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May 23, 2013, 02:27:09 PM
Pet Goldfish - Aquarium Forum Community
Aquarium
Health and Illness
Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Topic: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco..... (Read 884 times)
salty-J
Jr. Member
Karma: 4
Posts: 64
Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
on:
February 21, 2010, 02:03:30 PM »
It's a copper color ryukin (I think), it's always been the smallest of the goldfish, but for a while it's been spending a lot of time sort of floating near the surface, just hanging around there, not really gasping or anything. Also it's double tail has 1 side fine, and the other side sort of ragged, and 1 side fin is normal and the other one is red at its' base and the fish is not using it at all. I just read through the diseases section of this site and it seems like the side fin may be from an ulcer (?) does this sound right? What should I do about it? All the other goldfish, (7 fish all together, 60 gallons) seem to be fine, and even growing quite a bit! The nitrite levels are kind of high so I've been treating the water with "Stability" by Seachem, have added aquarium salt and and done 2 @ 20% water changes so far.....our water is pretty hard as well, I was going to look into some water softening products.....any advice?
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Mindemae
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #1 on:
February 21, 2010, 03:27:21 PM »
Sounds to me like your fish has fin rot and should be removed from the community tank to a hospital tank.
Add salt 1 tBS per 5 gallons of water. Your fish may also have to be treated for a bacterial infection. I would use melafix according to bottle directions. If after 3 days you see no improvement then your fish will have be treated also with an antibiotic such as tetracycline. Your aquatic store will have this on hand.
Good Luck!
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Nossie
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #2 on:
February 21, 2010, 03:42:09 PM »
First of all, no need to do anything about the hardness, goldfish don't really care about that
But since you checked your nitrite levels, maybe you also tested everything else important? Like pH, carbonate hardness, nitrates and ammonia? If so, please tell me the results of them as well (: It might be a problem with the pH value (causes fish to hover, if it lowers more, their skin gets milky) or oxygen levels. Do you have good filter/water circulation in your tank? Or any extra air stones?
Secondly, his tail sounds like it's really in a bad condition... this is most likely caused by poor water conditions, bacterial infections, stress or parasites. And the reason that it's torn could be because your other fish find it tasty. That's just how fish are d:
This can be healed fairly easily (: First you check on all your water parameters, are they good? If it's okay, you can simply do a 50% water change, remove your live plants, and treat your tank with salt, as Mindemae said. (Or move the sick fish to a hospital tank, if you have the possibility, and if you intend to use medicines.) If you don't have a hospital tank, you could add salt to a 0.3% solution, meaning one tablespoon per gallon. And split it up in three doses, giving one every 12 hours to allow your fish to get used to it.
After this is done, you should just observe your fish. Is he getting any better? Are his eating habits good, is he getting more active? Observing is half the battle!
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salty J
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #3 on:
February 21, 2010, 11:21:25 PM »
Hmm.....the test I used was "Quick Dip" by Jungle, I don't know how accurate it is, but just re-tested, (it tests for nitrate, nitrite, hardness, chlorine, alkalinity and pH) but it's not those little bottles, so I don't know if it's any less accurate, but the nitrite reading is apparantly off the charts.....
Nitrates @ 20, Nitrites over 10.0 if I'm reading it correctly, the square is pinker than any of the options on the chart, the pinkest of which is 10.0..... the water hardness is 150, chlorine is 0, total alkalinity somewhere between 80 and 120, and pH @ 7.8.......it's a 60 gallon tank, with a 70 gallon rated air pump which I have delivering air to 3 different areas, and the filter is rated up to 100 gallons, so I should be ok there I think. There are a lot of live plants in there which I thought should be healthy, but is it possible to over plant? I also have added 8 Japanese Trapdoor snails about 2 weeks ago....but just talking to my wife and she confirms I'd been commenting about Coco's strange behavior since before the snails......a medi-tank sounds like a good way to go but is not really an option right now, unless I use a 5 gallon plastic bucket (?)
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salty-J
Jr. Member
Karma: 4
Posts: 64
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #4 on:
February 21, 2010, 11:27:25 PM »
......also, his body is shaped kind of different from the others like him.
.....he's sort of longer and thinner......I'm going to try and post some sort of video to show you guys.......
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Nossie
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #5 on:
February 22, 2010, 04:49:09 AM »
I don't think it is possible to over plant an aquarium... so no need to worry! Still, your water values sound a little bit scary. How long has this tank been up and running? It might not be completely cycled yet. So it might be good to get some biological filter booster! You need to bring these nitrite and nitrate levels down! It might be that you added too many fish too fast, and that their waste is overpowering the beneficial bacteria in your filter.
First things first, repair your water parameters! Doesn't it say on the test what you should do if they're too high/low?
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salty-J
Jr. Member
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Posts: 64
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #6 on:
February 22, 2010, 08:50:20 AM »
the tanks' only been up for just under a month. I did add the fish too fast, I put 'em right in without waiting to cycle the tank, as I'd not yet been enlightened on all the details, and I have the patience of a 5 year old, but since then, I'm doing everything I can to bring the levels into specs and adding this good bacterial solution, done, 2 20% changes, aquarium salt, etc.....been trying like **** to post this video of the little guys since last night, but having a hard time with that.....
