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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Complete novice needs advice on sick goldfish

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30 Dec 2009 13:20 - 30 Dec 2009 13:31 #1 by Robbie65 (Rob)
Hi,

I have just received 3 gold fish as a surprise xmas present and one now seems to be sick. All three seemed to be fine and are eating werll but one seems to get tired fairly quickly and rests at the bottom of the tank. Also lastnight I noticed a mite like little creature on the sick goldfishs fin.

I am attaching a picture of the goldfish so you will be able to tell what type of goldfish he is and also see the mite type object on his fin. He also has a little lump his back so I am not sure if that is another problem he might have.

Like I said I am complete novice so all advice appreciated. I will be dropping to the petshop to try get some type of mite killer to add to the water.

Ok I am unable to get my picture small enough to attach. I have it posted on this site www.petgoldfish.net/site/health-and-illn...cted-t273.0.html;new


Cheers,
Rob
Attachments:
Last edit: 30 Dec 2009 13:31 by Robbie65 (Rob). Reason: adding link to picture

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30 Dec 2009 13:52 #2 by paulbohs (Paul Doyle)
There is very little you can do for a sick goldfish without it getting very expensive. Have you the basics right ie. cycled tank before goldfish added, de-chlorinator for your tap water. Treatments for parasites and the equipment to keep them away are expensive but are possible.

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30 Dec 2009 14:01 #3 by Robbie65 (Rob)
Hi Paul,

I got the the tank/fish as a present for xmas. The tank was setup two weeks before any fish were added and I added the suppliment to my tape water so it would be ok to use.

The hard thing is i can see the parasite on the back of the fin but I am afraid if i took the fish out to try to remove this it would kill him. I was hoping there was a standard suppliment you could get to add to the water that would kill this mite.

As I said complete novice so im probably going to learn the hard way by losing one of my goldfish.

Cheers for the advice.
Rob

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30 Dec 2009 15:15 #4 by paulbohs (Paul Doyle)
Ok sounds good. Are you anywhere near a good petshop? petstop blanchardstown, aquarium solutions ashbourne, aquatic village brittas? these guys stock the medications defenitely petstop as I have seen them there.

You can catch the goldfish and remove the parasite by hand on most occasions. Usually the parasite has reproduced 100's of offspring though so you will need to treat the tank many times to interrupt the life-cycle

A copper or formalin based medication is what you need and can be dosed directly into the aquarium. Will kill invertibrates such as shrimp but I think you just have the 3 fish. I think this is the best course of action. There are more extreme methods if you cant get the parasites in your substrate and interrupt their lifecycle but removing the parasite and/or treating with a copper/formalin based medication will sort out this gold fish.

Your goldfish arrived with this parasite so i'd avoid that petshop when purchasing fish in future.

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30 Dec 2009 15:23 #5 by Robbie65 (Rob)
Thanks Paul for the advice I live near the pet shop in blanchardstown shopping centre so ill head there do its also were I was told the fish were purchased!!

Either way I just want to get rid of the little parasite from the goldfish and then make sure that its killed off so ill go with getting the treatment for the tank. Kill them off and hopefully the foldfish will be fine again.

Thanks again once I know its not something I have done wrong and more than likely this came with the fish im happy.

Cheers,
Rob

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31 Dec 2009 15:24 #6 by Robbie65 (Rob)
Thanks for the advice Paul i cleaned that off his fin lastnight and treated the water to kill off any more little creatures that may be in the water and hes back to himself. Hopefully thats all that was affecting him.

Cheers,
Rob

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31 Dec 2009 16:17 #7 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
Robbie65 wrote:

I added the suppliment to my tape water so it would be ok to use.


hi

youve glossed over an important detail here
unless have misread it

what supplement?

if its just a dechlorinater the tank has not cycled
and its time to take evasive action

let us know

rgds

4

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31 Dec 2009 16:28 #8 by Robbie65 (Rob)
Hi,

Ok like i said complete novice so you can tell me if im about to kill my fish or not. The tank was cycled for about 1 week prior to the fish being placed in the tank, added to the water was Nutrafin Aqua plus fixes the tap water and nutrafin cycle biological helps the cycle of the tank so not sure if thats right to do before the fish are added.

As the fish seem to have some little parasite I removed him from the fishes fin and added Anti Crust & Parasite solution to the water aswell.

Like i said complete novice and trying to leatn hopefully I have added the right stuff, if not let me know what i need to do.

Cheers,
Rob

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31 Dec 2009 16:45 #9 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hiya robbie

that all sounds okay
although I think you should have added the cycle stuff
with the fish, not sure about the brand you have used though

anyway it should be fine

i was just checking about the cycle additive
when i started i knew nothing and used a dechlorinator
thinking that was all i needed, you can guess the outcome...:(

a water test kit is a nice thing to have
when you start out or get your water tested in your local shop
if you want peace of mind on the cycle

best of luck with it all

rgds

4

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31 Dec 2009 18:20 #10 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
was the fish healthy when you added him, i very much doubt it. people put goldfish in bowls with no problems, which i dont agree with. but there is no way a parasite can arrive in an empty tank , he came in with the fish. bring it back to the shop and get a replacement after you medicate the tank.

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02 Jan 2010 18:46 #11 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re:Complete novice needs advice on sick goldfish
Hi,

A lot of cold water fish keepers would say a salt water bath is effective in ridding fish of lice etc, google the details because the amount of salt to water and the fish size are needed to make up the required Bath.

The temp of your water is important too as the Oxygen disolved in it is higher than it is in warm room temperatures.

Strains of man designed fish like bubble eyes, Lion Heads etc are more susceptable to infections as they tend to be weaker than say, standard fish.

Goldfish are fond of vegetable matter in their diet too rather than a totally processed food so you could try varying their diet with Spinach etc, remove uneaten food. If your Fish are in a cold room, reduce their feeding as their metabolism slows down leading to them swelling from uneaten food lodging in their Intestines.

Main advice is to contact a forum specialising in Cold water Fish.

Kev.

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