Can any friends with fish help?

[CrabbyLover77]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping some of my fellow fish lovers could help me out. I rescued 3 goldfish back in October. When I got them home, Lucifer had red streaks on his fins. I figured it had come from him thrashing about a bit on the way home in the small travel tank (maybe broke some blood vessels).

Well, here we are in Dec and some of the streaks are still there. Now he also has a white spot on his eye. So I was thinking maybe it was some type of fungal or bacterial infection going on. He is still very active, eating, and no clamped fins or lethargy. All of the other fish are healthy and active. I've been treating the water with a combo of Pimafix and Melafix, for over a week, but the white spot and red fins are still there. I did the recommended 25% water change after a week of treatment. The water is still pretty hazy from the meds. My water parameters are good. No ammonia or nitrites, new water is always treated with Prime, and nitrates are always at 40 ppm or below, which is in the safe zone according to my test strips. I use a marine land canister filter that has 4 filter cartridges and 2 bio wheels. I can't take out the charcoal like is recommend for the meds because the cartridges are sealed shut. But I figured some of the meds must still be staying in the water and not getting filtered out with the water looking so hazy.

Do any of my fish friends on here have any suggestions of what to do/treat for next? Any and all advice would be much appreciated!

I attached a pic of the white spot on Lucifer's eye.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[blackberry75]

You will have to remove the cartridges with the carbon in them. It doesn't necessary remove the meds, however, it will neutralize them. Hence the water still being cloudy but seeing no improvements in the fish.

What are you using to test, strips or chemical tests? Since your parameters sound good, it doesn't seem to be a water quality issue. Red streaks seems like bacterial infection but could also be stress related.

Cloudy eyes are a common symptom across a variety of illnesses. Stress, infection, parasites, etc. Flukes are such a problem in goldfish that almost all fish you get these days are infected.

I would start out by removing anything with carbon from the tank, treat with your antibiotics/antifungal. If after treatment there's still no improvements, I'd get something that targets parasites. Alternatively, there are medications that treat for all 3 problems at the same time or salt baths, though I've no experience with salt baths.

Adding aquarium salt to your tank can help with fungal issues, just be aware it can alter your ph, kh, and gh-which can mess with your ammonia levels so follow package directions to the letter.

All that said I'm far from an expert and hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

[blackberry75]

Opps, just saw you said test strips. I would encourage you to invest in chemical tests(like api master test kit, for example). I don't think the strips give accurate results. Chemical tests are more reliable IMO.

Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

[wodesorel]

Tea tree oil for fish is a scam! It's been scientifically studied that it doesn't do a thing for bacteria or parasites. Biggest junk treatment ever.

I would suggest doing a large water change and to keep doing regular water changes for a while, if you aren't already. Clean water can do a LOT for the health of these guys. I've been advised by exotic vets and one who used to work for a major aquarium that the first treatment for any suspected illness is cycling new water through their system as much as possible for as long as possible. I've had it work myself for unexplained issues.

Have you been changing the cartridges in the filter? Once they are in they need to stay in, because removing them will cause mini cycles you may not be catching unless you are testing regularly, and that of course can stress the fish and cause illnesses to pop up. I also agree that the strip tests aren't as accurate, but I think you'd be catching something by now if the cycle was the problem.

Could the red lines just be his coloration? Red lines for illness would be bacterial infections, but by the time they show up it indicates that it is a severe infection and the fish either die quickly or recover. Three months is just too long to be living with that bad of an infection and not showing at least some other major signs like severe weight loss or spreading infection. When I've had new fish pop with that symptom it's usually death in a couple days, even with aggressive treatment. He shouldn't be looking that good if he had bacteria for that long.

The spot on his eye looks more like irritation than a sign of illness. They can develop eye issues like cataracts, or just injury. It's so perfectly symmetrical that it doesn't seem like an illness. It could be eye flukes, but the treatment for that is the same as the deworming I mention below.

Goldies do well with salt in the tank. I have never liked using it for freshwater, but when they get sick it really does help. I took in a dozen feeder goldfish this past summer and they all broke with multiple issues. Lost a few, saved most. Salt made a difference while they were in treatment. I only used it because AussieJJ told me to!

I would strongly suggest doing a good deworming and seeing if that helps. Goldfish in particular have a heavy parasite load and that can affect them in other ways. I did praziquental (Prazipro) and metronidazole (not at the same time) to clean them out, and the difference was night and day. It's not always easy to find the right worming meds either, for fish or for other pets. I had to special order from Big Als because no one else is carrying it.

When it comes to stronger meds I'm always hesitant to just start throwing things at fish, because the meds can be just as deadly as what they are treating. When I first started out fish keeping I am positive I killed more fish than I saved by reading things online and overmedicating them in a panic. I've had much better results over the years by treating conservatively with the basics (fresh water, temp, salt, deworming) and then only stepping up when there are clear signs the fish are in trouble. It wouldn't hurt to have some meds on hand if they take a turn for the worse, a broad spectrum antibiotic like kanamycin maybe. Seachem makes a line of meds for under $10 a tube that are shelf stable for quite a while.

[CrabbyLover77]

Thank you Blackberry and Wodes!

Last night I stopped the Pimafix and Melafix treatments. I totally forgot I had aquarium salt in my supplies! I have a 40 gal tank, so I added 7 Tbsp since the tank isn't filled to the top (1 Tbsp for every 5 gal).

I usually do a 40-50% water change every 3 weeks since the goldies can be messy (I also have 3 tropicals in with them: clown pleco, upside-down catfish, and a Raphael catfish, all appx 11 years old). I have 8 snails that do a pretty good job of finding any leftover food that maybe hiding. When I only had one goldfish, I would rinse all four of the filters every water change and put them back. When I rescued the 3 addition fish, I started changing out 2 of the 4 filters at a time because they get pretty nasty, and rinsing the other 2 out. I never rinse or take out the rotating bio wheels so they can keep the good bacteria on them. I also don't take out/clean my aquarium ornaments so they can keep the good bacteria on them (the snails keep them free from algae).

I just did a 50% water change on 12/13, and then a 25% change on 12/21. I figured I'll let the salt sit for another couple of days before I do another water change. I'm hoping not to have to use more aggressive treatments, but will follow Wodes advice about deworming if necessary.

As for the red streaks on Lucifer's fins, the closer I look, the more it does look like that's his coloration! Silly me! It's at the end of his tailfins, so I assumed it was bad red streaks, not just color.

I ordered a regular test kit (not the strips) from Amazon last night too. It won't be in stock until Jan though. So I'll keep using my strips weekly until then. I also have an ammonia monitor that is in my aquarium at all times.
Thank you both so much for your help and quick responses! Lucifer thanks you too!

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[blackberry75]

How's your water puppy doing? Any improvement?

Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

[CrabbyLover77]

How's your water puppy doing? Any improvement?

Sent from my LM-K920 using Tapatalk

"Water puppy", I love that!

Thanks so much for following up. The red on the end of his fins did turn out to be just his coloration and not streaks. Silly me!
As for his eye, the spot is still there. I dosed the water with the recommended 1 time dosage of aquarium salt (if I do a water change I'll add a bit more to make up for what was taken out). I've also been adding Seachem Stress Guard to the water once/day for the last 6 days. Lucifer is still happy, loving his food, and very active. I'm wondering if it may be an injury that will just take time to heal.
Thanks again.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk