Hi everyone, we have a bit of an emergency.

We have 4 goldfish in a 52 liter tank. One developed a pale spot around the mouth. The advise of the petshop was that "goldfish are bred for 300 years and changes in color are normal".

Well, now that fish has badly frayed ends of the fins and a second fish shows the same fraying. The fraying developped between yesterday and today, we were away overnight. The two other fish are fine, the are a slightly different type goldfish.

We have quarantined the two and they are now in a 12 little tank. We have mixed a chemical "multi cure" in that tank. It colors the water greenish. The two fish seemed to be a bit stressed when we put them in, but now the behave fairly normal.

If anyone could help with advice, that would be great. These two fish are somehoe members of the family.

My wife just did a PH test and the water was fairly acidic in the 52 liter tank. We don't have a test kit for other than acidity.

Peter M.

Some more info:

What filter do you use: There is a container with two chambers, one with a bag with active carbon, the other with just gravel. A pump pumps water, so it runs through these two champers and then out of little opening back into the tank. There is also an air pump in the tank.

How long as the tank been setup: Some 9 to 12 months.

Temperature: 23-24 degrees

When was the last water change and how much did you change: About 3 to 4 days ago, about 50%.

When did you last add fish, plants, ornaments or other tank equipment: one plant maybe two weeks ago.

Have you added any medication: yes, "multi cure" which is for the treatment of:
* White Spot
* Velvet Disease
* Fulgal Diseas

Multi-Cure contains Malachite Green, Methylene Blue, Acriflavine.

Hi Petermoe

Looks like they have fin rot. If you look along the edges of the fins, you can see a thin, opaque white line visible in some parts, plus the tail has some hemorragic septicaema in it.

Run carbon for a couple of days, followed by a 30% water change. After that, treat them with a combination of Melafix and Pimafix.

Do you know that 52ltrs isn't big enough for goldfish in the long term? Even fancies need a minimum of 30gal/137ltrs.

Have you added any other fish or live plants recently?

Thank you for the reply!

When you say "run carbon for a couple of days", what do you mean?

Hope we can find the products you mention, we are in Sydney, Australia.

No, have not added fish or plants recently.

Peter M.

Sorry, I should have explained better What I meant by running carbon in the filter, is simply to put carbon in the filter and leave it there for a couple of days

If you can't get Melafix and Pimafix, look for a similar mild antibacterial product ... And don't forget to increase aeration during treatment

Thank you again, great to see that you take the time to help us and our "fish friends".

It is Sunday tomorrow but I'll try to buy some new carbon for the filter. Shops are closed for today. I'll also check about the antibacterial treatment.

Do you think we should leave the two fish that show symptoms in the small (12 l) quarantined tank with the "multi-cure" product? Or put them back with the others in the big tank?

We can use carbon only in our big (50 l) tank, not in the small tank. The small tank has only a small filter.

We have moved our airpump to the small tank, so there should be plenty of oxygen. We usually use this airpump in the big tank.

We also have for today stopped feeding the fish. Is this the right thing to do?

Peter M.

The quicker you can start treating, the better Finrot will most likely kill the fish if it's allowed to reach the base of the fin.

Regarding the tanksize ... how many fish are in the 50ltr? Like I mentioned before, goldfish need a tanksize of at least 137ltrs to avoid stunted growth, so really, the 50ltr is only the lesser of 2 evils.

There are 4 goldfish in our tank.

Interesting, never heard this figure of 137 liters before. In the shops here they generally tell you that you need like 5 liters of water for one goldfish. (To be honest, this or the "goldfish bowls" I consider animal cruelty. In our tank they can swim around, hide if they want to...)

The 50 l tank is about the biggest we can have ATM, I even had to strengthen the piece of furniture the tank sits on.

We wanted to buy a 200 liter tank down the track, but that's not planned for the next few months.

Thanks again for the help.

We'll buy some carbon and the antibacterial stuff tomorrow and start treating. Hopefully the fish will recover quickly.

I think I'll look into buying a better water test kit as well.

Peter M.

Quote:

Oh dear that really is very abusive advise, if the RSPCA were willing to listen that should really be reported.

Quote:

You really need that tank now - not in a few months If I remember rightly, you've had the fish for about 9 months, haven't you? If that's the case, each day you have them in the 50ltr is increasing the risk of stunting, and the chances are, they're already smaller than they should be.

I really can't make it any clearer than that.

EDIT// Yep, 9-12 months. First post