# Bleeding Goldfish?



## WingsofAsh (Dec 6, 2010)

I recently bought a small comet goldfish from my LFS, of course I bought him for the cute markings on top of his head. Although there was something strange about him he did seem to have a strange red hue on the left side of his belly. I simply dismissed it as perhaps markings of being a goldfish (He's white and black mostly) but I noticed today under better lighting that there's red underneath one of his eyes, on his fins and his top fins.
I'll see if I can snap a picture, but he's really camera shy.
): I'm rather worried that I'll lose him to whatever injuries he may have gotten. I know when I was buying him he was being pecked at by bigger goldfish.

On another note, he seems fine in terms of activity. He's swimming around normally and eating normally. Doesn't seem to have any problem with the other goldfish, so I'm not sure what's wrong. 
Help?


----------



## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

What size tank do you have these fish in? Comets pollute their environment extremely fast; they need at least 5g per fish as babies and 80g per fish when they reach their adult length of 12-24" long. Furthermore, they need more oxygen and filtration than the average fish.

I suspect what you may be seeing is ammonia or nitrate poisoning due to an overcrowded tank. If your fish have less than 5g per fish, this may be the case. 

Another possibility is internal bleeding caused by an internal parasite infection, which are _extremely_ common in pet-store goldfish, even more so in feeder comets. If your fish have whitish, stringy poop and/or caved-in bellies, this could be your problem.


----------



## WingsofAsh (Dec 6, 2010)

kelly528 said:


> What size tank do you have these fish in? Comets pollute their environment extremely fast; they need at least 5g per fish as babies and 80g per fish when they reach their adult length of 12-24" long. Furthermore, they need more oxygen and filtration than the average fish.
> 
> I suspect what you may be seeing is ammonia or nitrate poisoning due to an overcrowded tank. If your fish have less than 5g per fish, this may be the case.
> 
> Another possibility is internal bleeding caused by an internal parasite infection, which are _extremely_ common in pet-store goldfish, even more so in feeder comets. If your fish have whitish, stringy poop and/or caved-in bellies, this could be your problem.


I have two other goldfish with this little guy in a 20 gallon tank. I'm aware of the oxygen issue and they seem to be fine with what I've set up. Mind you I've had the other two goldfish prior to this new one. It's possible that he may have poisoning due to his living conditions at the pet store, they tend to just cram over a hundred of them into a tank. 
I don't think it's an internal parasite, he doesn't seem to have a caved belly nor any strange colored poop.


----------



## kelly528 (Aug 31, 2009)

Could be a pre-existing condition then. I would remove him to quarantine ASAP before he shares something with your other fish.


----------



## WingsofAsh (Dec 6, 2010)

Hmm, that's what I did. He died this morning though, so he must've had something from the pet store. Hopefully it didn't spread to the rest of the fish.


----------



## Ellador (Dec 25, 2010)

Hi, WingsofAsh-- I'm sorry about your goldfish. I've seen something similar to what you've described, in a friend's goldfish tank. She had 3 goldfish in there-- I'm not sure how large the tank was, this was a long time ago-- but I'd guess it was a 10 gallon with adequate filtration, and she performed water changes once a week. All 3 goldfish became ill around the same time-- they appeared to be bleeding from underneath their scales, but everything else about their bodies seemed normal-- their bellies were not sunken in, but they stopped eating. My friend researched the issue, determined they were sick because of poor water quality (as kelly528 mentioned, they produce a lot of waste and it's difficult to maintain good water quality), so she immediately set about a full-tank cleaning, during which they died. They could have died from the shock of the full water change, or from what was already wrong, but my guess is both.
What happened with my friend's goldfish wasn't contagious, but definitely keep an eye on your other fish.
Good luck, and please keep us posted.


----------



## WingsofAsh (Dec 6, 2010)

The two other goldfish in the tank with the sick one seem to be acting fine.
Although in my second tank of goldfish, I had purchased another goldfish from the same batch as the sick one. He's a lot more healthy from the looks of it and he was bigger then the goldfish I put him with (He's still a small comet). But he has the strangest behaviour I have ever seen, so far he's smashed into the the gravel rapidly, darted around frantically, doesn't like coming up for food, will fight for food that's on the ground.
I'm not sure if this was a learned behaviour or not, but it's slightly bothersome to my more peaceful goldfish. xD I'm just having terrible luck with gray goldfish from that batch.


----------



## Ellador (Dec 25, 2010)

WingsofAsh said:


> The two other goldfish in the tank with the sick one seem to be acting fine.
> Although in my second tank of goldfish, I had purchased another goldfish from the same batch as the sick one. He's a lot more healthy from the looks of it and he was bigger then the goldfish I put him with (He's still a small comet). But he has the strangest behaviour I have ever seen, so far he's smashed into the the gravel rapidly, darted around frantically, doesn't like coming up for food, will fight for food that's on the ground.
> I'm not sure if this was a learned behaviour or not, but it's slightly bothersome to my more peaceful goldfish. xD I'm just having terrible luck with gray goldfish from that batch.


That is weird... 
I called my local fish store and described how your comet is acting-- I have a specific "go to" guy there, and luckily he answered-- he's never steered me wrong before. When I started asking why a goldfish would behave that way, he asked, "When did you get goldfish?" ; ) I said I didn't-- this is a friend's fish.
He said it sounds like your water is too acidic, and to check your pH-- Goldfish like their water to have a pH of around 7.4 and he suspects your water is around 6 or so, maybe lower. This would cause the erratic behavior you described, because it kind of "burns" the fish when the pH drops. I don't know what the pH of the tap water is where you live-- here it's high, around 8 or 9 (soft-- low numbers mean hard and acidic, high numbers mean soft and alkaline-- that always confused me in biology), so I'm able to keep my pH around 7.5 (for my clown loaches) by keeping up with water changes.


----------



## WingsofAsh (Dec 6, 2010)

Ellador said:


> That is weird...
> I called my local fish store and described how your comet is acting-- I have a specific "go to" guy there, and luckily he answered-- he's never steered me wrong before. When I started asking why a goldfish would behave that way, he asked, "When did you get goldfish?" ; ) I said I didn't-- this is a friend's fish.
> He said it sounds like your water is too acidic, and to check your pH-- Goldfish like their water to have a pH of around 7.4 and he suspects your water is around 6 or so, maybe lower. This would cause the erratic behavior you described, because it kind of "burns" the fish when the pH drops. I don't know what the pH of the tap water is where you live-- here it's high, around 8 or 9 (soft-- low numbers mean hard and acidic, high numbers mean soft and alkaline-- that always confused me in biology), so I'm able to keep my pH around 7.5 (for my clown loaches) by keeping up with water changes.


Hmm, the other goldfish aren't acting strangely like the black one. But I shall go check the PH level of the tank, although I did just change the tank a few days ago but I'll see about it. C: thank you.


----------



## Ellador (Dec 25, 2010)

You're welcome-- I meant to reply last night-- I thought I did, actually, but I must have only replied in my head... that only works when the other person can read my mind, and so far it hasn't worked. (Or did it?) ; )

How is your goldfish feeling/acting-- any improvement?


----------

