I brought my big silver to my new home about 2 months ago now, and he made the 1200km car ride in great shape. He's set up in a 200gal black tub right now, filtered by an FX5. He lives in there with a 15" Pleco.
A week ago, I got a big fat goldfish, from a tank I was fairly sure was healthy. I put the goldie in my 50gl to observe for a while, but another fish that was in there took a good portion of his scales off, so I moved the goldie into the tub where he could find some peace and quiet. I also added salt at a TBSP/5gal
3 days ago, I found the goldfish dead. He had lost some more scales since being moved, and had some black colorations on the top of his body. At the time I figured it may have been from the dark environment in the tub. At the time I found the dead fish, my Aro wasn't interested in eating - I presumed he was distressed by the dead tankmate, possibly leaving the water in less than great shape. He was otherwise acting fairly normal.
So, the meat of the story; yesterday I did about a 75gl water change on the tub. The fish was making motions as though he didn't like the taste of the new water, but he's done this since he was little so I thought nothing of it. Today however, he is moving very slowly, spending a lot of time on the bottom. His skin looks mucousy, and his tail is almost pure white, and frayed. All parameters show zero by my test kit (though I'd have expected at least some nitrate). I did use dechlor when doing the water change, and the pleco is still acting normal, so I don't think the water had anything in it.
So help me unravel this, what is more likely, that the goldie had some disease and infected the Aro before dying? That the stress of the goldfish polluting the water coupled with the water change is just taking it's toll on him? I added some more salt today to bring the concentration back up to what it was before the water change, but I have not changed anything else. Temp is 76-78, and the pH is 8.0, which is where he's had it his whole life.
A week ago, I got a big fat goldfish, from a tank I was fairly sure was healthy. I put the goldie in my 50gl to observe for a while, but another fish that was in there took a good portion of his scales off, so I moved the goldie into the tub where he could find some peace and quiet. I also added salt at a TBSP/5gal
3 days ago, I found the goldfish dead. He had lost some more scales since being moved, and had some black colorations on the top of his body. At the time I figured it may have been from the dark environment in the tub. At the time I found the dead fish, my Aro wasn't interested in eating - I presumed he was distressed by the dead tankmate, possibly leaving the water in less than great shape. He was otherwise acting fairly normal.
So, the meat of the story; yesterday I did about a 75gl water change on the tub. The fish was making motions as though he didn't like the taste of the new water, but he's done this since he was little so I thought nothing of it. Today however, he is moving very slowly, spending a lot of time on the bottom. His skin looks mucousy, and his tail is almost pure white, and frayed. All parameters show zero by my test kit (though I'd have expected at least some nitrate). I did use dechlor when doing the water change, and the pleco is still acting normal, so I don't think the water had anything in it.
So help me unravel this, what is more likely, that the goldie had some disease and infected the Aro before dying? That the stress of the goldfish polluting the water coupled with the water change is just taking it's toll on him? I added some more salt today to bring the concentration back up to what it was before the water change, but I have not changed anything else. Temp is 76-78, and the pH is 8.0, which is where he's had it his whole life.
