Do my fish have...*gasp*...PARACITES???

[Goldiegupp]

Hello all,
Thismorning while checking up on my 2 goldies (I do every morning to make sure nothing's whacky) and noticed my small red cap oranda was out of her usual behavior. She'd be swimming fine, then once she'd get to the corner of the tank she'd do a quick, jerky spin a few times. She also clamps her fins when not swimming. Although there are no signs of anything external, save some abnormal red streaks in her tail, I'm afraid both fish may have something going on inside that I can't see. My fantail's belly seems to be slightly sunken in on one side, and I've caught him "flashing" a number of times. (meaning the quick spinny circle and sometimes rubbing against things) He also seems a bit listless, hovering quietly in the middle of the tank with his front fins clamped but his dorsel fin erect.

At feeding time each night, (they are fed a diet of 2 commercial kinds of flake food and several veggies consisting of peas, corn, boiled lettuce, etc. normally) they seem to go bizzerko, begging for more even after they were just fed and scouring the bottom thouroughly. Is it normal for them to act this hungry? I mean, I know goldies are pretty piggy, but they seem to have been going overboard lately.

Recently I fed them peeled slices of grapes and apples for a bit of variety. I'm not sure if the red streaks in my redcaps tail are an allergic reaction of some kind to the acidity of the fruit?? I've also heard that nitrite spikes can cause the red streaks so I've maintained primium water quality and test it every time I do a water change. Currently nitrates are about 15, nitrite is 0, chlorine 0, alkilenity is 180, and ph is about a 7.8.

Anyways, any advice would be helpful. *thumbsups

 

[achase]

Pictures would be helpful!

 

[anshuman]

I have my goldfish pair do this exact behavior for past 6-7 months (since they got moved in big tank), this usually happens when i make water.change or when the water is bad and they need water change, i don't fret over it now pretty hardy if you ask me. this behavior in my goldies last a day or two between weeks.

BTW there is major change in season here (from summer to rainy monsoon) and avg. temp in weather has dropped 20 deg. faren. so my goldies have really perked up after bearing the summer heat.


As long as they are feeding good and don't gasp for air or do head-stands in a corner all day and not feeding, nothing major to worry is what i say. But ya, some pics will help.

 

[Goldiegupp]

Thank you both

Today her tail seems less inflamed, two days after the water change....perhaps the stress of it causes it to appear like that. I shall try to post some photographs if I can get anything you can see clearly

 

[Goldiegupp]

After consulting with a fish store owner and describing my problems, he came to the conclusion that my fish were NOT suffering from paracites, only from a spike in ammonia *dang city water*. I haven't had this problem before and wondered why, and he told me it was because in the spring they add all this stuff into the water so yeah. Added an ammonia detoxifier which also detoxifies nitrite, nitrate, chlorine and chlorimines. Fortunately all the rest of the stuff I was not struggling with.

After putting the ammonia detoxifier in, they have already started to perk up and are on their way to a fast recovery.

 

[OrangeCones]

After consulting with a fish store owner and describing my problems, he came to the conclusion that my fish were NOT suffering from paracites, only from a spike in ammonia *dang city water*.

What ammonia level is in your city water?

What do you use as a dechlorinator?

 

[Goldiegupp]

What ammonia level is in your city water?

I am going to test it pretty soon.

I use Aquasafe as a dechlorinator, but I am now switching to Amquel because it deals with ammonia.

 

[Goldiegupp]

Also, how do goldfish gasp? Do they stick their mouth above the water and suck in air? or do they rapidly open and close their gills?

 

[OrangeCones]

Both. Are your goldfish doing this?

 

[Goldiegupp]

Not the rapid gill movement, but I think my red cap's doing the part about sticking mouth out of water. Kinda hard to miss...its a noisy thing. Today I notice her tail got all inflamed again...even though I did the water change 2 days ago. When I spy in the tank they're not swimming, just floating listlessly, until they see me and freak out because they think they'll get fed. Fins aren't clamped, they just sort of hover, and I've noticed when they swim they do the little one-finned doggy paddle with the other front fin clamped. The red cap did another loopty loop in fast motion, like she was having an outer body experience or something. Ugh! Just can't figure out whats wrong!

 

[anshuman]

what is the temp in your tank? do you have any driftwood in the tank? was there sudden temp change or PH swing in the tank? Whats the current PH? are you testing your tap-water as you condition it before pouring it in tank? maybe tap water has some ammonia/nitrate issues. check for that.

BTW, goldies are like that,because they are bad bad bad swimmers, the exhaust themselves quickly and do that floating thing in a comfortable spot, the bit where they suddenly see you and think its food-time and perk up means all is okay.

