bavareze

hi.

i have a 10gallon tank, 4 gold fish and one sucker fish. fed with tetra flakes, no warming, carbon filters. water changed every 3 months or so and drops added with fresh water.

everything has been just fine with the fish since i got them from the last owner. however, 2 days ago i noticed some body inflations on one of the goldfishes. one larger and 3-4 smaller. fish still eats and is pretty active.

please help me with some advice on how to fix him. thanks!

pictures of the fish are here:

Picasa Web Albums - radu - Sick Fish

thanks!

louistheloach

Hey welcome to the forum,

There is a lot of great information and friendly people here that will be willing to help out. I'm sure more will be along soon.

Not sure what the raised spots are on the fish, but am I to understand that you only do water changes every three months or so.......if that is true, it could be a problem with water quality.....lots of icky stuff building up in the water.

Are you tracking your water parameters:

ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH. If not, it would be helpful to get some liquid test kits for each of them, then post back with the results. No one will really be able to help without knowing where your tank is in regard to the parameters above.

thank you,

ltl

__________________
125 gallon planted freshwater community
Rainbows, loaches, Corys, Rasboras, Featherfin Synodontis, SAE's, Ottos, Bristlenose

bavareze

okay, i will get some and post results. i was just following the instructions from the previous owner. she said gold fish are the easyest to maintain...

peanutbowl

i have seen it mentioned that a ten gallon tank is really not big enough for one goldfish, let alone 4 along with another "sucker". it will be interesting to see what your parameters are, but i am sure they will be somewhat out of whack considering your water change schedule vs. the goldfishs' bioload. just out of curiousity, how much water do you change out when you do your water changes? you should at least consider doing weekly water changes in the ten to twenty five percent range.

__________________
29g High Tech Planted w/ Rainbows, Platies, Cories, and Shrimp
12g freshwater w/ 1 blue paradise gourami

Venus911

I've got a member on my site that has a goldfish with these similar welts that you describe. They are really unlike anything I've seen before. Check out the first image in this group; any similarity? SpookieBlacksPics[373].zip

You should be exchanging 20% to 30% of tank water every week using water treatment that eliminates chlorine, chloramines if you're on city water.

I would think your fish are at risk for nitrate poisoning, but as long as they have an appetite you can assume they haven't been affected.

I was confused about the carbon; yes you have carbon or no you don't? Carbon should be replaced every two weeks in a cycled tanks, or even removed. It leach deadly toxins if not. It's actually used for tropical fish to keep the water looking fresher and doesn't work well with the nitrogen cycle.