Gold fish question?

Question

My mom bought a feeder gold fish, and it slowly started to turn white, now it's tail has like redish lines all over it. Is that normal?! I can't find anything about it on the net.
It ate our snail =( but that's besides the point of the question lol

Well we had him a while b4 he turned white.. and we used water from like a jug b/c we live in the country and didnt use country water. The tank is about 20 gallons and he's still pretty small. He acts like a normal fish...just his tail has reddish streaks. I think it looks kinda cool but my dad keeps tellin me to research it lol.
Poor snail =(

Thank you! I'll let my mom go spend more $ on a 12cent fish! Thanks for the help, appreacate it. :D

Answer 1

The red lines could be a sign of too much ammonia in the tank. Since it sounds like a fairly new fish, I'd believe this is the most likely cause. You need to do a 25-50% water change to lower the ammonia level in the water.

If this doesn't seem to solve the problem within a few days, your fish may have an internal bacterial infection called sepricemia. You can treat this with a broad-spectrum antibiotic according to the directions on the product you buy.

Please read the following once you've done a water change - it'll give you some additional info about what to expect as a new fishowner:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ammoniapoison.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm
http://www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm - see under septicemia

Answer 2

That sounds like ammonia or nitrite poisoning. It can happen easily if your fish is new, and in a new aquarium, since the tank still has to cycle, or create healthy bacteria to kill off the bad stuff. Fish can recover if you change the water and make sure he is in a large enough aquarium -- depending on size it is possible to start out with a 10 gallon, but feeder goldfish get big, so you probably should expand to a 40 gallon at some point -- and 20 gallon is good to start out. I would not shock him too much but test the water to see what the nitrite/ammonia levels are and do a big change until you get them down. Prime is a good water conditioner that gets rid of chlorine and chloramine, and also helps neutralize ammonia and nitrite. Also make sure yo uhave a filter, and add some aquarium salt to help the fishy survive any nitrite problems. I hope this helps!

PS,. goldfish LOVE to eat snails, that generally should not make them sick. He may have pooped a lot afterward and made the ammonia spike tho...

PS, this is not ick, you can easily diagnose ick by the little white specks on a fishy. I agree with the second poster that it is likely an ammonia spike and the fishy needs probably regular water changes while the tank cycles -- this will take it longer to cycle, but will protect your fish which is more important. If you dont have a testing kit yet, do a water change, and get one soon so you can watch as it cycles. What you should see is the ammonia spike, then as it lowers the nitrites spike, and then the nitrates start to spike after a few weeks ( to six weeks..) and at that point it is cycled and needs weekly 20 percent water changes to keep the nitrates (not as dangerous) low.

ADD: Awesome on the 20 gallon. It sometimes takes a while for cycling to affect a fish, so that could still be it, especially if a big water change or something else like the snail cause ammonia to spike. I would get a test kit just to be sure. I dont know if he could have the infection based on eating the snail, I dont think its related to that, but if the water tests OK then I would consider treating with maracyn 2 in the water to ensure no bacterial infection.

Living creatures are worth more than their "price," and that is awesome that you are taking such good care of him! There are cheaper test kits for like $10 to check it once in a while --
OR I SHOULD HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE THAT FISH STORES WILL TEST FOR FREE -- SO WHY DONT YOU TAKE IN A SAMPLE OF THE WATER AND SEE WHAT THEY FIND.. GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 3

Pond snails are both sexes and have thousands of babies at a time if the food supply (left over fish flakes) are present in the gravel. A large amount of snails in any tank does pollute the water and causes increased viral and bacterial infection and diseases in the water causing the fish keeper more time with water changes per month.

Now with that said, sorry your one and ONLY snail was eaten! Gold fish ARE the best control of an over growth of snails in a fish tank. There are medications to kill them and not the fish, but these usually cause the fish to become weaker.

Ick: Your discription does NOT indicate ick. Ick looks like white fine salt sprinkle on the sides of the fish. Most fish sold in stores will show signs of ick in the tanks. Ick spreads quickly and this is why fish stores get delivery of new fishes each week as the ick while easy to treat in a home tank, is almost impossible to get ride of in a store as all the tanks water is filtered within one system and the huge filters in the back room would immediately remove the ick medication from the water.

While using ANY medication in the tank water, always remove the tank filter carbon. A newer Carbon Filter will remove all medications and render the medication useless! If the carbon filter is more then a month old and "seasoned" in a perfectly balanced tank, the carbon filter might be able to remain during medication treatments per the instructions on the package.

White Gold Fish Tail: This is not normal. This was caused by stress or improper levels from the components in the water. bottled water without chemicals added to remove harmfull elements can cause this stress to occure. Fish tanks need to have treated water and cycle first before adding fish. To help correct the effects of this type of stress, add "Stresszyme" to the water.

Red Streaks: This is definately a bacterail infection, so you will need a medication of antibotics to treat the water. Broard spectrum is best. Some foods are sold saying they are infused with antibotics, but these do NOT work well and are NOT eaten by the fish and this causes the food to settle on the botom of the tank and further pollute and poision the water.

The good news is....don't give up. If this little one doesn't make it and dies, continue to run the tank for a few weeks. Then purchase another fish or two, because the fish themselves cause the tank to cycle much faster. This will buy you time for understanding all the information needed to healthy fish keeping and breeding along with adding proper chemicals and buying water tests. Just don't buy expensive fish or too many but with each fish purchased, with 20% monthly water changes will put your tank in perfect breeding condition!

Never put gold fish with fresh water fish. However, feeder gold fish can be used to help cycle a tank and fresh water fish can be later purchased for the same tank as long as no gold fish are still alive and living in it.

I ran over 40 fish tanks at once. This started with a Christmas gift (10 galllon tank) from my hubby and turned into a grand study of all different kinds of fishes. For several years I was asked to test new and older products by major companies. For me it was very rewarding. I'm older now and have just 6 currently running.

Have Fun!

Answer 4

Copper's right on with the red streaks. Either ammonia poisoning or septicemia.

For the white color, it is common for goldfish to change colors, comets can change to a white color, and black moors to an orange.
But, it could also be from high ammonia. Sometimes they're skin will turn kind of pale, then they'll develop black spots or patches. The black is the skin healing from the ammonia burns. So, from what you're describing, I'd say your probably dealing with ammonia issues. Do a water change as soon as you can, and you'll probably need to do them daily until your tank cycles-read the first article on how a tank cycles:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/startupcycle/Step_5_The_Cycle.htm

.
I have three (used to be five, two went MIA from the pond a few days ago) of those .12 cent feeder fish, actually I think mine were .25...have had them for about 8 years now. They're great, active, and personable fish, they're one of my favorite fish I have.

Answer 5

My boyfriend was just telling me about a disease called the "ick" that affects goldfish, as I just had a few of mine die... anyhow if you go to the pet store theres some stuff you can get, it costs about five bucks. ....

I don't know what to tell you about your snail... poor little guy.