HELP! Little fish in BIG trouble! (I think!?!)

After months of planning and cycling and dreaming and haunting fish shops, last Wednesday week, I bought a fish. At last! "Schnapps" is a peach coloured (get it?!? yea sad I know) oranda, an inch and a half long not including tail. She'd about fill a teaspoon, with an attitude bigger than the tank- I loved her instantly and completely when I saw her in the shop! (I say her, but I can't actually tell)

I was a little anxious for the first week but wrote is off as noob fishkeeper nerves, convinced I was seeing things that were not there. I was away for the last three days, and got back this morning. Looking at her with fresh eyes over the last couple of hours, I’m convinced she is a sick little fish.

When I bought her she had a lovely, uniform, black marking on the edge of her dorsal fin and black markings at the tips of both pelvic, and both anal fins. Now this is spreading deeper into the dorsal fin and has appeared at the tip of her claudal fin, and the tips of both pectoral fins, and the black tips at the pelvic and anal fins are getting bigger. She is still swimming around energetically, but she takes a dash and hits the thermometer with her gills or side every 5 mins or so. She has redish, sore looking patches just beside her claudal fin on both sides. Since the first day, she will eat a pea very slowly over two hours, spitting it out repeatedly, and she did the same this morning. When she was begging last week I offered her Japan Gold granules, soaked, but she spits them out and won’t eat them, and she did the same when I dropped one in the tank just now. She has lost a scale over the last three days, and gained five little white spots on her forehead.

So I hope that I am wrong in thinking fin rot, with flukes, and ich. I don’t want to be right. I was watching her last week thinking “no, it can’t be, what do I know, can’t be fin rot cause the fish wouldn’t be sold with fins like that if it was fin rot, etc.” But seeing the scale gone today has sent me over the edge, and I would not know where to start treating all these things if I am right.

Water this morning- temp 17 (no heater), ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate between 5 and 10, and pH 7.5, measured before a 10% water change. She is alone in the tank, 90l. I haven’t been able to get a good pic or video.

Right now she is swimming vigorously into the outflow of the filter. She’ll also come over to the glass and touch her nose to my finger (except when I say the words “look what she does!”) She is gorgeous, I really really love this fish!

What should I do now? I’d appreciate any help- signed Schnapps’ anxious “Mum”

I tested the water using a nutrafin mini master test kit, (best before date of kit is October 2013.)

Edit- BTW the water was reading 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and less than 5 nitrate last week when I tested.

It is good that you have made notes in changes in behaviour and changes in colouration rather than just gone by water test parameters.

Black colours on goldfish are interesting in view of a couple of things. The way the skin colour pigments change change with age, but they also change with skin damage.

The increased melanin in the fins could genetic or it could (and this is most likely) due to a reaction of the fish to protect damaged areas from UV. ie something wrong with the fish.
Now, that could be simple abrasion damage or it could be white-spot or it could be reaction to protection after fin damage from, say, bacteria or fungus.

As with JohnH, a good water change again with a good water conditioner will work wonders.....it may not cure any infections, but it is the least that should be done. Making sure water temps are equal.

I don't like recommending ad hoc medication, but a mild medication such as eHSa 2000 might be useful.
There are better medications, but eSHa 2000 is quite mild.

Pictures or videos would be useful.

ian

I hope this gives a look at the fins at least. I am relying on the video on my phone and she is not cooperating, she is moving too fast! In addition to which, the tank has no lighting of its own, and I have a desk lamp over it to try to get lighting for the video.

Edit- cannot get link to work,

edit again- now it's working, but looks even worse on the computer screen than on the phone. I'll try again later with another camera!

From that video, that looks like a good fish.

I cannot see any red-lines at the base of fins. It is swimming much like you'd expect a young globe goldfish to swim.

Maybe a longer video would help, but nothing more than normal water changes is needed. But, there maybe still be something that I cannot see in the video.

Keep an eye it anyway.

ian

Thank you- that is very reassuring. I'll go ahead with 10% change this evening and I'll get another video up and see if things still look good.

Not that this video is any better to see colour or detail, but she is so cute doing her favourite thing, surfing the outflow from the filter!

Hi there, if she's 'flashing' off the side of the thermometer as you suggest it could perhaps be a parasite?
You should consider starting a diagnosis thread on Koko's Goldfish Forums. It's a great place for this sort of thing. Just Google it.

Black markings appearing rather than disappearing and red marks.....ammonia burn from her previous life in less-than-ideal water conditions? Flashing indicates parasites.

Use Koko's Goldfish forum at your own risk. You will be expected to have your life revolve around a goldfish and vilified if you refuse.

belueberry wrote:

You will be expected to have your life revolve around a goldfish and vilified if you refuse.

What?!? Are your lives not ruled by the being in the tank in the corner?!?! Wow! Really?!? I have Shnapps for two weeks today and I twitch every time she moves. But she is gorgeous!

I'm a little more relaxed about the "symptoms" now, I have been doing daily 10% changes and if there is any good in clean water she has it got. I am still watching carefully though (see twitching above!)

Incidentally, I am now officially a fishkeeper- I have had my first leak!! Two buckets approx on the carpet when the airline came loose and formed a little syphon!

Signed schnappsmom (the human formally known as Muirgheasa!)

Congratulations on becoming a fish keeper

Get yourself some non return valves for the airline(s) you will save your carpet and possibly an air pump.
And oh yeah they're cheap as chips also.

LOLz- wouldn't you know it?!? The airline came loose at the non-return valve, so some help that was!

Edit- BTW, is the leak going to smell before it dries? I'm just wondering, cause the weather is quite warm.

Schnapps black marks are noticeably clearing up now, some of the marks at the tips of the fins seem to be completely gone. I was worried about the fact she is still taking a mad dash every so often and rubbing against the thermometer, but I just read this-

www.goldfish-emergency.com/articles.php?article_id=100

I wonder if this is my problem with the rubbing. I have been putting "a drop" of prime straight from the bottle in each bucket of fresh water, but I haven't been too accurate and haven't been worried if a bit more than "a drop" went in. I didn't think it was possible to overdose.

What do ye think?

In other news, the leak is drying up nicely, no smell this morning!

schnappsmom wrote:

I have been putting "a drop" of prime straight from the bottle in each bucket of fresh water, but I haven't been too accurate and haven't been worried if a bit more than "a drop" went in. I didn't think it was possible to overdose.

Prime is simple to use . ( 5 ml for 200 litres )therefore Its approx 1ml for every 40 litres . 0.5ml for 20 litres , .25 for 10 .. etc ..


However what you need to do is let it settle in the water for at least day .. let the water mature . So , iif your bucket is a 20 liter fill it , put in 0.5mil of prime and let it site for 24 hours ( i leave my change water sit for days ) . Dont just fill up the bucket add the prime and dump it in .. also dont worry about OD'ing the water with prime , i usually add a bit more , never had an issue

LOLZ! I have got to get that on a bumper sticker!

Edit- Since I can't manage the bumper sticker, my profile pic will have to do. Thanks CrustyCrab!

bmcg38 wrote:

However what you need to do is let it settle in the water for at least day .. let the water mature . So , iif your bucket is a 20 liter fill it , put in 0.5mil of prime and let it site for 24 hours ( i leave my change water sit for days ) . Dont just fill up the bucket add the prime and dump it in .. also dont worry about OD'ing the water with prime , i usually add a bit more , never had an issue

bmcg38, thank you for the advice. My rubbing issue went away when I started letting the water mature before water changes, and five weeks later I haven't seen her take a dash at the thermometer since.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Good news glad to hear it