I hate to be the berarer of bad news but read on:

On 6 Feb 2007 13:44:56 -0800, "Jeannie" wrote:

Many thanks to all for your comments and help. An update, now that I
have actually seen the fish...the redness is actually a largish lump
is just forward of the pectoral fin and only on the bottom; looks more
like a large hernia than anything else, and definitely not a skin-
disease type of thing. It's a bit smaller this morning since a 1/2
water change last evening, and the fish is perky and interested in the
(very little bit of) food we gave him.

This is good. Perhaps see if you can buy a small container of
medicated food.

"Benji" (we actually don't know the sex) is a 11-year-old feeder
goldfish, about 5 inches long, so a 5-gallon tank should be fine, no?
(No room for anything bigger anyway.) We have changed the water once
a month using our (very pure mountain) tap water that we have let sit
open for 2 days, stirring occasionally. We always keep a large carboy-
type jug of water sitting for fish change water and drinking water for
our two snakes.
NO. 5 gal is much to small for a gold fish espeically one that is 5"
long....I have a feeling yur main problem is from organic rich water,
and an internal bacterial infection.

The tank is not filtered, never in direct sun, and has no plants in
it. We have done a complete water change and tank/gravel scrub
monthly for years (putting the fish in a bucket of the "old" tank
water plus some new water), plus partial changes every so often when
too much food is accidentally fed. The fresh water is always the same
temperature as the tank--learned that lesson the hard way in my callow
yout'.


Water really need sot be filtered with a goldie as they are heavy
contributors to organic loads and messy eaters. Invest in a filter
please! And see what you can do in regards togetting it a bigger tank.
HOw about an outdoor water device usch as a half barrel water garden,
Even at that a half barrel which is typically a water featuyre of one
half a whiskey or wine barrel and approx 20 gal is still small for a
goldie, but its a heck of a lot better thana 5 gal unfiltered tank.
Add a few live plants to pull out nitrogen and other junk. Don't now
your zone, but its possible that half barrel will be suitbale for all
year round use for a bit, as goldies like cooler water and live under
ice without any problems if properly kept. In the meantime look for a
larger home or find a new home for it.

I will stop and get some antibiotics and salt today, and we will do
partial water changes weekly from now on...hopefully that will do the
trick. I have no idea what to do if the lump is eggs...yikes. Can
one massage them out?

Yes, you can, if that is a problem but if you do not know what your
doing you can make things worse. It can still be an internal infection
that causes a swollen up area as such or it could be a tumor or
growth, (not uncommon at all) or egg impaction.

Jeannie

P.S. I will say here that I am disappointed to see that this group is
like most other Usenet newsgroups--certain folks are so intent on
insulting each other that they waste time and bandwidth on off-topic
mud-throwing posts. Guess you can't get away from that anywhere!


Lets just say some folks deserve what they get thrown at them....and
leave it at that.



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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!