Help! Dying Fish!

I'm a complete newbie to this site and goldfish keeping in general. I'm looking after my dad's place while he's away and I've noticed the goldfish in the pond aren't doing too well. One guy in particular is in a bad way. He wasn't moving much and sinking to the bottom with white stuff coming out from his gills as well as a white residue on his body. I took him to an aquarium and the guy said he didn't know what it was and didn't offer any advice as the fish was probably going to die away. Needless to say I though he was an idiot and started searching the net for answers.

So far I've brought him inside and isolated him in a "hospital" tank which has a filter and airator. I put some water conditioning drops in and checked the PH which looks around 7. I also gave him a salt bath of 30% for a minute or so until he rolled over (I thought I'd killed him) then put him back in the hospital and some fungucide drops in the water. He's picked up a bit and is now swimming at the surface again but not strongly.

Can anyone suggest what else I can do? Should I feed him or not? If so what should I feed him. I read about frequent water changing of 30%, is that just with straight tap water? I thought changes to the water would shock him. Like I said I don't know anything about keeping goldfish and I don't want the little guy to die on my watch.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,
KMJ

http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
so far, very good. the salt dip should have stripped most of the crapped up slime
coat off of him.
the white stuff is probably bacteria
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/d...htm#COLUMNARIS
the fastest treatment is potassium permanganate but you may not have that, and feed
antibiotic food. otherwise, DONT FEED THE FISH, because toxic water is now the
biggest worry. you have to keep changing the water in the tank for him.
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/d...htm#TUB_TO_TUB
If you can do the tub to tub method, add some salt in the water. 3 teas. per
gallon. Use rock salt with no additives.
tap water with dechlor unless you are on well water. be sure to match the
temperature so he doesnt get temp shock.

KMJ wrote:
He wasn't moving much and sinking to the bottom with
white stuff coming out from his gills as well as a white residue on his
body.
So far I've brought him inside and isolated him in a "hospital" tank
which has a filter and airator. I put some water conditioning drops in
and checked the PH which looks around 7. I also gave him a salt bath of
30% for a minute or so until he rolled over (I thought I'd killed him)
then put him back in the hospital and some fungucide drops in the
water. He's picked up a bit and is now swimming at the surface again
but not strongly.

Can anyone suggest what else I can do? Should I feed him or not? If
so what should I feed him. I read about frequent water changing of
30%, is that just with straight tap water? I thought changes to the
water would shock him. Like I said I don't know anything about keeping
goldfish and I don't want the little guy to die on my watch.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,
KMJ



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Originally Posted by

http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/

KMJ wrote:
He wasn't moving much and sinking to the bottom with
white stuff coming out from his gills as well as a white residue on his
body.
So far I've brought him inside and isolated him in a "hospital" tank
which has a filter and airator. I put some water conditioning drops in
and checked the PH which looks around 7. I also gave him a salt bath of
30% for a minute or so until he rolled over (I thought I'd killed him)
then put him back in the hospital and some fungucide drops in the
water. He's picked up a bit and is now swimming at the surface again
but not strongly.

Can anyone suggest what else I can do? Should I feed him or not? If
so what should I feed him. I read about frequent water changing of
30%, is that just with straight tap water? I thought changes to the
water would shock him. Like I said I don't know anything about keeping
goldfish and I don't want the little guy to die on my watch.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,
KMJ



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Thank for the advice and the pointer to the Puregold website. Unfortunately I got to him too late and he died as well as 2 more fish in the pond. It's been a steep learning curve but I'm really getting into it now. I tested the PH in the pond water and it was around 9. I've managed to get it down to around 7.2 over the last few days and the other fish seem OK so far except a few have what looks like a white powdery mildew. Now I've got to figure out what this is fungus or bacteria and what made the 7 year old pond become so alkaline.

Cheers KMJ

Hello, our pond fish in md spawned and we have babbies.... mostley
shubinkuins and sarassas.... anyone intrested? I have a 300 tank full on
babies. Ola
"KMJ" wrote in message
...

I'm a complete newbie to this site and goldfish keeping in general. I'm
looking after my dad's place while he's away and I've noticed the
goldfish in the pond aren't doing too well. One guy in particular is
in a bad way. He wasn't moving much and sinking to the bottom with
white stuff coming out from his gills as well as a white residue on his
body. I took him to an aquarium and the guy said he didn't know what it
was and didn't offer any advice as the fish was probably going to die
away. Needless to say I though he was an idiot and started searching
the net for answers.

So far I've brought him inside and isolated him in a "hospital" tank
which has a filter and airator. I put some water conditioning drops in
and checked the PH which looks around 7. I also gave him a salt bath of
30% for a minute or so until he rolled over (I thought I'd killed him)
then put him back in the hospital and some fungucide drops in the
water. He's picked up a bit and is now swimming at the surface again
but not strongly.

