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Goldfish affected by ick, fin rot, swimbladder!! HELP

11K views 31 replies 6 participants last post by  okiemavis 
#1 ·
This is my first post, I am looking all over for immediate, knowledgable assistance! Here's my info.

My current aquarium is 2 gallons. It is a freshwater tank, and has been set up for approximately 3 months. There are two fish in the aquarium, both goldfish. One is an Egg Fish, the other is a fantail. There are no live plants, and the current temperature is unknown. My tank was a gift and has no filter, and no CO2 unit. My aquarium only receives indirect sunlight for about 9 hours during the day. The last water exchange was 90% yesterday. I perform changes every week and a half. My fish are fed nutramax goldfish flake food 2 times daily, only what they can eat in two minutes. I have a small bulb (not too bright) which is on for about 10 hours per day.
MY CONCERNS : I have had three fish, keeping two at a time. I first had my egg fish and a ranchu lion, and the ranchu contracted what i now know to be swimbladder disease and died. I waited about a week and a half, then introduced a new fantail goldfish from Petcetera into my tank which seemed quite healthy at the time. I did not know about having to quarantine them until last night when I stared looking for answers about my fish's illnesses. Since getting the fantail this last friday, there has been a severe outbreak of ick on both fish. I visited petcetera and purchased their anti-ick treatment, and the morning after using it i found that the fantail had been relieved of many of it's white spots, but that it's tail was now discintegrating. The eggfish (the original fish) has not improved at all, and simply sits on the bottom of the tank. Further, since arriving home tonight after a full day of the fish being exposed to the ick treatment (which was dosed in ABSOLUTELY the correct amount for the tank) the fantail is now exibiting symptoms that look like constipation and swimbladder disease, simply floating unbalanced and oblivious at the top of the tank.
MY PRIORITY is saving the Egg Fish, as I dont expect the fantail to live much longer, comparing it to how my ranchu lion lasted (the fantail is looking exactly the same as the day before the ranchu lion died). That means that the most important thing is treating his ick.
MY QUESTION is this...I just bought a bigger tank with a filter today (5 gallon with an Aquaclear filter). Should I separate the egg fish and treat him separately since he seems to only have ick while the other has ick as well as fin rot and swimbladder? and if so, is ick treatment best with medication, or is the salt method more effective.
IF SOMEONE COULD GIVE ME A DAY TO DAY SCHEDULE so that I know what to add when, and when to be changing the water, that would be much appreciated.
My water hasn't been tested for nitrate and whatnot, as I don't know how to do that, so I haven't got any testing equipment.
The last fish I bought was the now motionless and constipated fantail goldfish, and it was behaving perfectly normally in the petstore tank.

I hope someone can help me soon! as for now, I'll be changing the Egg fish into the new tank and hoping for the best. THANK YOU
 
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#27 ·
Well, I regret to say that since midnight last night, Buckley has died. He's not floating upsidedown or anything like the others did...he looks like he simply froze in the position he was last in and ended up floating against the filter intake sucker thing. So he looked very alive when I woke up, but for the fact that he wasn't moving. :( Does anyone have any idea why this would have happened? The water is at 73 degrees and he wasn't in any direct sunlight. I definitely didn't put too much medication in, because I put less than suggested, in case he wasn't used to it, you know? Hm..?

I turned off the filter and he just floated slowly up, still right side up. is that normal? I don't know. Anyway, since obviously goldfish are not right for this aquarium, if anyone has any ideas of what kind/how many fish I can put in this 5 gallon, please tell me. Maybe something small like neon tetras? I guess I'd be looking for fish that are hardy that can live around 73 degrees in my size tank. Let me know what you'd suggest.

(Thank you all for your help, by the way. Even though he died, I did see a big improvement by last night. Pretty good for two days.)
 
#28 ·
Aw :( So sorry to hear about Buckely!!

:dunno: He was pretty bad, it might have just been to much for him. Theres really no way to tell what finally killed him. Lol I've never once had a fish go 'belly up' seems weird because I thought all fish did that. But nope, I normally find them stuck on the filter intake, or just rocking in the current.

You should really invest in a little heater and get a Betta!! A betta would be perfect for a 5 gallon tank, but only if theres a heater in it. But a heater will only run you like ten bucks.
 
#29 ·
I'm sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, that definitely wasn't ich, or at least not *just* ich. It looks primarily to me like it was a fin rot or some other fungal problem. While Pimafix is an antifungal, it was far too weak to treat an infection which was so far progressed. Although you don't have a water test kit, it seems pretty certain that this problem was brought on by poor water quality.

I'm really sorry if this sounds harsh. It's not meant to be, I know that you were completely misinformed by your fish store and I commend you for being so receptive to help and suggestions once you found this resource. I just thought you'd appreciate knowing so you can prevent it from happening again. :)

As for other fish- if you don't plan on getting a heater your choices are somewhat limited. However, it doesn't mean you can't get some very cool fish. What you need is a small, subtropical or coldwater fish. Personally, I think killifish are incredibly cool, and rather addictive. Most stay very small, many are incredibly colorful and they are ridiculously hardy. For example, here's a species that I keep: http://www.killi.co.uk/speciesProfile/Aphyosemion/gabunense/. Most of the algae eating shrimp also do well in colder water, so you could add some colorful Red Cherry Shrimp if you wanted as well. Another good candidate would be the Paradise fish. They are related to bettas and are also very hardy.

My suggestion would be to completely disinfect your tank and then to read up on the nitrogen cycle of aquariums, which we refer to as "cycling". This will be the key to starting a happy, healthy tank. You'll also need a good liquid test kit before getting your next fish, as this is how you will monitor the water and make sure there aren't any water quality issues like this time.
 
#30 ·
Thank you both for your direct answers! I don't need to have the truth skirted around, no :), it's better to just hear that what I did was stupid, and I can accept that! haha.

Anyway, I'm hoping that someone has a source for cleaning and cycling a tank after an infection. I really need a step by step guide so I don't mess up, just until i get used to doing these things. I need to know stuff like what to use to disinfect, how long i need to let it sit/scrub it, whether filter inserts should be changed, and a good way to clean rocks! All that kind of thing.

Also, even though I dont have a heater, I would be willing to get one. I don't want to be limited in my choice. But yes...I'm looking for hardy, colorful fish! It'd be nice to have more than one...but I guess the annoying thing is that to have more than one in a small tank, they end up being tiny..is that right? Even if I could have three fish, that'd be good. I just remember being annoyed when I had 8 neon tetras with my mom, because I could hardly ever see them! Anyway, let me know!

Thanks again. [/u]
 
#32 ·
Those killies- probably 1 male and 3 females would work well. They're not shy fish, so you'd probably see them a lot.

The problem with small fish is that many of the common ones are schooling fish- which means a proper group of them requires a larger aquarium. If you want to get a heater you could get a betta- which are really interesting fish. They're quite hardy and obviously easy to find. Dwarf puffers would work in a 5 gallon, if you're up for it. Unfortunately they're very sensitive fish and picky eaters, so they might not be the best ones to try right away, but it's a thought.

IMHO I would get some killies, as they're much more rare and exotic than a betta, but also kinda hard to kill. I'm quite killifish obsessed right now though so I'm bias.
 
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