Goldfish Problems =(?

Question

So my dad has 5 gold fish in a 20 gallon tank and its starting to get dirty but i'm worried about one of the fish, its getting really fat and his scales are poking out instead of being smooth over his body, what does this mean? i don't like the look of it at all.

Answer 1

If the tank is dirty, why not clean it. The poor fish are probably starving for oxygen and a clean tank. And I would call a pet store about the fist.

Answer 2

Goldfish produce a lot of waste. I love them and of all my fish, they are my favorite, but it takes a lot of work to establish and keep a tank clean when you have them. Ask your dad what size filter he has running in the tank. For goldfish, especially 5 in a 20G, I recommend you up the filter to one fit for a 40G. It will cycle more water in less time. As for now, I would just clean the tank. Water quality is a must especially with any type of fancy goldfish. The single tailed comets rarely have problems if they are kept in good conditions. But when it comes to any goldfish with long flowy fins, caps, eye sacs, or an egg shaped body, it can get tricky. I would do what I call a "total strip down". Take everything out, move the goldfish into a bucket of water, remove all the water from the tank, scrub the gravel in new clean water and drain until the water runs clear (or clear-ish), scrub the tank sides, clean out and scrub the filter, replace the filter cartirage, and refill the tank carefully sloshing as little gravel as possible. This WILL remove most benefical bacteria cultures in your gravel and tank. However, at a point when bad bacteria outnumbers the good bacteria, it is nessacary. Don't forget to dechlorinate the water in the tank after you cleaned it before reintroducing the fish. It is a good idea to us edechlorination with "stress coat" to increase the health of your fish.

As for the sick fish, I cannot make any definiate diagnosis without seeing the first itself however I would say based on the symptoms you described that your fish has dropsy. A question you need to ask yourself if how quickly has the swelling and scales sticking out come about? Did this just happen over night or has it been growing for a few weeks to this point?
There are two forms of Dropsy, and there can be many causes.
Acute Dropsy
- Internal bacterial infection can cause internal bleeding and thus cause acute dropsy (will occur quickly)
Chronic Dropsy
- cancer: In this case, the abdomen is slow to swell as the cancer affects the fish's internal organs
- parasites: Internal parasites can cause dropsy(abdominal swelling) The abdomen tends to swell over a period of time if the fish is infested with internal parasites. It is best to isolate the sick fish at once to help maintain the outbreak of disease

In some cases it is caused by a Costia Infection. Dropsy generally not contagious. The earlier it is caught the more likely treatment will be helpful. Remove the fish from the tank and house it seperate for treatment. It is best to up the water temp to about 80-83 degrees and use aquarium salt to remedy the fish (use the instructions on package for goldfish to determine amounts). It is also a good to increase aeration because warmer water will contain less oxygen. The aquaarium salt will help also with gill function. **Aquarium salt is different than table salt and table salt will kill your fish!!** Water quality is very important at this time, be sure to do regular water changes of the sick fish's water. Be sure to always dechlorinate the water! A dechlorinator with "stress coat" will certainly help your sick fish at this time.

Good Luck, hope i could be of some help.

Answer 3

Your fish has a serious disease. The fish has something called Dropsy. It is sure to kill the fish if not taken care of. Add 1/8 teaspoon of epsom salt for every 5 gallons of water. YOU NEED TO CLEAN THE TANK NOW! Dirty water will kill all of the fish for sure. He needs you and you need to tell your dad to take care of his fish. Do the treatment right away and give it a few days. This should help. Also, try to get some Melafix. Walmart sells this antibacterial remedy. You can also get it at pet shops. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Dropsy, i lost 4 fish like that, he starts to look like a ballonbut then his scales protrude, i have a cure.
An effective treatment is to add an antibiotic to the food. With flake food, use about 1% of antibiotic and carefully mix it in. If you keep the fish hungry they should eagerly eat the mixture before the antibiotic dissipates. Antibiotics usually come in 250 mg capsules. If added to 25 grams of flake food, one capsule should be enough to treat dozens of fish. A good antibiotic is chloromycetin (chloramphenicol). Or use tetracycline. If you feed your fish frozen foods or chopped foods, try to use the same ratio with mixing. As a last resort add at most 10 mg per liter of water. Also, if unkempt conditions are the suspected cause, correct it.

Answer 5

First off, goldfish need 10 Gal per fish, second the 'fat' one has dropsy- you need to do a 80% water change till you can get a BIGGER tank.

MELA FIX is a great way to help your fish with out allot of over medication, MELA FIX is natural.. just remember to take the carbon out of you filter.

you MUST get a bigger tank, or all of your fish will die.

Answer 6

the sick fish has dropsy and it's usually fatal altho you can try epson salts - add 1 tblsp to each 5 gal of water, it's still a good chance that he won't make it
please ask your dad to clean the dirty tank soon

Answer 7

Im sorry, your fish probably has dropsy. With time it will die (most likely). There isn't any easy cure although some people claim that they have cured it before. Researc dropsy and see if there is anything you can do for your fishy. If you act fast you may be able to save him.

Answer 8

oh the fish is getting really generated.

stop it by looking in this site:http://www.goldfishinfo.com/variet.htm

Answer 9

ask a petco person