Is He Sick? Or Did He Eat Too Much?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Kittiee Katt

Kittiee Katt

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Aug 1, 2015
1,992
2,154
179
32
My House!
Hi, I have 10 small-med goldfish in a 400ltr, 5 foot tank. Ammonia: 0ppm. Nitrite: 0ppm. Nitrate: 10-20ppm. pH: 7.4. GH: unknown. KH: unknown. Temp 22°c. 40-50% weekly pwc. Prime as dechlorinator.

One of my smaller goldfish is being really lazy and kinda lethargic, he's just sitting on the bottom. There isn't to much wrong with the water, Nitrates are probably a bit high but otherwise pretty good, they come out of my tap at 10ppm. I put a few handfuls of azolla in there for them the other day and they scoffed it completely. I haven't fed them since I put the azolla in for them, because I didn't want to over feed them.. Is it possible that he just ate too much and is feeling bloated? None of the others are doing it, and the one who is being 'lazy' ate more than the others when I was watching them. I have a little 100ltr hospital tank that I can put him in if needed, but I don't want to move him unnecessarily.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Unlikely the azolla upset their stomachs, in fact goldfish need vegetation in their diet and can digest it well. I would be concerned that something(parasite/bacterium) may of hitchhiked in on the azolla, especially if it came from a LFS.
 
It came from a gardening store. Before I put it in their tank I sanitized it with a bleach/vinegar solution. One part bleach to nine parts vinegar, soaked for 120 seconds, then placed in a fresh bowl of water overdosed with prime, and left to sit for an hour and a half in that.. I'll separate him immediately and keep an eye on him. Is there any symptoms I can look for, to diagnose him?
 
I would watch for bloating, ulcers or signs of parasites and watch to see if the others show symptoms. Goldfish do have some genetic issues to consider. I think mainly, make sure they receive a lot of vegetable matter(water plants, peas, algae, etc.), they don't seem to do well on pellets alone.
 
The one that's sick is a hybrid from my comet and fantail.. He's missing his ventral fins, they never developed. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I was raising them so he could have all sorts if internal issues. :(

I should also say that he's missing two scales near his belly, I'm not sure how long they've been missing.. Could that be caused by parasites? Or could it just be a result of the "goldfish ball" that they end up in when they're begging for food? They get pretty rough in that ball sometimes..

They eat A LOT of fruit and veg. Daily they get any green veg I have laying around, every 2nd-3rd day they get any other kind of fruit/veg I have (grapes, berries, apples, so on), twice a week they get hikari goldfish staple, micro algae wafers and nls thera+a, and once a week a block of frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. Plus I try to keep plants in their tank for them to nibble on, most of them love the ambulia, one of them loves hair grass, another java moss, and so on. I buy more plants than I grow. :D

He's separated from the others now, I'm thinking about fasting him for a few days, would it hurt his recovery if I fast him for 48hrs?

Thank you heaps for all your help. :)
 
Fasting wouldn't be a bad idea. That is odd he is missing ventrals, maybe has some internal development issues too; sounds like they are receiving good care aside from that.
 
Thank you for all your help. I'm going to give him a salt bath tonight, he keeps flicking his top fin so I think he does have some form of external parasite at least.. What would I use to treat for an internal parasite? I'm actually not sure if he has an internal parasite, but I'd like to have meds on hand just in case.. Also, I'm in Australia, on a tiny island down the bottom and a lot of meds are prescription only here, and I can't get a prescription unless the fish is guaranteed sick. :/
 
I would salt dip him.(probably just picked some costia) I'm hearing good things about IckShield by New Life Spectrum. It sounds like you live in an incredible area....
 
Haha I live in a lower class area and have million dollar views out my lounge room window.. Its pretty awesome. :) How much salt would I use for a dip? Double the bath amount? Or more than that? Everything I read says something different and I'm worried I'm guna hurt him.
 
I dipped him in a 10ltr bucket with 5 tablespoons of salt for 3 minutes, and the others (who aren't showing any signs or symptoms YET) in a 10ltr bath each, dosed with 2½ teaspoons for 30 mins, just in case..

I just so happen to have metronidazole that I'd gotten for a cichlid suffering H.I.T.H a couple of months ago on hand, would that by any chance help him IF he has an internal infection? And more to the point, would it still be any good? The expiry date says 12/2017 but I assume that's for an unopened bottle. I'm not just going to throw it in his tank, but I'm wondering if it may help to put it in some food if he turns out to have an internal parasite?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom