Help - sick goldfish

Hi, my daughter has an 11-year-old orange-and-white goldfish (feeder
type, not koi) who seems to be on his last...fins. He has been
sleeping tail-up between regular activity periods, and now she says
his whole rear end is red. He has no fungus or rot symptoms, and has
had a couple of episodes of a 'lump' on one side of his body/tail area
which we assumed was constipation, but she has seen him poop as
recently as yesterday and the lump seems to be smaller.

What might be causing of the redness?

Thanks
Jeannie

Sounds like a bacterial infection. I would do a water change and start
it on some anti biotics.......better yet do what Dr. Solo suggests
and I am sure she will be aorund before to long.....A bit of salt may
help as well, but anti biotics are best bet. YOu can get them at most
any LFS.

What ever yu do do not pay any attentio to Carol Gulley aka Zebulon as
she is known to give out harmfull info and it could do your fish more
harm than good......YOu coulkd also go sign on to koishack.com and get
a proper answer really quick as they always have folks in the know
online...registration only takes a minute to access koishack.


On 5 Feb 2007 15:52:55 -0800, "Jeannie" wrote:

Hi, my daughter has an 11-year-old orange-and-white goldfish (feeder
type, not koi) who seems to be on his last...fins. He has been
sleeping tail-up between regular activity periods, and now she says
his whole rear end is red. He has no fungus or rot symptoms, and has
had a couple of episodes of a 'lump' on one side of his body/tail area
which we assumed was constipation, but she has seen him poop as
recently as yesterday and the lump seems to be smaller.

What might be causing of the redness?

Thanks
Jeannie



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

On Feb 5, 3:51 pm, Tristan wrote:
Sounds like a bacterial infection. I would do a water change and start
it on some anti biotics.......better yet do what Dr. Solo suggests
and I am sure she will be aorund before to long.....A bit of salt may
help as well, but anti biotics are best bet. YOu can get them at most
any LFS.

What ever yu do do not pay any attentio to Carol Gulley aka Zebulon as
she is known to give out harmfull info and it could do your fish more
harm than good......YOu coulkd also go sign on to koishack.com and get
a proper answer really quick as they always have folks in the know
online...registration only takes a minute to access koishack.

Thanks...in the meantime I've also found information on
weloveteaching.com about koi, which I think are related enough to
goldfish to help.

You mention salt...is that table salt or epsom salts? How much for a
5 gallon tank?

We are starting with a water change (although it has not been that
long since the last one...we have done it once a month for years and
the fish has been fine).

Jeannie

Jeannie wrote:
On Feb 5, 3:51 pm, Tristan wrote:

Sounds like a bacterial infection. I would do a water change and start
it on some anti biotics.......better yet do what Dr. Solo suggests
and I am sure she will be aorund before to long.....A bit of salt may
help as well, but anti biotics are best bet. YOu can get them at most
any LFS.

What ever yu do do not pay any attentio to Carol Gulley aka Zebulon as
she is known to give out harmfull info and it could do your fish more
harm than good......YOu coulkd also go sign on to koishack.com and get
a proper answer really quick as they always have folks in the know
online...registration only takes a minute to access koishack.


Thanks...in the meantime I've also found information on
weloveteaching.com about koi, which I think are related enough to
goldfish to help.

You mention salt...is that table salt or epsom salts? How much for a
5 gallon tank?

We are starting with a water change (although it has not been that
long since the last one...we have done it once a month for years and
the fish has been fine).

Jeannie


Hi Jeannie,

weloveteaching.com is Dr Solo's site....so if she doesn't answer you
here then do as Tristan says and follow the advice you find there...

In addition can you tell us what size the tank is? Is it filtered? Do
you change water frequently and if yes what is your routine for doing
this? Are there any live plants in the tank?

