goldfish inflations on body

[bavareze]

hi.

i have a 10gallon tank, 4 gold fish and one sucker fish. fed with tetra flakes, no warming, carbon filters. water changed every 3 months or so and drops added with fresh water.

everything has been just fine with the fish since i got them from the last owner. however, 2 days ago i noticed some body inflations on one of the goldfishes. one larger and 3-4 smaller. fish still eats and is pretty active.

please help me with some advice on how to fix him. thanks!

pictures of the fish are here:

Picasa Web Albums - radu - Sick Fish

thanks!

 

[homebunnyj]

I don't know what that is, but it doesn't look good at all IMO.

That said, I was wondering if you realized that your tank likely needs partial water changes every week? Four goldfish produce quite a bit of waste and your nitrates are probably sky-high. This could be the source of the illness.

You probably don't have a master test kit, or tests for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, do you? If not, take a water sample to your local fish store and have it tested for those three things. Have them write down the numbers for you, not just say 'fine' or 'bad'. Ammonia and nitrite both should be zero, and nitrate should be below forty, preferably below twenty. If you test results are way out of whack you need to do a water change, up to maybe fifty percent. Good water conditions allow the fish's immune system to fight the illness the best it can.

It will be helpful if you go get a test kit. API makes a master kit that is very reliable. If you don't make sure your water conditions are under control you're likely looking at a future of more disease. I wish I could tell you what to do for your sick fish, but I don't know just what the illness is.

(Something else to think about is if you can, you should look into a bigger tank to house the goldies. The bigger the tank, the easier to control the waste accumulation in the water, as it's more diluted. Plus, those goldies will grow fast.)

Don't be surprised if some members come in and freak out over your having four goldies in a ten. But everyone has to start somewhere, and we all make rookie mistakes. BTW, a fifty gallon tank would be a good size for those goldfish as they mature.

Good luck with your fish. Hopefully someone else will post up with better advice about the sick fish.

 

[Emmanuel]

humane goldfish euthanasia
i've been away from home for a fortnight, leaving my fish's care to my family

i got a phone call mid the first week saying that one fish had "a big red thing on its side"
to which i advised them to remove the fish into the spare tank & treat it with tetra goldmed
thinking at the time, from what they had described, it was just a wound and the goldmed would sort it in about a week

i got back today to see my fish, with random bumps over it's body, 2 red with "cotton wool" like things attached, struggling to swim, clamped fins, bobbing to the top, gasping (but not at the surface), bulging eyes and looking like someone has inflated her

apparently she is still eating, or atleast attempting to, but she does not look well at all, all those bumps must be painful, esp. the burst ones

so i've made up my mind to see how she is tomorrow morning and decide where to go from there
from the inflated body i really doubt she'll recover

any way of... ending her... with minimal stress/pain?
thanks...
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