BTW do you have strong current of water in the tank (due to filter flow etc) this is v v bad for goldies, if they have to struggle against current, they exhaust more easily and then start going red near fins etc.


And whats the size of this goldies? dont over feed them.

 

[Goldiegupp]

Temperature is 72, no driftwood, no change in ph it is constantly a 7.8. Yep always test the water first. Nitrate is about a .5, and I am going to get ammonia tested today (saving up for the kit). I don't think I ever over feed because in the first place I really don't feed that much of the flake food. And anything uneaten I see I remove. Sometimes I feed alot of the veggies because they love 'em so much, but I again I always remove the uneaten food.

I do have alot of water movement because when I use Amquel, my ammonia detoxifier, it says it can take oxygen out of the water so I'm worried about them sufficating. I have a bubble stone and a sponge filter. The filter is turned up on high during the day but it doesn't produce much current. The bubble stone does hee hee which I turn up at night to make the filter be quiet.

Okay this morning was not good because my fantail's being really mean to my red cap, chasing her around and ripped a huge gash in her tail. I'm thinking when he tuggs on it that's maybe why its all inflamed? But he's always been so nice and now he's acting quite hostile.

Also the fantail did a weird little shimmy thing that lasted about 10 seconds. He like started shaking...almost vibrating...in place. Strange, huh? Anyway, should I always turn down the airstone so they don't get so tired? Maybe the gasping is from getting exhausted...

 

[anshuman]

humm.... the shaking vibrating or dashing into the gravel to rub is always sign of ich but i think you already are sure there is no ich there (salty dots over the goldfish anothr sign).

separate the goldfish who is chasing everyone, i think he is male and wants to mate (they will constantly chase female, till she started releasing eggs) And this mating behaviour only happens if the water condition is nice and near perfect. So if this is the case, good news for you.

If u have hospital/temporary tank, remove the fish which is shaking and has gash in the fins . it can easily catch infection and bleeding will be the first sign.


I think the issue with your tank is too many goldies with one trying to mate with others.

 

[Goldiegupp]

Interesting. Then there isn't anything really wrong I guess? And woah! That would be awesome to have baby goldies but I have not the first clue about that...or what they would look like but do I absolutely have to remove the male? I don't have a place to put him, but I don't like him being a bully. Besides, my red cap female is like, 2 inches long and he is like 3 so i don't even think they're old enough to breed! But hey what do I know.

Wait, how will she be bleeding? Yes, infection is a risk, so I keep a concentration of salt in the waters incase that should be a risk. And ok I think I wasn't very clear about what goldfish with which problems. The silver fantail did the shaking this morning but other than that he was fine. The red cap did the flashing, spinning, red streaks in tail, and big rip in tail as well. The red cap is a girl and the silver one is the boy...almost 100%sure on that.

Also, the one thing I do know about goldfish reproduction is that the male gets these white tubercles (no clue how to spell sorry) on his gills and pectoral fins and no signs of those. But I did notice my red cap is looking a little more swollen in the belly - on one side more than the other which is weird because thats a symptom of swim bladder and I know she doesn't have that. I feed her peas all the time and she's very flexible as far as swimming goes.

I know in a 10 gal tank 2 goldies is way too much...however the upgrade will be coming so its ok.

 

[Goldiegupp]

So my red cap is flashing like crazy and I'm real worried about her.

She was literally on her side scratching herself against the gravel.

Now she's missing a ton of scales too...

 

[anshuman]

ich. treat for it.

 

[Goldiegupp]

But..but there's no white dots! I checked all over for it! And I keep salt in the water so how could it be present?

She's also swimming funny. I mentioned one side of hers is bloated, but I know its not swim bladder because I feed her peas almost every other day. She's gasping like crazy...at the surface AND rapid gill movement. I'm definately testing ammonia today, but I think thats unlikely. Ahhhhhhh! What am I going to do?! Can it really be ich if I can't even see any white dots?

 

[Goldiegupp]

Alright people!

After reading a book on goldfish diseases and testing my water, I've narrowed it down to 2 diseases. I may end up posting this in a new thread so yeah.

It's either oncoming ich or velvet. I've never noticed before how yellow my red cap's gills were, but that being a symptom of velvet all makes sense. The flashing and scratching, slow motion...it all fits into place for either an upcoming ich attach or a current struggle against velvet.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ADVICE ON HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS? I know there are at-home remidies such as salt for ich, but not so sure about velvet. If I can treat the disease at home I would prefer to do that rather than buy medication.

That's it, I'm just gonna start a new thread lol.