# Goldfish with an unknown ailment, symptoms listed



## TornadoAdvisory (Jun 12, 2012)

I own a goldfish that has been frankly ill for the past month or so. It's symptoms appear to be the following:

- laying on tank floor, sometimes appearing to be dead until poked with a net or disturbed. 
- bent body, which you see with a dead/dying fish
- somewhat bloated belly

He still eats when I put food in and sometimes swims around like a regular fish before plopping to the tank floor again. He is a fairly sizeable goldfish that I've had for about a year and is currently isolated in a ten gallon tank. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## marshallsea (Apr 30, 2012)

What are your water parameters? How many and what kind of fish? How often and how much water do you change?


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## marshallsea (Apr 30, 2012)

Without that info i would say your tank is too small for a big goldfish. Goldfish produce a large amount of waste. It sounds like ammonia poisioning. You need to be doing daily water changes. If your fish is permanently bent, you may want to euthanize it.


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## TornadoAdvisory (Jun 12, 2012)

marshallsea said:


> What are your water parameters? How many and what kind of fish? How often and how much water do you change?


1. 7.6
2. One goldfish.
3. Monthly 10% water change.

Hope that helps!


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

We need more info than that; please copy, paste and answer these questions: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/tropical-fish-diseases/diagnosis-form-read-before-you-post-61135/ I can already say you have some major problems. One 10% a month water change is not enough for a goldfish. They produce much more ammonia than other fish of the same size and need at least 40% weekly water changes. A 10 gal tank is also too small for a goldfish. As you know, they get rather large. Single-tail goldfish need at least a 55 gallon tank and preferably a pond. The double-tailed fancies need at least a 20 gal. A temp 10 gal quarentine tank is fine, but I can see it contributing to the problems more than helping them.


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## marshallsea (Apr 30, 2012)

You need to be doing aggressive water changes. 10% monthly is nowhere near enough. IMO, you should be doing 25-40% daily.


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## TornadoAdvisory (Jun 12, 2012)

1. Size of tank? was in 20long isolated to 10gal by self now

2. Water parameters treated tap water
a. Ammonia? do not have test kit
b. Nitrite? same as above
c. Nitrate? same as above
d. pH, KH and GH? 7.6 ph others same as above
e. Test kit? just ph test kit

3. Temperature? 75

4. FW (fresh water) or BW (brackish)? fresh water

5. How long the aquarium has been set up? over 1 year

6. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them? 5 small gold fish 1 6" koi all came from pond before fall last year same time

7. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? no

8. a. Any live plants? Fake plants? fake 
b. Sand, gravel, barebottom? aquarium gravel
c. Rocks, woods, fancy decors? Any hollow decors? fake hollow log

9. a. Filtration? whisper 600
b. Heater? no

10. a. Lighting schedule? What lights are used? no set lighting hood type with typical standard bulb
b. Any sunlight exposure? How long? no

11. a. Water change schedule? monthly 
b. Volume of water changed? 10%
c. Well water, tap water, RO water? treated tap 
d. Water conditioner used? yes
e. Frequency of gravel/sand (if any) vacuumed? rarely

12. Foods? flake
How often are they fed? once a day

13. a. Any abnormal signs/symptoms? floating on side towards bottom
b. Appearance of poop? not seen
c. Appearance of gills? seems normal

14. a. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? yes 
b. What meds were used? melafix


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## LyzzaRyzz (Dec 18, 2011)

The main points I'm seeig as causing a problem is the size of your tank, how many fish you have, and your water changes.
Like said above, goldfish get really big, and need a 55 gallon tank, even when small! Goldfish are notorious ammonia factories, as they poop a lot!
Your goldfish might be small now, but even in a 20 long, they are cramped and suffering. The old saying that a fish kept in a small tank will stay small is true. On the outside. On the inside, they are still growing, and that growth in a small body harms their internal organs and makes them very prone to sickness. 
For all your fish, you should have a 150 gallon tank, and that would have them set for life.
Water changes are an important part of having a fish tank. I am not sure if your tank has cycled, with it's bio load, so I'm going to assume it hasn't. Even if it has, ammonia will rise more quickly with that many fish, and without weekly, or in your case, every other day water changes, your fish will slowly get sicker and sicker and eventually die.
Since your 'sick' goldfish is separated, i would suggest doing 50% water changes every day. You should see a drastic improvement. Make sure to treat each water change with a conditioner, chemicals or minerals in the water could kill your fish within minutes in its weakened state.
For your main tank, I would suggest doing gradually working up the water changes from 20% w/c then the next day 30%, and so forth, because your fish have been in dirty water for so long they have grown accustomed to it. Gradually working up the w/c's will help not to shock them.

Also, I have not used melafix, but many people in the hobby say that using melafix is actually useless. Clean water, and using aquarium salt in dire situations is usually all that is needed.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Hmm. I'm not sure if your goldfish is actually ill or just very stressed. Bent spine isn't always indicative of illness. It can be caused by bad breeding or poor nutrition. http://thegab.org/Illness-and-Treatment/what-is-wrong-with-my-fish.html#Spine

But I can tell you there are some other problems in your tank. These are leading to stress in your fish. Stressed fish will get sick very easily. The koi should not be in a tank. Koi grow huge (20+ inches) and produce even more waste than goldfish do. The recommended stocking for a koi pond is 1 koi per 500 gallons of water. 

Even without the koi, the tank is very overstocked. One goldfish needs a 20 gal tank at minimum, and for every other goldfish, there should be an additional 10 gallons. Five goldfish need a minimum of a 70 gallon tank. But given that they are common goldfish, they need to have a massive tank as they are active fish. Realistically, those fish should be in an outdoor pond larger than 200 gallons. If the koi will be in the pond it needs to be larger than 500 gallons.


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## NoochaCarrashua (Jun 12, 2012)

try more water changes and a higher quality food like omega one or hikari. also try some veggies


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## TornadoAdvisory (Jun 12, 2012)

My goldfish died this morning. I would like to thank all of you for helping me out and pointing out what was wrong. In the future, I will do more frequent water changes and monitor how much goldfish/koi I put in one tank.


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## marshallsea (Apr 30, 2012)

TornadoAdvisory said:


> My goldfish died this morning. I would like to thank all of you for helping me out and pointing out what was wrong. In the future, I will do more frequent water changes and monitor how much goldfish/koi I put in one tank.


good luck


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## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

I'm sorry you lost him. Mistakes are only bad if you don't learn from them. Happy fishkeeping!


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