Goldfish With Red Gills

[9murphy9]

hi
i have rescued a goldfish from a 16 litre tank that it has been living in for around a year it has not been cleaned out or had a water change and has been shoved under a bed the poor little guy looks really stunted and has red on his gills.I suspect the red gills is ammonia poisoning but could someone confirm it and also tell me how to treat it,i only have tropical tanks at the moment so he is in with platys,angels and guppies but i have secured a pond for him to go into in march.he is around 4 inches thanks for any help

Alex

 

[Flute]

Wow, those really are red! I agree with you, I think the main suspect would be from ammonia burns over an extended period of time. Hopefully with time and some clean water they might improve. Good on you for rescuing him, and finding a pond for him

 

[msasa19]

so sad a friend of a friend has a gold fish in one of them fish bowls, i dont think its actually a fish bowl tho, and it can hardly turn round, the water is filthy and when they are drunk they tip stuff into it, im suprised its still alive if her son didnt love it so much i would ask her if she would give it to me, but i dont think she would be to happy about me questioning her about it :\

 

[9murphy9]

thanks i suppose it's just a waiting game is there anything i could do to speed up the process ?? thanks for the kind comments and i know what you mean it was my cousin so it's always delicate

Alex

 

[Flute]

I would just keep the water as clean as possible, and feed him food soaked in garlic juice. Lots of veg too.

msasa, it's always a really difficult thing to approach. I guess it depends on how close you are to your friend? I would try educating her first about proper fish care, remind her that fish are animals, before asking if you can have him. Such a shame that they pour stuff into his bowl though I wish people would recognise that they are living critters.

 

[Travisman]

Being more into Goldfish than tropical fish, I can say it looks like an infection that resulted from poor water quality.

If the condition doesn't get better in a few days, you may want to look into some medications for the goldfish. There are some products, Lifeguard and Maracyn, which are used to treat a wide variety of Goldfish ailments. I have personally used Lifeguard when one of my goldfish had Ick. The little guy went from looking like he was dying to happily and activelly swimming in just a few hours. I've never used Maracyn, but people tell me its good when a condition goes beyond what Lifeguard can help.

http/www.petsmart....NotAvailInUS/No

I have to echo what Flute said. Its frustrating how people forget fish are animals. A goldfish isn't a decoration, its a living thing.

 

[9murphy9]

thanks mate i just got him last night so if it's not gone down in a week i'll look into those

Alex

 

[LucyB]

so sad

a friend of a friend has a gold fish in one of them fish bowls, i dont think its actually a fish bowl tho, and it can hardly turn round, the water is filthy and when they are drunk they tip stuff into it, im suprised its still alive

if her son didnt love it so much i would ask her if she would give it to me, but i dont think she would be to happy about me questioning her about it :\

I know what you mean, I hate when you go to someone's house and you see that they have loads of goldfish in a little tiny tank, you just want to say something but you know they won't listen and you don't want to be rude Poor lil' guy