Can anyone suggest what else I can do? Should I feed him or not? If
so what should I feed him. I read about frequent water changing of
30%, is that just with straight tap water? I thought changes to the
water would shock him. Like I said I don't know anything about keeping
goldfish and I don't want the little guy to die on my watch.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,
KMJ




--
KMJ

white powdery mildew is columnaris, a bacteria.
it sounds like something has been dumped into the pond, like slaked lime, or maybe
somebody tossed in a lump of plaster of paris, or a plaster of paris statue, or maybe
marble chips around it and it rained and leached it into the pond. or some kind of
fresh concrete statue or bricks under pots. or ????
Ingrid

KMJ wrote:

Thank for the advice and the pointer to the Puregold website.
Unfortunately I got to him too late and he died as well as 2 more fish
in the pond. It's been a steep learning curve but I'm really getting
into it now. I tested the PH in the pond water and it was around 9.
I've managed to get it down to around 7.2 over the last few days and
the other fish seem OK so far except a few have what looks like a white
powdery mildew. Now I've got to figure out what this is fungus or
bacteria and what made the 7 year old pond become so alkaline.

Cheers KMJ



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Originally Posted by

white powdery mildew is columnaris, a bacteria.
it sounds like something has been dumped into the pond, like slaked lime, or maybe
somebody tossed in a lump of plaster of paris, or a plaster of paris statue, or maybe
marble chips around it and it rained and leached it into the pond. or some kind of
fresh concrete statue or bricks under pots. or ????
Ingrid

KMJ wrote:

Thank for the advice and the pointer to the Puregold website.
Unfortunately I got to him too late and he died as well as 2 more fish
in the pond. It's been a steep learning curve but I'm really getting
into it now. I tested the PH in the pond water and it was around 9.
I've managed to get it down to around 7.2 over the last few days and
the other fish seem OK so far except a few have what looks like a white
powdery mildew. Now I've got to figure out what this is fungus or
bacteria and what made the 7 year old pond become so alkaline.

Cheers KMJ



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

white powdery mildew is columnaris, a bacteria.
it sounds like something has been dumped into the pond, like slaked lime, or maybe
somebody tossed in a lump of plaster of paris, or a plaster of paris statue, or maybe
marble chips around it and it rained and leached it into the pond. or some kind of
fresh concrete statue or bricks under pots. or ????
Ingrid

Thanks for that Ingrid. That explains a lot. That's why the bucket load of fungicide I put in the pond did nothing. The pond had a big clean out a couple of months ago and I use a couple of brick to raise the statue. They are out now. This probably stressed the fish making them more suceptable to the disease. I've got the PH down to around 7 and I'm testing it every day to check for any change.

The puregold site said the treatment for columnairs is potassium permanganate in the water but I'm a little unsure about the exact method of use. Is it a crystal that is mixed with water to form a solution? What is the ratio for the solution? Do I take the fish out and treat them in a hospital tank or do I put it in the pond which is 1600 litres. Does it then have to be remove from the water after the treatment by using hydrogen peroxide and what ratio? Will it kill the plants snails and mussles? It also said don't use potassium permanganate if the PH is too high. What is the safe level.

Thanks again,
Kim

When the pond was cleaned out, if the sides were scrubbed it could be the water went
toxic for a while too before it recycled. also, if the water temp is too cold, this
stresses the fish and they get "stuff".
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/d....htm#POTASSIUM
there is the treatment. PP is now available online as a solution all made up. also,
I just found this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tegory=20 756
he offers 4 oz which is perfect
4 oz to 1 quart of water (distilled is better) = stock solution
1 drop of stock PP per gallon
20 drops = 1 ml
1600 liters = 422 gallons
that is 21 ml of stock solution for each treatment.
1/4 cup of plain old drug store peroxide is fine to clear the PP. the water doesnt
need to be changed.
a pH of under 8 is preferred.
Ingrid

KMJ wrote:
The pond had a big
clean out a couple of months ago and I use a couple of brick to raise
the statue. They are out now. This probably stressed the fish making
them more suceptable to the disease. I've got the PH down to around 7
and I'm testing it every day to check for any change.

The puregold site said the treatment for columnairs is potassium
permanganate in the water but I'm a little unsure about the exact
method of use. Is it a crystal that is mixed with water to form a
solution? What is the ratio for the solution? Do I take the fish out
and treat them in a hospital tank or do I put it in the pond which is
1600 litres. Does it then have to be remove from the water after the
treatment by using hydrogen peroxide and what ratio? Will it kill the
plants snails and mussles? It also said don't use potassium
permanganate if the PH is too high. What is the safe level.

Thanks again,
Kim



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan