 inches and a total sweetheart. But the poor thing isn't doing well at all. He's managing to eat and poop, but he gets so weak that he's been stuck to the filter tube twice now.

He has somewhat frayed edges to his fins and I noticed a few tiny white bits along his face, I'm not sure if they're fugus or dead skin. I tried two doses of Furan 2 when I though it might be fin rot, but as my fish doesn't have and white fungus or anything along his tail, I stopped, changed 50% of the water, let it filter for about a day, then switched to General Cure.

I don't know what I can do to help him now. To keep him safe, I put him in a breeder box, so he won't get stuck back on the filter.

If you need photos, I can provide them, but it's really difficult to show his condition on camera due to his calico colors. But I've been looking everywhere for help, I really need to know what to do!
 
If you can try posting some pics I’ll be glad to see if I can help. Is he the only thing in the tank? What temp is the water at? How often are you cleaning the tank and doing water changes? What type and size is the filter? Goldfish normally have no issues with filter intakes. The fish is either too weak or the filter is too strong. You can put a piece of panty hose over the intake to help prevent him from getting sucked in. I really need pics to be able to help any further.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

The first thing to do if a fish ever gets sick or looks off colour is a big 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the problem has been identified. Most fish health issues are caused by something in the water and a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate will usually fix the problem.

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Your pH is too low for goldfish. They need a pH above 7.0. Check your tap water and find out what the pH is. If your tap water has a pH below 7.0 you will need to add some limestone to the tank or a bag of shells to the filter.

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Furan 2 is an anti-biotic that will have killed the beneficial filter bacteria and that is probably why you have a slight ammonia reading. It's highly probable your tank will have to cycle (develop the filter bacteria) again. This could take a few weeks to a month and you should reduce feeding and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading.

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Fin Rot is caused by poor water quality or incorrect water chemistry for the fish. In water with a low pH, the goldfish's skin and fins get damaged by the acidic water and this allows bacteria to get into the damaged areas. Bacterial infections in fish appears as red inflamed areas and red lines in the fins.

Big daily water changes are the best remedy for Fin Rot.

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Fish have a thin mucous coating over their body and fins. If something in the water (ammonia, nitrite, low pH, protozoan infections, etc) irritates the fish, they produce more mucous around the irritated areas. This appears as cream, or white patching on the body and cream or white edging to the fins.

Big daily water changes are the quickest way to fix most issue that cause excess mucous on fish.

If there is a protozoan infection the fish will generally rub on objects in the tank to alleviate the irritation.

------------------------
It's always a good idea to post pictures with the original post asking for help. A picture tells a thousand words :)

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At this stage I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Stop using medications.

Increase the pH with some limestone or shells.

The fish should recover pretty quickly when the pH is in a better range and the chemicals have been removed from the water.
 
If you can try posting some pics I’ll be glad to see if I can help. Is he the only thing in the tank? What temp is the water at? How often are you cleaning the tank and doing water changes? What type and size is the filter? Goldfish normally have no issues with filter intakes. The fish is either too weak or the filter is too strong. You can put a piece of panty hose over the intake to help prevent him from getting sucked in. I really need pics to be able to help any further.
I can try to get some pics up tomorrow. He's the only one in the tank, except for some plants and nothing has been added since his arrival. I was actually dealing with a large spike in nitrates, about 40 ppm, so I'm wondering if he was hurt by that and now is dealing with a weakened system... I do water changes every week or so, but I'm not as consistent as I likely should be. I've been dealing with a buildup of brown algae which won't die, though... And the temp is about 72 F

The filter isn't that strong, he's just very weak.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

The first thing to do if a fish ever gets sick or looks off colour is a big 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the problem has been identified. Most fish health issues are caused by something in the water and a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate will usually fix the problem.

------------------------
Your pH is too low for goldfish. They need a pH above 7.0. Check your tap water and find out what the pH is. If your tap water has a pH below 7.0 you will need to add some limestone to the tank or a bag of shells to the filter.

------------------------
Furan 2 is an anti-biotic that will have killed the beneficial filter bacteria and that is probably why you have a slight ammonia reading. It's highly probable your tank will have to cycle (develop the filter bacteria) again. This could take a few weeks to a month and you should reduce feeding and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading.

------------------------
Fin Rot is caused by poor water quality or incorrect water chemistry for the fish. In water with a low pH, the goldfish's skin and fins get damaged by the acidic water and this allows bacteria to get into the damaged areas. Bacterial infections in fish appears as red inflamed areas and red lines in the fins.

Big daily water changes are the best remedy for Fin Rot.

------------------------
Fish have a thin mucous coating over their body and fins. If something in the water (ammonia, nitrite, low pH, protozoan infections, etc) irritates the fish, they produce more mucous around the irritated areas. This appears as cream, or white patching on the body and cream or white edging to the fins.

Big daily water changes are the quickest way to fix most issue that cause excess mucous on fish.

If there is a protozoan infection the fish will generally rub on objects in the tank to alleviate the irritation.

------------------------
It's always a good idea to post pictures with the original post asking for help. A picture tells a thousand words :)

------------------------
At this stage I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Stop using medications.