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Nossie
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #7 on:
February 22, 2010, 09:42:11 AM »
Hm... so, to reduce the ammonia levels, you need to change about 70% of the water at a time, reduce the feeding, and possibly the amount of fish until the levels decrease. But since you have no test for this, you don't know if it's necessary... still change 50% before proceeding with the salt bath to keep the strength of the solution constant.
To help your fish survive a nitrite rise (which you have) add aquarium salt to a 0.3% solution, meaning one tablespoon per gallon, split up in three doses added every 12 hours. (Any live plants should be removed before treating with salt.)
Since your nitrates are at 20, you don't have to worry about this much for now, it's usually harmful when it's above 40 or 50 ppm, as it makes the fish more prone to disease and infections. Levels over 200 ppm are toxic to fish, and may kill them.
Getting a quarantine tank would be very helpful for treating fish in the future, and since you might need to have less fish in the current tank until it's cycled, it might be beneficial for you to get one... to speed up the cycling process, you should keep the water around 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and "feed" the tank with no fish in it. This will encourage the presence of beneficial bacteria. Of course, test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels of the new tank, and see to it that the ammonia is down at a definite 0 before moving any fish over there!
But, do try to repair the water levels first, I think it might be a bit much for you to get a second tank up and running just because of some water quality problems (:
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Mindemae
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #8 on:
February 22, 2010, 10:23:00 AM »
Omg! Don't do a 70% water change!!!! Your tank is trying to cycle!! You need to let it cycle and removing that much water is just back to square one. Instead do a 10% water change every day if necessary to get those nitrate levels down. Check or test your water chemistry every day or every other day! As nitrite levels rise you wil see the nitrate levels begin to show and when nitrates are established you will see your nitrites begin to go down or vanish altogether.
The 5 gallon bucket will be fine to treat your fish in just provide aeration to it while you treat him.
Put 1 TBS salt in the bucket with the fish and get some melafix and use according to directions. It has tea tree oil in it which is very healing and soothing to torn fins as well as injuries and body sores.
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Nossie
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
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Reply #9 on:
February 22, 2010, 03:36:44 PM »
The 70% change was for excess ammonia, which is most likely not present since the nitrate levels are so high. Don't worry C:
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Mindemae
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Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
Reply #10 on:
February 22, 2010, 08:02:39 PM »
Your tank seems a bit overcrowded and I re-read your post and didn't see where you had extra aeration going for your goldfish. Goldfish use up alot of oxygen and the extra aeration will help the carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange better.
I also agree with Nossie that you might want to get a bacteria booster to jump start your tank and get that Nitrogen cycle up and running faster. I use something called stresszyme by API. You can add some right to your filter. Goldfish can tolerate NITRATE but not the NITRITES which you say are off the chart. In a newly, not established tank, nitrites can spike on their way to going through the nitrogen cycle.
Also, you say your filter runs 100 gph? I have 9 goldfish in a 55 gallon tank, some are quite large but my filter system runs 398 gph...so it gets rid of alot more wastes and purifys more water per hour. Goldfish are extremely dirty! They produce alot of wastes.
Please keep us posted as to how things are going regarding your fish and tank. It might take another month or so for your tank to finish cycling.
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salty-J
Jr. Member
Karma: 4
Posts: 64
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
Reply #11 on:
February 24, 2010, 01:01:15 AM »
no, I meant the filter is
rated
for a 100 gallon tank. But I was mistaken, it's actually rated for a 70 gallon. I don't know the GPH specifically, but images speak louder than words so here is a video of my tank.
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I add the beneficial bacteria juice, and did another 10 gallon water change since last post.....I put Coco in a medicine "tank" bucket
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I am treating it with Maracyn. He/She (how do you tell?) seems more active now too, so hopefully it's working.
You can see the tail damage more clearly in the bucket film, and how it uses only the one side fin...
«
Last Edit: February 24, 2010, 01:15:37 AM by salty-J
»
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biffop
Newbie
Karma: 1
Posts: 13
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
Reply #12 on:
February 24, 2010, 03:14:21 AM »
Omg! that is a stunning looking aquarium. You must have very steady hands
The little fish in the medicine (hospital) bucket looks very active, which is always a good sign for a sick fish. The tail damage will probably grow back in time, once the fish is completely healthy.
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Mindemae
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Posts: 2456
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
Reply #13 on:
February 24, 2010, 10:17:19 AM »
Absolutely gorgeous aquarium.
I think it may just need to finish cycling and Coco might have been weakened or stressed and the ammonia/nitrite spikes didn't help so he got a bacterial infection. When fish are stessed they are more suseptable to viruses, bacteria and other parasites. Looks like he is on his way to getting well.
I also see you have really good aeration going too.
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salty-J
Jr. Member
Karma: 4
Posts: 64
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
Reply #14 on:
February 24, 2010, 05:25:30 PM »
thanks!
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Katarine
Sr. Member
Karma: 72
Posts: 1247
Re: Help! Can't figure out what's wrong with little Coco.....
«
Reply #15 on:
February 24, 2010, 11:22:41 PM »
Lovely tank you have!
I like how you can see the tube for your bubbler.. I have no idea how to hide that st*pid thing.
^^ Hope all goes well for your fishy
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