Obviously you need to treat the immediate symptoms of your daughters
fish but IME clean water is the key so start doing 10% water changes
each day....make sure you treat the water with an appropriate
conditioner to neutralise chlorine/chloramines/heavy metals and get it
to room temperature so you don't shock the fish with the cold water we
get out our taps at this time of year (well in certain areas
anyhow)....before you start the changes take a sample of the water....if
you don't have test kits take it to your LFS and get them to test for
ammonia/nitrites/nitrates/pH.....

After 11 years it could be old tank syndrome that is hurting the
fish....therefore you need to treat the symptoms but also the
cause....so gently start changing the water so you don't shock the
fish....like I said 10% daily and vaccuum any gravel you have in there
at the same time to remove any crud that has built up over the
years.....but I am guessing as I don't know right now what you have done
in terms of tank maintenance so let us know....

Hope your goldie gets well soon

Gill

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
On Feb 5, 3:51 pm, Tristan wrote:

What ever yu do do not pay any attentio to Carol Gulley aka Zebulon as
she is known to give out harmfull info and it could do your fish more
harm than good......
==============
I haven't seen one person come back here since 1996 claiming "Carol" gave
out information that harmed their fish. I'm sure you noticed your friend
Tristan slanders me every chance he gets. It looks like all these NGs will
have to be moderated to stop the verbal abuse and constant trolling of
posters.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

In article ,
says...

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
On Feb 5, 3:51 pm, Tristan wrote:

What ever yu do do not pay any attentio to Carol Gulley aka Zebulon as
she is known to give out harmfull info and it could do your fish more
harm than good......
==============
I haven't seen one person come back here since 1996 claiming "Carol" gave
out information that harmed their fish. I'm sure you noticed your friend
Tristan slanders me every chance he gets. It looks like all these NGs will
have to be moderated to stop the verbal abuse and constant trolling of
posters.

It would help if you didn't reply to Tristan and just Bozo binned him
(as I and hopefully many others have).

Why let yourself be baited?

--
Duncan

Zëbulon wrote:

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...

On Feb 5, 3:51 pm, Tristan wrote:

What ever yu do do not pay any attentio to Carol Gulley aka Zebulon as
she is known to give out harmfull info and it could do your fish more
harm than good......

==============
I haven't seen one person come back here since 1996 claiming "Carol"
gave out information that harmed their fish. I'm sure you noticed your
friend Tristan slanders me every chance he gets. It looks like all
these NGs will have to be moderated to stop the verbal abuse and
constant trolling of posters.

I must register my objection to your use of editing in this post....you
make it appear that it was me that passed the comment regarding the
information that you give....furthermore your response attempts to
reinforce this.....This I believe is a classic troll ploy to discredit a
poster......

As for whether Tristan is "my friend" or not this has absolutely nothing
with the discussion of the OPs sick goldfish and how best to treat
it.....and is totally irrelevant......In fact the majority of posts made
against this thread by myself and Tristan where aimed at helping the
person with the sick fish....and in my book that is not trolling....

I do not believe that the comments that you have made to me in this
thread and others elsewhere have any place on a Usenet group under a
post made by someone obviously needing help about their fish.....if you
wish to take issue with me for whatever reason the appropriate forum for
this is personal email....and you have my address....as does Ed.....feel
free to mail me with your gripes....I may or may not choose to respond -
but keep it off the fish groups....

Gill

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.

"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.

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'.

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?

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!

"Jeannie" wrote in message
oups.com...

brevity snip

"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?

That's much too small for a 5" goldfish. A fish that size needs at least a
10 to 20g tank.

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'.

Please Google goldfish+care. They need good filtration/aeration and
nitrogen+cycle. There is no need to clean the whole tank monthly.

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?

I heard it can be done but that's chancy as it's easy to rupture the sack
they're in. Your fish may be beyond help. Please don't replace it with
another GF. Your tank is too small. Get a few male guppies or a betta.
Even they would do better with filtration.

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!

I agree. That's why people are migrating to Forums or moderated groups.
Too many of us get sucked up into the nastiness.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~~ }((((({*

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.



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