Increase the pH with some limestone or shells.

The fish should recover pretty quickly when the pH is in a better range and the chemicals have been removed from the water.
Are you certain I should stop the medications? I plan to post images tomorrow, but it's hard to determine his issue from the photos I've been able to take... I have well water that's free of... everything, really. I'm sorry, it is 7 on the PH, I always forget that the low range isn't the neutral range for PH. He's also not trying to rub on anything, and there is no distinct "cream"-like mucous, only tiny bits on him here and there. I'm certain it's not a parasite, as I've had him for over half a year and nothing has been added to the tank.
 
In goldfish, white edging to the tail and fins is just about always caused by water quality. The white bits coming off his head are probably excess mucous too.

It's unlikely to be a protozoan infection because you haven't introduced any new fish or plants in the last few weeks, (in your case 6 months). And the fish not rubbing on objects would also suggest no protozoan parasites.

You do have an ammonia reading and that will stress the fish and cause this type of issue.

Chemicals can sometimes get into well water and cause this type of problem.

----------------------
How much water do you normally change when you do the water changes?
Do you gravel clean the substrate each time you do a water change?

----------------------
Do you aerate the well water before using it?
Ground water (well or bore water) has normally had all the dissolved gases removed from it and it is a good idea to aerate the water for at least 30 minutes (preferably 24 hours) before using it in an aquarium. This allows the water to absorb oxygen, carbon dioxide & nitrogen gases that are required by the fish.

You should also test the well water for anything you can (ammonia, nitrite, pH, salinity, etc) before using it. Chemicals can leech into the ground water and cause problems to fish. A quick test for ground water is to fill a glass with water and sniff it. It should not have any smells. If you hold the glass up to the light it should be clear. These are 2 things you can do but it's still a good idea to check the ground water for ammonia and pH at least once a month or if the fish ever has any issues.

----------------------
I would stop using medications and do water changes. :)
 
Hi and welcome to the forum :)

The first thing to do if a fish ever gets sick or looks off colour is a big 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day until the problem has been identified. Most fish health issues are caused by something in the water and a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate will usually fix the problem.

------------------------
Your pH is too low for goldfish. They need a pH above 7.0. Check your tap water and find out what the pH is. If your tap water has a pH below 7.0 you will need to add some limestone to the tank or a bag of shells to the filter.

------------------------
Furan 2 is an anti-biotic that will have killed the beneficial filter bacteria and that is probably why you have a slight ammonia reading. It's highly probable your tank will have to cycle (develop the filter bacteria) again. This could take a few weeks to a month and you should reduce feeding and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading.

------------------------
Fin Rot is caused by poor water quality or incorrect water chemistry for the fish. In water with a low pH, the goldfish's skin and fins get damaged by the acidic water and this allows bacteria to get into the damaged areas. Bacterial infections in fish appears as red inflamed areas and red lines in the fins.

Big daily water changes are the best remedy for Fin Rot.

------------------------
Fish have a thin mucous coating over their body and fins. If something in the water (ammonia, nitrite, low pH, protozoan infections, etc) irritates the fish, they produce more mucous around the irritated areas. This appears as cream, or white patching on the body and cream or white edging to the fins.

Big daily water changes are the quickest way to fix most issue that cause excess mucous on fish.

If there is a protozoan infection the fish will generally rub on objects in the tank to alleviate the irritation.

------------------------
It's always a good idea to post pictures with the original post asking for help. A picture tells a thousand words :)

------------------------
At this stage I would do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate each day for a week.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Stop using medications.

Increase the pH with some limestone or shells.

The fish should recover pretty quickly when the pH is in a better range and the chemicals have been removed from the water.
sometime doing big water changes will stress the fish even more, weakening it's immune system and killing it even faster than before.
 
All of the photos I try to upload are too big? I'm not sure what to do. He's just drifting along today. He's moving a bit, but very weakly. I looked over him and he definitely has small bits of white fuzz, I'm almost certain it's fungus. How can I upload photos?
 
i always save my photos to tha photos app, then i right click the photo i want and i select save as, then i come to this tab and i click upload a file, then i select the one i just saved from the photos app on the computer, and it appears on the forum.
 
All of the photos I try to upload are too big? I'm not sure what to do. He's just drifting along today. He's moving a bit, but very weakly. I looked over him and he definitely has small bits of white fuzz, I'm almost certain it's fungus. How can I upload photos?
Set your camera's resolution to 2MB or something lower than what it is and the images will be smaller and should fit. If they still don't fit then put them on an image hosting website and put the link here. We can go to the image hosting website and view the images there.
 
beutiful goldfish, but i think he has finrot, treat with clean water every day and paragauard.
 
The white spots along the side of the body and head look like head and lateral line disease (aka: hole in the head disease), but I have never heard of it affecting goldfish. But that doesn't mean to say it hasn't.

It is normally caused by Hexamita and you can sometimes treat it with Metronidazole.

If you can mix the medication with food it works better, otherwise just add it to the tank.

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.
When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will absorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down, do a 75% water change and complete gravel clean. And clean the filter before treating. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.
 

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