sick black moor

[freddy]

hi....

i'm a newbie. i need help. i have a 29 gln. tank w/ 2 goldfish, a black moor-3 years old and a tricolor goldfish-2 years old(i don't know the name - i call him queenie).

both are losing color on their tail fins, the black moor has a white splotch on his tail fin and whitish film on his head. queenie has been corner hiding. i have treated them with maroxy to treat the black one's true fungus (that's the diagnosis that most closely matched the symptoms) and followed up w/ maracide. the whitish splotch and the whitish film have started to go away but not completely. the tank was so cloudy that i did a 20% water change 1 day before completing the last day of meds. upon further investigation, i think the black moor may have chilondonella. has anyone ever treated their fish for this and if so how? as well, any suggestions and opinions would be appreciated.

[Tommy Gun]

From what I just read in this book I have, if you are right about it being chilondonella, then you want to treat fow two things, specifically a parasititic infection of the skin as well as an antibacterial medicine to prevent a secondary infection. The book says that you can slow this down by raising the temperature in your tank to above 75 degrees, possibly 80 degrees since that is out of the range of the ideal temperature for this parasite to breed and reproduce. The book states that this parasite is generally found in cold water tanks where there is a lot of waste production and I cannot think of a better example than in a goldfish tank since it is both cold and they are high waste producing fish.

[freddy]

yes, goldfish are messy.

i don't use a heater in my tank, however after reading your post and a website that i like about goldfish, i am going to use my heater and raise the temp. gradally to 76 degrees. i hope this kills the parasite and i think that i might have healthier fish by keeping a constant in the low 70's. do you have any advise on how much i should raise the temperature each day?

thanks.....

[Sniperelite8243]

1 degrre per 1 hour - 1:30hour. that should be enough to raise it without a fish getting stressed. you could increase the time per degree though to be safe.