goldfish disease?

Question

I have 6 fish various sizes 4"-6" in a 4ft by 1ft tank,a couple of them have had cotton wool growths on their eyes for the last few months ive tried the normal pet shop medication but its not working or does it take a while to heal and dissappear?can anyone recommend anything?Btw ive had the fish for about 13 years how long do they live for? Thanx

Answer 1

What you most likely are seeing on your fish is a bacterial infection called columnaris. It looks just like a fungus infection but is not and so doesn't respond to fungus treatments. If you have been treating for fungus for more than a few days and the cottony looking growth is still there, then it's columnaris. Fungus is very easy to treat and responds quickly to treatment. Treat the columnaris with an antibiotic. Furanace is the best choice, but if you can't find that use tetracycline (Maracyn TC is one brand). Treat for 10 days to 2 weeks at the dosage recommended on the package.

Gold fish can live for 40 years or more with proper care.

MM

Answer 2

MELAFIX. MELAFIX. MELAFIX. This stuff is a godsend. If it is cottony and fluffy it is a fungus (can't remember specific name). Melafix is made of natural oils so it is not harmful to the fish like other chemical treatments are. This stuff promotes healing and works insanely fast. I found Melafix at Walmart for $6.47 for 8oz. It is really really good. I had the cottony stuff too and this helped my fish heal very quickly, usually within three days to a week that stuff should be gone completely unless it is a really bad case. Melafix can be used for longer than other medicines also. The other medicines can only be used for a limited time because of the threat it poses to stressing the fishes body. Melafix is not like that. You give doses for about three days to a week and can do a water change after the first three days. It is safe to keep using Melafix after that if the fish look like they still need it. 50% water change is good for helping get the diseased water out. Every three days is the most you would want to do. The water change can stress out the fish too. And depending on the type of fish, some can live anywhere from 10 years to more than 20 years. It usually falls around the 15 year mark but, like I said, some fish last a lot longer if the conditions are right. What type of fish do you have? Is your tank about 45-55 gallons? Some types of fish do not go together either with water type or personality. They can be territorial and can stress each other out which will lead to outbreaks of disease like Ick and that fluffy stuff. If your fish are not supposed to get any bigger than they are now, they might be okay, but if one or more is supposed to get larger, there might be trouble with territoriality and the water levels. I wish you the best of luck and try to find MELAFIX if you can. You'll love it and your fish will love it. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

I'll recommend salt treatment. Transfer the gold fish to a tank of higher salt concentration, say 1 tbspoon per 5 Litres. Leave them there for a few minutes. Its harmless to the gold fish but will shock the parasites.

Answer 4

13 years is a good record for goldfish! They are old and will not respond as well to medication, plus I have only ever found one medication to work for sick fish and that is methylene blue for white growths on fins - try this and it does work quick, as in days. The others I've tried have cost loads and do not make any difference - the fish eventually die or need to be euthanised (plastic bag and freezer job as mentioned earlier - not nice but they're really suffering).

Answer 5

I've had 14 goldfish, all of which have died within 1 month...(Seven have died the day I got them...) As far as I'm concerned, you've done good enough as it is. However, I will warn you--a couple of years ago, I had a teacher whose goldfish had the same problem; when she realized it, she put them in a plastic bag and put that into the freezer...If the fact that she's a science teacher is any indication, I'd say that she knew what she was doing...

Answer 6

maximum probable fin rot. Do a 20 % water replace on a daily basis.Use a great sort of aquarium salt and the fish that dont have the high-quality rot take out and positioned aquarium salt in there to.i'm hoping your fish get extra functional and stable success!

Answer 7

This could be an infection brought on by poor water conditions and over crowding.
Please check:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: under 50 ppm
GH & KH: above 100 & 50 respectively

If any of these parameters are out of balance (including GH), the best meds in the world will not help.

Calcium and other electrolytes found in GH are essential for proper osmotic function and disease resistance as well as a tablespoon of salt per 5 net gallons of water.

As for life span you are getting near the limit for goldfish in an aquarium (especially your size). Normal life spn in best conditions with best feedings is about 15 years for aquariums and a little over 20 years for ponds.

As for treatments (please read this medication article too: http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Aquarium_Medication.html ), you are either dealing with an oportunistic eye infection which is one of the few gram positive aquarium infections. For this Triple Sulfa, Tetracyline, or Melafix may work
Otherwise you are most likely dealing with columnaris (flexibacter) OR true fungus which are gram negative and Melafix or Tetracycline are ineffective for both. Kanamycin combined with nitrofurazone is most effective (although Kanacyn by itself is often effective). Other choices are Pimafix which is gram negative (unlike it's cousin treatment, Melafix), or Medicated Wonder Shells (which will also add electrolytes and calcium to your aquarium which is often needed with these infections and can be combined with Pimafix)

Finally a 30 minute 'bath' in Methylene Blue at double recommended tank strength is highly recommended twice per day.
For more information about columnaris, please read this article (with pictures):
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Columnaris.html

Good Luck with your treatments

Answer 8

Sounds like ICK! When you medicate the tank you must remove any carbon filtration also.

Answer 9

sounds like fluk a parasite but hey they done well!