I had two ~3 y/o Shubunkin goldfish in a 20gallon tank. Tank is thoroughly aerated and filtered, though it is kept at ~80 degrees F because I used to have some Oto cats and a Pleco in it that I've moved out.
Both fish had been acting normal, which I should qualify, because they aren't the most normal pair of fish. Read the footnote on this.
However a few days ago I came home to find the more active of the two had died in the night, having shown no abnormal signs the previous day. The dead fish did not look abnormal in any way. It MAY have had a slightly dark discoloration of the innards, barely viewable through the stomach, but I may have been imagining that. The dead fish was removed as soon as it was found, while the other fish showed no abnormal signs.
A couple of days later, I came home to find the surviving fish could not keep himself upright, and was drifting about the tank, and seeming to breathe heavily and fast. He could still flap his fins and was attempting to remain balanced. That was last night, I've been doing some research on SBD since. This morning I found that he had resigned himself to being held in place by the filer intake, but was still breathing, and heavily. However when I came home from work this afternoon he had regained the ability to stabilize himself and was acting fairly normal, although his breathing still seems a bit heavy.
My best guess says that, in a much shorter period of time, the deceased fish has the same symptoms, though I was not around to see it, and that they hit him harder and killed him, but that is only speculation.
I've tested my water quality, and it seems fine. Our tapwater pH here is 8.4, and over the years I've given up on lowering it, as I can only achieve about a stable 8.2, and that's with plenty of pH-down. So pH is a stable 8.4, and no other abnormalities in water levels. Does this sound indicative of anything in particular? What would you guys suggest if anything at this point?
My footnote: The surviving fish has been in a rather awkward condition for about a year and a half. They two fish were originally pond fish, and after the first year of keeping them in my pond (and bringing them in for the winter as the pond is too small to not freeze), I decided not to take them back out to the pond again. Since then I have kept them indoors, but the one fish (the surviving one) took up the habit of swimming back and forth across the front glass of the tank, repetitively, until he had apparently given himself rather bad cataracts from the friction on his eyes. At least, this is the conclusion myself and the owner of the LFS came to after much discussion. He has not been the worse for it, however he's not very active as he can't see much, and for some strange and possibly related reason, he lost the vast majority of his original orange pigmentation along with any coloration that may have originally been in his eyes. He is now all white (or non-colored) except for a small path of orange around the top of his head, in front of the dorsal fin. Also because of this ailment, I have had to separate the two shubunkin fairly often, by way of a plastic divider, to make sure the blind one could get enough food, before the other gulped it all up. However this hasn't been much of an issue.
I very relieved that my remaining fish, however blind he may be seems better this afternoon, but I'd like to take any measures necessary to give him some extra security over the next few days. So any insights and suggestions are quite welcome and appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
== Matt
P.S. I just changed the water last week (usually do 15-20% every 2-3 weeks), but I'm going to go change some more right now, and will continue to make smaller more frequent changes.
P.P.S. Just to make things a bit more clear as to how these fish have been quartered, here's a rough timeline:
Summer 2006: Lived in pond
Winter 2006: Moved indoors
Winter 2007: Surviving fish had developed supposed cataracts by repetitious glass-rubbing
Winter 2008: Surviving fish had lost all pigmentation and effectively all sigh by this point, but is otherwise healthy
Summer 2009: One fish died, see above for the rest
I don't think most of that really matters, but I realized that the way I described it above seems a little scattered, so I thought I'd clarify.
Both fish had been acting normal, which I should qualify, because they aren't the most normal pair of fish. Read the footnote on this.
However a few days ago I came home to find the more active of the two had died in the night, having shown no abnormal signs the previous day. The dead fish did not look abnormal in any way. It MAY have had a slightly dark discoloration of the innards, barely viewable through the stomach, but I may have been imagining that. The dead fish was removed as soon as it was found, while the other fish showed no abnormal signs.
A couple of days later, I came home to find the surviving fish could not keep himself upright, and was drifting about the tank, and seeming to breathe heavily and fast. He could still flap his fins and was attempting to remain balanced. That was last night, I've been doing some research on SBD since. This morning I found that he had resigned himself to being held in place by the filer intake, but was still breathing, and heavily. However when I came home from work this afternoon he had regained the ability to stabilize himself and was acting fairly normal, although his breathing still seems a bit heavy.
My best guess says that, in a much shorter period of time, the deceased fish has the same symptoms, though I was not around to see it, and that they hit him harder and killed him, but that is only speculation.
I've tested my water quality, and it seems fine. Our tapwater pH here is 8.4, and over the years I've given up on lowering it, as I can only achieve about a stable 8.2, and that's with plenty of pH-down. So pH is a stable 8.4, and no other abnormalities in water levels. Does this sound indicative of anything in particular? What would you guys suggest if anything at this point?
My footnote: The surviving fish has been in a rather awkward condition for about a year and a half. They two fish were originally pond fish, and after the first year of keeping them in my pond (and bringing them in for the winter as the pond is too small to not freeze), I decided not to take them back out to the pond again. Since then I have kept them indoors, but the one fish (the surviving one) took up the habit of swimming back and forth across the front glass of the tank, repetitively, until he had apparently given himself rather bad cataracts from the friction on his eyes. At least, this is the conclusion myself and the owner of the LFS came to after much discussion. He has not been the worse for it, however he's not very active as he can't see much, and for some strange and possibly related reason, he lost the vast majority of his original orange pigmentation along with any coloration that may have originally been in his eyes. He is now all white (or non-colored) except for a small path of orange around the top of his head, in front of the dorsal fin. Also because of this ailment, I have had to separate the two shubunkin fairly often, by way of a plastic divider, to make sure the blind one could get enough food, before the other gulped it all up. However this hasn't been much of an issue.
I very relieved that my remaining fish, however blind he may be seems better this afternoon, but I'd like to take any measures necessary to give him some extra security over the next few days. So any insights and suggestions are quite welcome and appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
== Matt
P.S. I just changed the water last week (usually do 15-20% every 2-3 weeks), but I'm going to go change some more right now, and will continue to make smaller more frequent changes.
P.P.S. Just to make things a bit more clear as to how these fish have been quartered, here's a rough timeline:
Summer 2006: Lived in pond
Winter 2006: Moved indoors
Winter 2007: Surviving fish had developed supposed cataracts by repetitious glass-rubbing
Winter 2008: Surviving fish had lost all pigmentation and effectively all sigh by this point, but is otherwise healthy
Summer 2009: One fish died, see above for the rest
I don't think most of that really matters, but I realized that the way I described it above seems a little scattered, so I thought I'd clarify.
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