Popeye and Fin and Tail rot!?

Question

I have one goldfish in a ten gallon tank! He has had really bad popeye and fin and tail rot for a LONG time! I have used every medication and antibiotic known to man and followed the directions exactally! One of his eyes went back in the other will not! What can i do to fix his problems also how can i be sure he is happy and healthy! Besides the mentioned problems! Any suggestions would be helpful!

Answer 1

Did you check the ammonia levels and the nitrite levels? Popeye and finrot are often caused by poor water conditions. Frequent water changes of about 20-30% should help a lot. You should do this at least once a week, even twice until he's better. Melafix is also a good antibiotic to try if you haven't tried it yet. The water changes should make the biggest difference and be sure to keep up with them once he's better to prevent this from recurring.

Answer 2

I agree with everything Carson said. Buy a test kit, even if it's just the strip ones, though the drops are better. Get one that will at least test ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. You should have 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and 40 or less ppm nitrates(20 is better though). Or you could take a water sample to your pet store, most will test it for you, but you should have some at home to do your own tests.

Same thing as already mentioned, do weekly water changes, at least 20%. I'd do them twice a week (have a feeling your water quality is poor due to the diseases) until the levels check out normal.

Also, you did remove any carbon from your filter before adding the meds? Carbon will remove the meds, making the treatment useless. And, if you've treated the tank with antibiotics, it probably killed off your beneficial bacteria in the tank, causing it to do another cycle, which would lead to additional poor water conditions.

Do the water change. Get some tetracycline and pick up some MelaFix as well. The MelaFix is a natural remedy, but probably costs more then the tetracycline. Good to have on hand though.

One more suggestion, I'm guessing you're using a filter that came as a combo with the tank? They're ok, better than nothing, but not that great. Upgrade it to a better one. A 10 gallon you need a filter that puts out at least 100 gph, get one that puts out at least 200 gph or more.

Answer 3

Do a 25% water change once a week until it clears up the diseases. Most common reason goldfish get popeye is because the tank needs a good cleaning. Goldfish are dirty fish. The fin rot is caused by another fish picking on the goldfish's fins or because of a fungus. If you are treating the tank, make sure to take the carbon out of your filter, otherwise it will filter out all the medication you are putting in the tank. Try a really good fungus medication. They can be found at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and at pet stores. Mela-fix or Meta-fix (can't remember the name) is a great medication. It smells like halls menthol cough drops!! Good Luck!!

Answer 4

fin and tail rot is due to water quality or physical damage to the fish. make sure you over filter the aquarium and watch the feeding! Popeye is a viral infection that causes fluid retention behind the eyes. not the easiest condition to treat. improve the water quality and things may improve.

Answer 5

Water antibiotics aren't that effective for internal infections.
I'd try and get some medicated food down him. metromed can be ordered online. More info on it is here:
http://thegab.org/Articles/MedicatedFood.html

You can make up your own home made medicated gel food. Here's a recipe
http://thegab.org/Articles/MedicatedGelFood.html

I agree on making sure your water is happy.
Finrot is usually related to water quality issues.
For fancy goldies you need 10 gallons of water per goldie and a filter that moves 10 times the gallons in the tank per hour. You also need to be doing weekly partial water changes and vacuuming your gravel. Here's a good goldfish caresheet.
http://thegab.org/Articles/GoldfishBasics.html
and one on water quality:
http://thegab.org/Articles/WaterQuality.html

Answer 6

Maracyn-2 by Virbac Animal Health


http://www.virbacpets.com/mardel/product.php?pid=182&PHPSESSID=6b3c14ccaa1e6c9bb2253efd693acdaa

Answer 7

Best suggestion
you throw your fish/fishes thoroughly clean the tank reset it again.
If u love ur fish dearly then u can hav info about the disease and its treatment from
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/information/Diseases.htm

Answer 8

You need to check the PH of the water.....and call the pet store, they can tell you what to do.