gold fish problem- blotchy red marks

silkyuk9

Just cleaning my gold fish out and ive noticed 2 gold fisg have red blotches on their nose and body, I also have a white 'gold' fish that seem bloated and im sure is becoming see through. Its odd.

Any ideas please

Notsosharp

What sort of goldfish are they and what size tank are they in?

Does it have a filter and/or an air pump and how often do you change the water?

Does the white "bloated" one look like a pine cone (Eg: Scales sticking out)?

Is there anything in the tank that may have caused the injuries?

Froglet

Sounds like a bacterial infection,and as previous poster says,dropsy.If you have common goldfish then unless they are in a large tank,and I do mean large,and with good filtration,then it will be definitely down to water quality.

You should not be "cleaning them out" you should be doing regular water changes,using dechlorinator.A lot of factors come into the health of fish and unless you can test the water and improve that first,no amount of medication will work.

We can help but as the previous poster says,we need facts first.

silkyuk9

Notsosharp wrote: »

What sort of goldfish are they and what size tank are they in?

Does it have a filter and/or an air pump and how often do you change the water?

Does the white "bloated" one look like a pine cone (Eg: Scales sticking out)?

Is there anything in the tank that may have caused the injuries?

Yes the white one does look like a pine cone!

Ok these are regular gold fish the white one was adopted a few years ago. Basically the tank is 24 inch long 12 wide and 12 deep I have maybe 3 gallons of water in it. I clean them out around every 3 weeks or when the water starts to become dirty (cloudy) There is only some weed in there however thrown that away today a good selction of pebbles in the bottom. Ive had these fish for over 3 or 4 years. i put in aqua safe and do clean the tank out with of milton.

Never had issues with them before. I have now cleaned the water and put in 6 tea spoons of salt solution.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Tank's too small.

Is there a biological filter?

Froglet

Oh dear.For a start the white one stands no chance,dropsy is fatal and all stems from poor water quality.You do have more than 3 gallons of water in there but the tank is still nowhere near big enough for one fish,never mind 3.No filter is a death sentence in itself.Your fish are living in their own waste all the time and the ammonia they produce burns their skin and gills.

The only thing you can do now if you want to stand any chance of saving them is to get the largest storage tub you can find,fill it with declorinated water,but also leave room for what they are currently in,and add that too..Place them in that and replace up to 30% of the water in there every day.Then look around for a much bigger tank and a filter.

Your fish have been stunted and affected by living like this for as long as you've had them.Sorry to be harsh but they are in anything but the right conditions.Even then they may well not survive.

Please take a read here and then perhaps you will understand just how much care needs to go into keeping fish.

http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/showthread.php?t=74323 and here http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/showthread.php?t=82687 this website http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/index.php
is the best there is out there and will help anyone with advice.

Notsosharp

The white fish needs to be put out of it's misery, I would suggest a hard whack on the head. I had a fish with dropsy (it was a fair goldfish) and it didn't get better no matter what I did for it.

If you are going to keep them in the tank they're in then you at least need to get them a filter, round my way there's a facebook page that sells fish equipment and I've seen some fantastic tanks on there for not a lot of money including a marine set up with two clown fish for £200! A good filter might be £30 but it'll be worth it, goldfish are messy creatures and they need the best filter you can get because they produce A LOT of poo.

Just because you haven't had issues with them before doesn't mean you're not ever going to have issues. It's possible they're getting bigger now and thus producing more waste.

If you're not going to get them a bigger tank then at least get them a filter.

I got my tank for a bargain; I got it from a charity shop with filter, lid and light for £10 :eek:.

Just keep an eye out OP, there's bargains out there and the best thing you can do for those fish is keep their water clean and change it as often as possible. They'll start looking and feeling healthier.

Someone on another forum said "I don't keep fish, I keep good quality water" and that's very true! It's not the fish you need to worry about, its the water!

silkyuk9

Notsosharp wrote: »

The white fish needs to be put out of it's misery, I would suggest a hard whack on the head. I had a fish with dropsy (it was a fair goldfish) and it didn't get better no matter what I did for it.

If you are going to keep them in the tank they're in then you at least need to get them a filter, round my way there's a facebook page that sells fish equipment and I've seen some fantastic tanks on there for not a lot of money including a marine set up with two clown fish for £200! A good filter might be £30 but it'll be worth it, goldfish are messy creatures and they need the best filter you can get because they produce A LOT of poo.

Just because you haven't had issues with them before doesn't mean you're not ever going to have issues. It's possible they're getting bigger now and thus producing more waste.

If you're not going to get them a bigger tank then at least get them a filter.

I got my tank for a bargain; I got it from a charity shop with filter, lid and light for £10 :eek:.

Just keep an eye out OP, there's bargains out there and the best thing you can do for those fish is keep their water clean and change it as often as possible. They'll start looking and feeling healthier.

Someone on another forum said "I don't keep fish, I keep good quality water" and that's very true! It's not the fish you need to worry about, its the water!

Thanks for your advise, much appreciacted. Im giving the white one a fighting chance it seems ok and not got any worse. I dont want to kill it yet as i really feel I need to give it a go. since putting in recommended amount of salt in the water they have perked up a little.

Yes I do need a filter but unsure of what to buy, any ideas?

Froglet

What ever filter you buy,it will not be mature and working as it should for up to 6 weeks.Meanwhile your fish will go on suffering.

Unless you take the steps advised,and read up on the website i gave you the link for,they will just get more and more sick.A fish with dropsy will not get better.And the others will need large water changes and more space.Please consider their welfare.

Notsosharp

I'm sorry, I agree with Froglet, the best thing you can do for the white one is put it out of it's misery. Dropsied fish do not get any better they just get worse and eventually they bloat so much their insides begin escaping.

As soon as I saw mine had that I put it to sleep with a swift whack to the head.

I agree you do need to get a bigger tank for them; failing that do you know anyone with a pond that would be willing to take them? If they are common goldfish (long and thing as opposed to short and stubby like fan tails) they should really be in a pond.

It is a good thing you are getting a filter for them but you will have to "cycle" the tank like it's a new tank.

I can also recommend the practical fishkeeping site, it's given me some very helpful advice and helped me when I was just a beginner.

Froglet

Hi Notsosharp.Thanks for your comments.Yes the practical fishkeeping site is brilliant.Covers everything you could possibly need to know,and there are some very helpful,friendly and experienced people on there.

The sad thing is that these fish should have been in a pond from the word go,it is recommended now that all but the fancy goldfish leads a much healthier and happier life in the pond( I've got about 70 in mine!)

However it is getting a bit late to put them in a pond now,the difference in temperature and the fact they are already quite sick,would probably kill them.