Help please....

[aurora]

Please help. I dont know if I should be doing something to help my 10 year old fancy goldfish. He has been "not right" for about a month. Now he has scales sticking out, scales missing, he is on the bottom gasping , he isn't feeding or moving freely, he has a red lump under his mouth area. I can't watch him any more :-( My other fish have been, and still are, fine.
I think he is dying. Do I wait till the final end? It's awful. I don't think its fair to leave him like this. Please advise. Thats him a few moments ago in the pic.
:-( One of his eyes is clouding over now.....

 

[TitanWarrior]

Now he has scales sticking out, scales missing.

Sounds like dropsy to me I dont know how to treat it. Do a search on goolge on dropsy.

http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/dropsy.php

If you dont want to treat him. You can get a bucket and put him in there with aquarium water then put clove oil in there. But make sure you dont use that bucket for anything else to do with fish as the clove oil will stay in there.

Sorry to hear about your goldfish

 

[FroggyFox]

Sounds like maybe he's not doing so well....you're right. It could be a combination of things or maybe its just old age. Do some browsing around the disease forum, there are some good links to disease databases etc. If you decide that you dont want to try medicating him then yes the best thing to do is to euthenize him instead of just waiting for him to die.

 

[TLM4x4]

I had to do that with one of my fish, which Im sure everyone has experienced in keeping fish...You can put him in a cup of water and into the freezer..I think that is the most humane thing to do instead of continuing to watch him suffer. imho

 

[Shaunna]

Good Lord, TLM! Is freezing him to death more humane than the clove oil thing or whatever it is?

burrRRRR

 

[Firebug]

I had to do that with one of my fish, which Im sure everyone has experienced in keeping fish...You can put him in a cup of water and into the freezer..I think that is the most humane thing to do instead of continuing to watch him suffer. imho

Of course, you would want to also be sure to freeze that cup of water until it forms a thin layer of ice (and break it so that you can put the fish in the water), so that it would help the fish go even faster.. Euthanization isn't fun at all.

 

[aurora]

Thanks

Thanks to everyone. He has since gone. His body bloated and his fins were sticking out, among other ailments. It was too cruel to wait and watch, rather than take action: in my opinion anyway. I went with a remedy someone gave me on here to do with vodka. Please, no questions..I feel bad enough :-(

 

[prettypleco]

Sorry for your loss Aurora.

 

[TLH]

I think you did the right thing.Dropsy is usually terminal.About the only thing you can do (if you're squeamish stop reading now) is stick a syringe in him and draw the fluid off.Concentrated salt baths may work on a short term basis also.Both of these method are alot more cruel,I feel,than quietly putting him out of his misery.It's never a nice thing to do but it does have to be done sometimes.It was for the best judging by your description of him.

 

[aurora]

Thanks everybody. Your thoughts were very much appreciated.
The ending with the vodka and water is very quick, I just wanted to say.
I think more humane than freezing, or, sucking all the fish's fluid out with a syringe. Yikes...
I know, I know, we all have our own ideas of doing the best we can for our fish.
Again - Thanks to all who offered advice.
x

 

[Fantail_Lover]

*Flush*

"Next!" *crazysmil