Oranda Problem

[kathstraw]

my daughter bought 4 orandas about 3 weeks ago. One of them now appears fat and spending most of the time on the bottom of the tank lifeless, although swims to the top as soon as she goes to feed them, it like one other appears to have white spots on the tail and i am unsure if this is ich or markings of the fish. They dont appear to have them anywhere else and the other fish is swimming about as normal. any ideas what could be wrong, im worried she has been over feeding and have told her not to feed for a couple of days

 

[orandas]

Hi,
i don't believe your problem is specific to orandas per se, but to general fish keeping.

Has the tank been cycled? what are your tank and tap water parameters?

good job on obstaining on the feeding for now until you find out the problem.

i'm guessing its the general water condition ie not cycled.

without seeing a pic of the white spots - it could very well be ich, in which case you need to do ich treatment asap, before it spreads to the other fishes.

one of the reasons for the ich, is if its an uncycled tank, and the fish are stressed, then out pops the ich(its otherwise dormant) or it could be from where you got them from.

if its an uncycled tank, you ought to consider a big water change - "bottom sitting & lifelessness" - not a good sign- they're conserving what little energy that they have left.Its good that she's still feeding - theres a chance.

 

[ParadiseGuerrero]

you going to need to post how big the tank is and your readings as numerical values (ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte- the first two being the most important)- if you don't have a test kit go buy your self one and make sure it's a liquid test kit. Also if your tank was cycled before hand and if there are any other tank mates. If your tank was not cycled before hand then go have a look in the beginners section on Fish-in cycling. Cycling does not mean alowing the filter to run for a few days or weeks etc. or even adding the bottles of bacteria to your tank- you need to have added a source of ammonia.

As for the goldfish on the bottom: are it's scaled sticking out at all? this is easiest to view from looking from the top.
I'll leave the rest to someone with more knowledge but you will need to post these things.

 

[kathstraw]

ive tried taking photo but isnt clear. My husband deals with water change etc so ill get info off him when he gets in thank you

 

[alysonpeaches]

ive tried taking photo but isnt clear. My husband deals with water change etc so ill get info off him when he gets in thank you

For a long term home for 4 orandas you need a 4ft tank at least. If you dont know the capacity of your tank measure it. Have you tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH? If you dont have a test kit ask your local fish shop to test a sample for you. The best thing you can do in the short term is plenty of water changes with fresh dechlorinated water. The white spots could be ich, but if the fish are mature, they do display breeding tubercles. I have found on oranda that they are most visible around the gill area though. I havent seen breeding tubercles on tails, but they are often seen on fins. If it is ich, it will look like grains of salt. The Waterlife treatment Protozin is effective for ich, but dont use it if you arent sure.