My goldfish is dying back is black and head now fins no scales under the black and ive tried all i know?

Question

i moved my tank at xmas my goldfish a very large fantail with the funny bag head! he appeared to hurt his eye a little then i noticed other fish picking at his eye and the algae eater eating at his back!i have removed the goldfish and he was missing scales on his back he appeared to be getting better then all affected areas turned black?? and spreading?? He eats fine but getting worse ive tried pimafix/epsomsalt/stresscoat not helping what to do??

Answer 1

Black areas almost always indicate a fungus or a bacteria infection. Since you have tried the salt, we will rule out a fungus infection. Salt is usually a pretty good fix for that. Also, fungus is usually a secondary infection of already damaged tissue. Given all of that I would bet that it's a bacteria infection.

Since the fish had a recent eye injury that preceded the other problems we'll assume it's a systemic infection and not a skin infection as the missing scales would at first suggest.

Suggested treatment: First do a very serious big water change. 75% or more and completely clean the filter and replace the filter pad. Don't have any carbon in the filter at this point as it will remove medicines. Treat the tank with a wide spectrum antibiotic or treat with both maracyn one and two at the same time. Also, since there is a chance that fungus is involved, also treat with a fungus medicine. I would also recommend doing a 50% water change each day the first 3 days and treat for a total of 10 days, even if you see improvement before then. A systemic, or internal infection is much harder to treat in fish than external infections and require much longer to eliminate. Added salt at the rate of 1 tsp per gallon would also help with the fungus and help his slime coat.

Alsthis may still not work as it sounds like he has been sick for some time already, but for a nice fish it's worth a shot.

Best of luck with the treatment.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

If you've tried all those remedies, have you also tried MELAFIX? What is the temp of the tank you have put your goldfish in? Have you tried a salt bath?

I got this article from notes I've collected from the internet. Sorry I cannot provide the link. But it may help your situation.

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Salt is one of the cheapest and easily available medications, without causing the fish stress like it would do with stronger medications.

Kinds of salt
Aquarium salt, rock salt, pickle salt, and solar salt. Latter provides essential minerals to the fish and comes in 20 or 40 lb bags in Home improvement centers.

Table salt is NOT to be used at all, it is deadly to the fish due to the anti caking agents in the salt.

Salt Concentrations
A low concentration of 0.1% is 1 teaspoon per gallon or 1 tablespoon per 5 gl. This low rate will not do any damage to most water plants.

A medium concentration is between 0.1% and 0.5%, but personally I don't go higher than 0.3%. This rate should be obtained in 12 hour intervals, 0.1% salt for 3 times. A high concentration is up to 0.9% is only recommended for very short treatments, like a dip or short bath, otherwise its deadly to your fish.

Salt dips
There are certain situations where you want to expose your fish to a brief, but strong salt dip to knock off half a dozen parasites.
- bringing home a new fish from the pet store
- fish comes inside before winter from your pond into an aquarium
- flashing/scratching
- a huge amount of parasites discovered with a microscope
- persistant case of fin rot

A dipped fish will be so much more responsive to other medications added to the tank.

Exceptions: The fish is very small and weak, or you see dark bloody gills, which indicates ammonia toxicity or other kinds of toxins.

How to: Use 1/2 cup of salt from the above list per gallon of water, adjust the temperature, so the fish does not get stressed from temperature shock. Put the salt into the water. When the salt is dissolved, add the fish to the sater and start the timer. A dip between 30 seconds and 5 min is sufficient, as long as the fish does not show any signs of stress. Small fish of course do better in shorter dips.

The fish should be swimming around in the bucket, and start to float on top of the water. This is a normal reaction. Just poke the fish, and continue the dip IF the fish starts to move around again. If the fish does not react to your poking, take him out immediately. For bigger fish, even if they are swimming constantly for the whole 5 min, this is the maximum, anything longer than that can kill them.

If the fish, especially smaller ones, start to swim or roll around funny after being put into the dip, they need to be taken out right away, no matter how short the dip was. Then they are not able to handle the dip.

Of course, its not a good idea to put the fish back in the same tank where he came from. The infected tank should be treated as well, while the dipped fish can house into some sort of hospital tank/tub.

Besides the parasite treatment, salt is also an excellent preventive for nitrite poisoning. Depending on how high your nitrite is and how long your fish has been exposed to it, a percentage of 0.1 to 0.3 is recommended to protect the fishies gill from the nitrite.
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I do hope your fish gets better.

Answer 4

If u can take the fish out and keep it in a seperate tank, incse the other fish are contaminated!!!if you cant do this, im not sure what to say, other than get down the pet shop and ask an expert and possibly buy some drops for the aquarium that could help save the fish!!! Also take a sample of your water with u and get them to PH test it, incase the water quality is causing the problems!!!!

Answer 5

WAIT, don't stop your treatment. It is getting better. Black indicates healing in goldfish. Also you should remove the algae eater. No sucker fish can be kept with goldfish because they eat them. (your goldfish breed is an oranda by the way)

Answer 6

What you have is probably ammonia burn. Pimafix is just an herbal remedy. What you need to do is go out and buy some all-purpose Jungle or Aquarium Pharmaceuticals meds at wal-mart. www.flippersandfins.net will help you more than anyone else will. Go post this in the emergency room ASAP. The forum is full of great people.

Answer 7

The humane way to put a goldfish out of its misery is to place it in a suitable container in the freezer. The water will slowly freeze, and its metabolism will sink like the temperature. Eventually, it will snuff out. THEN would be the right time to flush it!

Answer 8

call the place where you got the fish tell them the story. if nothing else works its probably dying

Answer 9

it is okey just keep it seperated until it looks like it is better

Answer 10

Does he have plenty of light? Gold fish lose their color if they don't have light.